Everyday getting dressed is Mission Impossible seven as I face my overflowing and ever-growing closet. I still haven’t worn that item of clothing that seemed perfect in the change room lighting, but at home seems so wrong. What I really need is that closet from Beauty and the Beast that whips up the perfect outfit and sends me on my jolly way.
I easily own over 200 items of clothing, 30 pairs of shoes and an unnecessary amount of scarves and hats. I have items in there that would date back to my Jacob v Edward Cullen Twilight phase. Despite letting go of my I <3 Jacob shirt from Supré, there’s some things in there that will never see the light of day. I can’t bring myself to get rid of it though. It’s in a corner of my closet that I label “regret”.
So why do I keep a tight grasp on them, determined that I’ll wear it again? The Wall Street Journal estimates that we only wear 20% of our wardrobe. The retail industry is counting on this knowing that innocent people like myself buy for many more reasons than actually needing something. Take for example, my purchase of a faux fur coat that I bought a month ago. It’s all fun and games justifying it that winter is coming, until now it’s winter and you remember you live in Brisbane, and winter never comes.
Like my ex-boyfriend my closet is full of excuses.
“It was on sale. I had to have it. It’ll fit me in summer. I’m going to start working out. I don't have anything else like this.”
Often a potential purchase might not fit right quite right, but I think ‘oh well minor flaw. I could always sew a seam in here and there.’ Then it turns out that very thing is the reason keeping me from wearing it. This regret is called post-purchase dissonance which I’m currently feeling very strongly about my faux fur coat.
Retailers now make it harder, especially with online purchases leaving shoppers with increasing second-thoughts-merchandise. Some stores offer 30 day return policies, others just 14 days, with returns excluding sale items and the hassle of going back to the store or packing and mailing online items. They get you in a weak moment in the store with the bright lights, shiny counters and the lure of a ‘further reduction’.
We’re clever women, so why do we keep buying clothes that clearly aren’t working for us? I suspect that the root of my problem, and probably yours too if you’re reading this lies in the simple fact that the majority of my purchases are not rational. I’ve bought dresses that I don't wear because I bought them for the person I want to be and others I don’t wear because they are for the person I am, and who wants to be reminded of that? The amount of ‘going out’ dresses that I own, yet my friends have worn more times than me because they are taller or have bigger boobs, leaving me in fear that I won’t look as good in it.
I have items in my closet that remind me of good times. I have shoes that look like heaven but feel like hell when I wear them. There are tops I’ve bought because I hadn’t found anything else during a day out shopping with a friend.
The fast fashion dilemma is, the clothes are cheaper, so we buy more. But we are the ones that are getting poorer. It is my own innate inability to stop myself from these unnecessary purchases which has ultimately led to my own detriment. The worst part of it is, I am fully aware when shopping that it is wrong, yet I live in LaLa Land and justify it to myself.
Despite the thousands of dollars I’ve spent building up my wardrobe to what it is today, I need to allow my clothes a chance at a new life. After all the charity bins are self-proclaiming as a Lifeline.
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