Closet Shopping: Lifestyle and Economic Recovery

You know, my closet con­tin­ues to sur­prise and inspire me.

A good friend chal­lenged me, or rather sug­gested some months ago, that she thought I had enough clothes in there to go a whole year with­out shop­ping. I was not con­vinced then. I’m not con­vinced now, but I con­tinue to be pleas­antly surprised.

With a demand­ing 2010 goals list that includes home own­er­ship and the bright­est future imag­in­able, my closet has been con­sis­tently giv­ing up the goods with charm to spare.

Between cardies that know how to play well with oth­ers, sum­mer dresses that have shown their fear­less­ness and gone inside-out on occa­sion, and t-shirts which are as irrev­er­ent as they want to be—as a result of my pen­chant for scis­sors and accessories—I’m in my element.

I am fur­ther encour­aged by the fear­less and yes, fierce Mrs. O, as she has done color, pat­tern, flow and struc­ture in pieces that she reprises ever so often, if only to remind that old doesn’t need to be new or vice versa, but both only need be acces­si­ble and very NOW. Never mind the pres­ence of a styl­ist or not, when a woman knows exactly what is behind her closet doors (or even just what’s pos­si­ble) then style doesn’t fol­low fash­ion, but trumps it every sin­gle time.

The best gets of the past two years of my life have not been buys, but finds at my work­place cloth­ing and jew­elry exchange (two sep­a­rate events which I look for­ward to excit­edly) and my love affair with my local good­will. Of course the lat­ter has been put on pause, but when I do go back, it will be with a vengeance and tis­sues on hand (after an hour or so, the sneez­ing starts).

I will cop to one relapse since I started this jour­ney of closet shop­ping as lifestyle and eco­nomic recov­ery, and this bold navy minidress/tunic, which instantly make me feel like danc­ing with its ruf­fled hem, was not shy when it walked out my neigh­bor­hood Ross with me.

I called it sad-shopping as it was the week­end of mother’s day and I was filled with melan­choly and missing.

Let me tell you, It is not easy to stay away from the racks. I’m just not the kind of girl who lives to work, but the total opposite.

So, the emo­tional hunt will always be on for the per­fect pair of Levi’s, or classic-style fit­ted jean jacket with the right touch of indigo and dis­tress to down­play or uplift any outfit.

Then, there’s the per­fect pair of stovepipe chi­nos, and the grey skin­nies which I pre­fer with­out the 80’s stonewash reference.

The list really does go on and on.

Still, there’s a great deal of sat­is­fac­tion to be had in ‘mak­ing it work’ as Tim Gunn would suggest.

Regard­less of where this year takes me, it’s nice to know that I can use what I have to cre­ate the lifestyle I want with­out break­ing the bank and while build­ing a healthy reserve.

Have you ever shopped your own closet? Share your experience.

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