Clothes. Shoes. It’s the second week of intermittently nice weather in New York City, and there’s no point pretending I can think about anything else.
Fashion-wise, the arrival of spring catches me off guard every year. In darkest February, the spring catalogs start arriving at my apartment, filled with warm-weather clothing photographed on location in the tropics. I leaf through them over a bowl of oatmeal, and dream about what I’m going to wear when spring comes. But spring itself seems so far off that sartorial thoughts stay purely in daydream-land.
And then a week like this happens. The sun comes out, the temperatures hits 60, and suddenly there’s nothing to wear!!!
Switching gears from winter to spring dressing always feels difficult to me. Cornerstones of the ol’ look—the coat, the boots, the bag—are suddenly inappropriate, and new ones take time (and money!) to find. The result in my case is usually several weeks of fashion awkwardness.
Perhaps that’s why, today, I’ve found myself thinking about people who have the discipline to wear just one thing, day in and day out, season after season. Beginning in June 2009, Sheena Matheiken of The Uniform Project (pictured above) began donning a versatile black dress every day for a year. The dress, designed by Matheiken’s friend Eliza Starbuck, can be work forward, backwards, or open, and Sheena permits herself to “accessorize” with as many items of recycled clothing and shoes as she pleases. She posts a photo of her outfit every day, and loyal readers express their appreciation by donating money to a charity that sends under-privileged children in India to school (which is where Matheiken began wearing uniforms in the first place). Soon, copies of the little black dress in question–aka, the U.P. L.B.D.–will be available for purchase on the Uniform Project website.
But The Uniform Project isn’t the only exercise in extreme wardrobe discipline going. Years ago, I seem to remember reading about a group of people who had taken to wearing a simple gray sweatshirt every day, as a way of protesting consumerism.
And the website 43 Folders, which is all about “finding the time and attention to do your best creative work” has posts from people who are paring down their wardrobes in the interest of cutting down on the clutter inside their minds. Someone has considered going “100% khakis and plain white t-shirts. Short sleeve in summer, long sleeve in winter;” someone else is taking the all tee shirts and jeans route; someone else is keeping it to black jeans and red tee shirts.
What about you? Have you ever tried or been tempted to try some kind of wardrobe restriction—in the name of creativity, thrift, environmentalism, simple living, or simply hating to do laundry? Tell us!
I am actually not buying clothing for the entire year that I am 25. This will end on November 16th of 2010. I am already 121 days in as of today. You should definitely check it out as I’m doing it to make a statement about consumerism but also to break a nasty habit of emotionally compulsive shopping.
Hi Alyson — I did just check it out, and it’s a good project, and a fun read.
From time to time, I try to tell myself I’ll only buy used clothing (cheaper, more interesting, more enviro friendly), but I have never been able to stick to it for a full year.
Were you inspired by the recession and the whole ’shop your closet’ thing?
Hey Katherine –
I guess the recession was my inspiration. I found myself spending a lot of money on clothes and not enough getting myself out of credit card debt. I was also using shopping as a coping mechanism. As this year has progressed, I have really grown to appreciate the clothes I have in my closet. As well as, still find a way to be relevant by either doing clothing swaps or making my own stuff. I also feel like its an exercise in being able to say no. Its this really odd sense of freedom.
Sorry I just now saw this!