Fashion should be enjoyed, not sat unseen in a dark wardrobe.
A year ago, I wrote a blogpost titled “My 2020 Fashion Challenge” (catch it HERE if you missed it the first time around) and I thought I’d give an update on how it went, whether I stuck to it and what I learned. For those that missed the blogpost or don’t fancy giving it a read, here’s a brief synopsis of the challenge.
Having spent the last few years falling in love with preloved luxury fashion and understanding the merits of buying preowned, I wanted to take this love-affair one step further. Previously, I’d merely enjoyed the thrill of it but there are other, more pertinent, reasons to shopping second hand. My 2020 Fashion Challenge was about exploring these further.
As I looked back on my 20s they were filled with excessive shopping and fast fashion. I dread to think about the number of wasted clothes and the amount of money. In truth, it was consumed with not needing anything but constantly wanting more and more. This was something I wanted to address.
As a result, I set myself a goal to curb my consumption. The first was to focus more on shopping preloved. In an ideal world, I would have shopped exclusively preowned but I knew this was a big leap to take. For me, goals need to be achievable, otherwise, I’ll fall at the first hurdle and give up completely. So, the second part of my challenge was to allow myself to buy new but only with money I’d raised from selling items in my current wardrobe. This meant there was always a circular element to anything I purchased.
As we all know 2020 ended up being a very weird year. This partly made the challenge easier and partly made it harder. It was difficult to shop preloved when the shops were shut. If I’ve learned anything about shopping second hand, it’s that trying on and being 100% certain is essential. This is because most preowned shops don’t accept returns. While a lot of boutiques redirected their energy to selling online or via Instagram, I was reluctant to splurge when refunds weren’t an option. This meant I only made 4 preloved purchases last year (3 of which you can read about in my 2020 Favourites
Where I had more success and where lockdown aided my challenge was selling my own clothes. Being at home meant I had time to clear out my closet fully. I used eBay, Depop, Instagram and several independent resellers to sell over 500 items. I made a hefty sum of money, more than I ever dreamed of. As you can imagine it more than covered any new shopping I did in 2020. I’ll be writing a detailed blogpost about how to sell your clothes, bags, shoes, etc, so watch this space as I’ll be sharing everything I learned from the experience.
Looking back on my 2020 fashion challenge, there was definitely more I could have done. I wish I’d focused further on shopping preloved. However, the successes I did enjoy were more than I could’ve imagined. There’s something incredibly satisfying about parting with your unwanted items and knowing they’re headed to a more loving home. I sold a lot of items I forgot I had. Fashion should be enjoyed, not sat unseen in a dark wardrobe. I’ve learned having a concise closet filled exclusively with pieces I love is far more satisfying than an overflowing one with items I feel indifferent about. As a result, I have also become a lot more considerate about what I choose to buy. I’m so glad I set myself the fashion challenge as it reset my approach to shopping and I’m looking forward to carrying it into 2021.
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