How I decided not to buy clothes for a while

My biggest guilty internet pleasure is probably personal style blogs.*  I admit it: I like looking at other women's pictures of their clothes. I like getting and adapting ideas ("inspiration" is a word that gets thrown around a lot in the personal style blerg-o-sphere) for unintuitive color and pattern and layering schemes.  But while I like pretty pictures as much as the next girl--probably a bit more than the next girl--I'm having trouble reconciling two themes that seem to underlie many personal style blogs: 1) You don't need to buy more stuff to look good, but: 2) buying more stuff will make you look pretty awesome.

Don't get me wrong--many bloggers make it a point to look great (inspiring!) on a low budget: they shop at thrift stores and yard sales and sew their own clothes and wear things that belonged to their grandmothers. Expensive things, when purchased, are "investment pieces"** that one will wear "forever," making the Price Per Wear marginal in the long run.

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And all of that makes sense. Still, there's quite a bit of "investing" going on, about which I can't help but feel a tweensy bit resentful. Not because I wouldn't buy myself nice things if I had the money, because I probably would. It's more because it strikes me as somehow hypocritical in context of the common assertions that money does not equal style, and that a couple of high-quality staple items can be the foundation for a great, if small, wardrobe.  But given how often some bloggers seem to be showing off new threads, I can't help but wonder how many  forever-lasting purses or pairs of boots or "classic" little black dresses a lady really needs.

It's hard to explain why this annoys me, and it's probably in part because I'm ambivalent about enjoying a little retail therapy myself now and again. But it's the tension between advocating durability on the one hand and constant acquisition on the other that really gets me. So while I was thinking about this a few months ago I decided that maybe I should just not buy stuff for a while, and that this will help me figure out how often I really need to acquire new things to still feel like I look...like myself, and not like some past version of myself who wore things that I don't really like anymore. And whether, if I stop buying things things altogether, I will realize what I actually need.

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I haven't made an *official* deal with myself, but right now my thinking about this little experiment is:

• I will not buy new clothes for one year. The "one year" part is arbitrary, but it seems like an good amount of time because I'll go through all the seasons with one set of clothes.
• The year started September 7th, 2011, because that's when I sent an email to a friend describing this hypothetical experiment, and since then I haven't bought anything. 
• The rule applies to things that other people see me wear outside of my apartment. (Because "style," as much as it is personal, is really about projecting an image to people who are not inside my head. Or my apartment.*** ) This includes, obviously, clothes, but also bags and jewelry and baubles and shoes and stuff. 
• I have considered including cosmetics in the no-buy ban, because they are also for creating outward projections and very much trigger my desire to *have more stuff that I don't need*. But I decided against it. It's different, in a way, but I won't go into that here. At any rate, I think that with regard to makeup the clothing experiment will help me make more of an effort to use the things I already have and to consider the difference between acquiring *stuff* for stuff's sake rather than acquiring stuff I need.
• Not included in the clothing ban are things I might need for hygenic reasons, like socks or underwear. Also not included is workout gear and running shoes, because these perform a specific function that normal clothes cannot and because not replacing them could cause me to hurt myself. And because unlike other public situations, I don't care what I look like when I'm sweating and huffing and puffing for fitness purposes. 
• I think I should be able to make things (clothes, accessories) for myself, although the chances of me doing this are slim. 
• Two other potential caveats which probably won't be a big problem, but which might cause me to break off the experiment: clothes I might need for the purposes of Appearing Professional, and for Being Warm in Chicago in the Wintertime.

We'll see how it works out. I feel smug about ending this post while people across the globe are sleeping on sidewalks to be the first to bum-rush the racks at H&M tomorrow. According to WaPo 

In Europe and Asia, the lines stretched around the block. There were fights and scalpers, and shoppers who slept outside in the cold for the chance to be the first in line for Versace’s bargain designs for H&M. As American stores prepare for their own Versace debut at 8 a.m. Saturday, fashion-lovers worry that only the most dedicated (or insane) shoppers will have a chance at snagging a piece of the collection.

There's something nice about not having a dog in this fight. 



*Well, those and ridiculous video tutorials. If you haven't seen THIS AMAZING trick for peeling garlic, watch it immediately.
**Clothes, by the way, should never be referred to as "clothes" on style blogs. Always "pieces" or "items."
 ***Scary sartorial choices are made when I don't have to leave the apartment:

(Also, I appear to be really happy when I don't have to leave the house.)