I don’t know about you, but I’m not a huge clothes shopper. I’m not at the mall or browsing online after every paycheque deciding what to buy this week. I’m more of an “occasion” shopper. I tend to buy clothes when I have an event to go to (dad’s birthday dinner, girls’ night out, etc.) carefully putting together an appropriate, and hopefully on-trend outfit. My biggest shopping spree comes right before a vacation. In fact, most of the sweaters in my closet right now were purchased for my honeymoon in Ireland (we went in October). If you pulled out any item of clothing from my closet, there’s a good chance I’ll be able to tell you what trip or event it was purchased for. When my hubs and I decided to head to NYC for the weekend in September I immediately started browsing my go-to shopping apps and adding pieces to my “favourites.”
We were only going for the weekend (Friday to Sunday) so I would only need three outfits (not including flight clothes). I would need an outfit for Friday night (which included a concert), wandering around all day Saturday sightseeing and then Saturday night out (which included dinner and drinks). Three outfits. Easy peasy.
As I was scrolling through Pinterest looking for inspiration, I realized that all of the outfits I liked included pieces I already owned. That’s when it occurred to me, “what if I don’t buy any new clothes for this trip, but just use what I already own?” I know, a crazy concept! And yes, I also know it was only three outfits but the habit of “occasion” shopping ran deep, real deep. Another fun fact about me: I am very much a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl; the amount of plain tees in my closet is astonishing, so the thought of putting together three half-decent and somewhat trendy outfits was intimidating at first. This was New York, after all so I needed to step up my game.
That’s when my mission began: put together three outfits for NYC using clothes and accessories already in my closet. Was I successful? You bethca! It was really good to wear pieces I hadn’t worn in ages: earrings I bought in Nice, France, a Motorhead tee I bought for a costume party and a black cami I bought for an anniversary dinner. Three outfits might not seem like a challenge, but as they say – you have to start somewhere.
Of course this doesn’t mean that I’ll never go “occasion” shopping again, but it does mean that I’ll take a good look in my closet before I add to my online cart. I challenge you to do the same: use the pieces you already have before purchasing more.
