Fashionopolis

While we were away in the Isle of Wight at the beginning of September I read Fashionopolis: the Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes by Dana Thomas. I knew I needed to be better informed about the human and environmental cost of what we wear, in this age of fast fashion, pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap clothes retailers. I found this an excellent book, not just because it was well researched and informative about the damage caused by the west's mania for fashion, but because it also gave positive examples of how clothes production can change and adapt to become more sustainable and ethical. 

While I am no fashion-conscious shopaholic, I admit I have got slightly sucked in by three daughters who all enjoy clothes and clothes-shopping and I both have and buy far more than I need. I see looking back at this blog that over three years ago I was writing that I hoped could get to the stage of having a capsule wardrobe but I am no further forward now than I was then. It is still an aspiration, and I followed up Fashionopolis with a short book by Sarah Eliza Louderbeck, Secrets of a Capsule Wardrobe. I also recently read Project 333 by Courtney Carver, which explains her minimalist clothing challenge, in which the aim is to wear just 33 items over period of three months. 

Over the last year or two I have used a couple of wardrobe apps to help me keep track of what I have, to try to pare items down to what I "need" (which I am sure is more than I actually need!), and to experiment with combinations that could make a capsule. After reading these three books, fiddling around with my current app (Stylebook), and sorting out my wardrobe (and the storage boxes under the bed!) I have come to various clothing conclusions. The first is that Project 333 just won't work for me. Our weather is too unpredictable and needs too many layers of different thicknesses. Also if I have more clothes that I actually like for a season than the challenge allows, it seems kind of wasteful to put them away and not use them just to meet a self-imposed target number. 

The second conclusion is that a capsule wardrobe is still my ultimate aim, and after reading Secrets of a Capsule Wardrobe I have a better idea of how I might get there. I liked that she did not make up any rules about numbers of items. She did however come up with some colour rules, which I had not thought of but which make sense. She suggested choosing three neutrals and three highlight colours and sticking to those, and distinguishes between bases (trousers, skirts and dresses) and tops. The idea is that once you pick up a neutral base item, pretty much any top will work with it. The neutrals should also include only one out of black, navy and dark brown, which makes sense - I realise I tend to end up with unnecessary duplication by having essentially the same items in both black and navy, which don't work together. I can see that when I buy clothes randomly, I often end up with items I like but which don't really go with anything else, and that by limiting myself to certain colours it would be much easier to work towards a smaller capsule wardrobe. 

The third is that I really want to buy less but better, so that I end up with a capsule wardrobe made up as far as possible with sustainably produced and better quality items. I have started actively looking for affordable options to fill some wardrobe gaps, with the benefit of much greater knowledge of how to read the small print and assess whether things genuinely are more ethical and sustainable or whether it is marketing hype. 

The photos above show the colour combinations that a bit of wardrobe shuffling threw up for winter clothes - my summer colours will be a bit different. Once I looked properly, the colour choices were surprisingly obvious and I didn't have to take out much to get to this.