Back-to-front thinking

In 2019 I challenged myself to wear everything in my wardrobe. I figured, if I am not wearing something at least once a year, it shouldn’t be taking up space in my wardrobe and should go back into the circular economy for someone else to enjoy. Overall, this challenge has been a great success. It’s forced everything out of the wardrobe and into the cold light of day. I have rediscovered some items that I LOVE and I have also realised that some things are just not me any more.

There are some items that I really love but have struggled to wear nonetheless. One of them is this blue dress. It fits really well but the plunging neckline meant it just wasn’t working for a lot of occasions. Well... problem solved!!! I have taken a leaf out of @buynothingnew ‘s book and played around a little. Turning it around made the plunging neckline a little less revealing and I felt able to wear a favourite dress to work and then on to a departmental dinner — hurrah! I can’t tell you how happy I am to have found a way to enjoy this lovely dress without flashing so much boob!

This is a simple illustration of how we can be creative with the things that we own. Because the true cost (environmental damage and other negative externalities) of the things we buy are not included in the price we pay for them, it is often very easy for us to buy solutions to simple problems in our lives. When something is broken, we buy a replacement. When we don’t know how to make something, we buy it instead. When we don’t know what to wear, we buy a new outfit. One of the biggest benefits of my no shop year was forcing me to think outside the box and to be creative. I’m not claiming to have become some kind of a creative genius during this year. For my grandparents, or anyone who has lived in a time or place of even mild shortage, would probably laugh at the idea of this as creative problem solving. This is normal life! However, consumer culture has dulled our skills. Low prices and convenience have made buying new the first port of call for many of us. I think that rebuilding our creativity will take some practice and some kind of pressure to make us think differently.

What do you think?