The Great American Apparel Diet

no buying for one year

I heard about the diet for the first time last weekend, when Sally was on NPR talking about its ending. Right now I’m in grad school, studying computer science. So I don’t need to maintain a particularly awesome wardrobe — my classmates tend to favor aging Star Trek T-shirts, after all.

I also don’t HAVE a particularly awesome wardrobe. But it sure does take up a lot of space! So part of the reason to adopt the diet is to become more mindful of what I already have, to clean out overstuffed drawers and closets so I can get at the treasures therein, or at least know what I’ve got.

It’s already been interesting to notice the times I get tempted to buy something new. Usually, I’m trying to fill a need for something that is NOT clothing. If you’ve ever tried to deal with bad eating habits, you know this drill already. But going cold turkey on clothing is a lot easier than following any food plan. I’ve stopped myself several times, and diverted my attention to something else, just as you’d do with a 2-year-old bound and determined to color on the walls.

The other day, I realized that what I wanted was not clothing but color, so I went for a pedicure and got sparkly red toes. Another time, I caught myself shopping online for geek T-shirts and realized I needed to process some feelings around feeling like an outsider among the people in my department.

Because I spend a lot of time online, I’m easily triggered by ads for online stores. And because I am plus-size, I have very few options for buying clothes in person, which brings up a whole lot of feelings around body image and societal expectations and the clothing industry, which can further trigger unnecessary spending.

So one step I’m taking this week is simply to be aware of how often I receive clothes-triggering messages, and try to reduce that number. I’ve been unsubscribing to clothing-related newsletters, blogs (except the awesome Manolo for the Big Girl, because I love it for reasons that have nothing to do with shopping) and Facebook connections. I’ve also installed AdBlock on my browsers.

This weekend, if it stops being UNBEARABLY HOT, I’ll start going through the clothes in my bureau. I’m open to getting rid of some, but really this is just for the purpose of organizing and knowing what I’ve got.

• share:
• Bookmark on Delicious
• Digg this
• Recommend on Facebook
• Share on Reddit
• Share with Stumblers
• Tweet this
• Follow this posts comments

Tweet This Post

I’ve been thinking I should go on a shopping spree before Sept. 1st so I have everything I need for the next year! Needs and wants–it’s something I talk to my daughter about all the time. My desire for new clothes is a want, not a need! That will be my mantra for the next year.

• share:
• Bookmark on Delicious
• Digg this
• Recommend on Facebook
• Share on Reddit
• Share with Stumblers
• Tweet this
• Follow this posts comments

Tweet This Post

A few weeks ago Toronto’s Global Television contacted me through TGAAD. They said they were interested in doing a small feature on TGAAD. Since I seemed to be the only Torontonian on the diet they wondered if I would like to be interviewed for the feature. It sounded like a lot of fun and I said yes.
A few days ago a reporter and a camera man came to our house and spent 45 minutes filming my closets. They edited their film and showed the piece on last night’s news.
As of today (August 6, 2010) the piece can be seen under “Fashion Diet” at:
http://www.globaltoronto.com/video/index.html
I have had really good feedback from the people who have seen it. Even I liked it, though it is strange seeing and hearing yourself. They were very kind to me. They could have made fun of me, but they did not. Thanks Global TV.
Now I really have to stay on the diet until the end of the year !!

• share:
• Bookmark on Delicious
• Digg this
• Recommend on Facebook
• Share on Reddit
• Share with Stumblers
• Tweet this
• Follow this posts comments

Tweet This Post

I’ve been pretty successful on this diet, though I have had a few “cheats”. I will catalogue them now for full disclosure: 1 pair boots this winter (I actually did not have a pair of boots that were waterproof, and now that I am commuting a few blocks in the snow, they were necessary), a new t-shirt from a state park and a new shirt from a local artisan. I think this is pretty darn good! It’s way better than I’ve ever done on a food diet anyway! Besides the practicality of the boots, the two shirts were supporting things that I want to support. I could have just given the park money, but I like advertising for it. And the artisan was at a local craft fair, so it was a one-time chance.
What’s been the most interesting to me throughout this diet though is how I’ve found a new value system.

When I first started, every day that I walked past Anne Taylor was torture. And I walk past this store every week day. I would stare in and LONG for the outfits in the window. A couple of months ago, I went into the store. I was nervous, and I found I wanted things. But then I looked at the price tags. Suddenly dropping $180 on a new dress “just because” seemed appauling! I used to do this weekly without batting an eye, now it just seems frivolous, despicable even. I saw these cute t-shirts with ribbons and pearls on them, and thought about how much I wanted one. It wasn’t very expensive either. But I realized that I could actually take a pink t-shirt I already own and turn it into this cute be-dazzled shirt. This was especially a good idea because the shirt has a small coffee stain on it, and I have therefore not worn it. But I could turn it into something I want to wear again by attaching decorative items to it!

I now find myself exploring store windows, not with lust and envy, but with a curious eye turned towards “how did they make that”? I am re-discovering my once artistic and creative self, and finding fulfillment. I am also discovering that I have managed to save a lot of money for things that matter more to me, and feeling less stressed out.  It’s nice to be able to walk to work without feeling completely depressed that you “can’t have” that cute dress in the window.  Now I realize that I can have whatever I want, but my “wants” are changing.

Who knew that deprivation would lead to so much gain!?

• share:
• Bookmark on Delicious
• Digg this
• Recommend on Facebook
• Share on Reddit
• Share with Stumblers
• Tweet this
• Follow this posts comments

Tweet This Post

Me sporting one of Erika's gifts

As my participation in TGAAD is nearing it’s 8th month, I’ve come to realize that this is not merely a little social experiment.   TGAAD is, in fact, a group of REAL flesh-and-blood people from across the world who, together, have created a community – a caring, supportive alliance.  Whether it’s empathic comments and feedback on one another’s entries, clothing swaps organized amongst geographically close members, or offers of support for fellow participants, I see the manifestation of that caring community on the pages of this blog every day.

For me, personally, the support of TGAAD has taken the form of encouraging feedback on my blogs about our family’s struggles with unemployment, kind words about my weight loss successes, and generally supportive replies to my various posts.  I know that I’m a part of a warmhearted network of women here!

I was impressed all-the-more recently when Erika – a Seattle dieter I’d never met – made a very thoughtful and generous offer.  After reading my entry about needing clothes for a new part-time job, she e-mailed me photos of three lovely work blouses she no longer wears.  She thought they’d be my size and offered to send them to me if I was interested!

I ask you… how cool is that!?  We’re essentially complete strangers living on opposite coasts of the country, but she cared enough to reach out to me in this way and offer her help.

Appreciative of Erika’s offer, I immediately took her up on it and, not long thereafter, I received my three new blouses in the mail.  I tried them on straightaway, and was thrilled to find that all fit perfectly.  Yay!  Christmas in June!

I have already had an opportunity to wear one of the blouses (photo above) and can’t wait for a chance to do so with the others.  As a newly-working woman, I know they will play a huge role in carrying me through to September 1^st on this diet.

Well, I guess what I really want to say here is THANK YOU, Erika, for your kindness and generosity… and thanks to ALL of my fellow “dieters” for your support and for creating the caring community that TGAAD has become!  Keep on encouraging one another on your respective journeys… You guys rock!

• share:
• Bookmark on Delicious
• Digg this
• Recommend on Facebook
• Share on Reddit
• Share with Stumblers
• Tweet this
• Follow this posts comments

Tweet This Post

My name is J.S., and this challenge really struck a chord with me when I first read about it. As a young adult who works in the fashion industry, I witness consumerism and the short lifespan of ever-evolving trends on a daily basis. One day it’s in, the next day it’s out. This is why I believe developing your own style is important. Not only do you become less immune to these trends, but you can stand out from the crowd. Why wear something just because it’s “in right now”? Your style is what makes you, you. This challenge is an opportunity to continue developing my style by looking into my closet and exercising some creativity! The other goal is to free up, time (and space) to invest in what is important to me. This will be an interesting challenge because all day I am surrounded by clothes, and I occasionally wholesale-buy for clothing. I guess the perk of saving aside a pair to stow away in my closet will be gone until September 1st, 2010. I want to see how strong I mentally am. Bring it on!

• share:
• Bookmark on Delicious
• Digg this
• Recommend on Facebook
• Share on Reddit
• Share with Stumblers
• Tweet this
• Follow this posts comments

Tweet This Post

Hi guys…anyone out there?  Things are sort of quiet on the blog these days which makes me wonder….are you all still dieting?  Remember only a few more months. 

Some good news.  My husband and I just got a tandem bike.  The bad news…cycling apparel.  For those of you unfamiliar with cycling shorts they are every girl’s fashion nemesis.  The good news, I don’t have to spend anytime in a dressing room trying on cycling shorts like I did last year thanks to TGAAD.   I will  blaze forward in the same bad, unattractive shorts I wore last year.  Which brings up a scary topic.  Trying on bike shorts.  If you haven’t done it don’t.  It’s enough to make a girl give up on the sport.  See my post from last Spring when I found myself in the same situation.  Unfortuantely I was still shopping…

June 2009 (pre TGAAD)

I have recently and reluctantly re-taken up cycling, I guess you could call it recycling.   I say reluctantly not because I don’t enjoy cycling or its benefits—forty miles equals a monster sized burrito and a frothy Hefferweizen.  I say reluctantly because the clothes SUCK.  I am being kind when I say that no one, not even Mark, my handsome, 2% body fat husband looks good in the stuff.  

My re-entry into the sport began last spring when Mark talked me into upgrading my old, Raleigh ten speed to a fancy, schmancy, carbon fiber, eighteen speed something or other, with clip-in pedals.  He said the upgrade was for me but I really think the old red Raleigh along side his pimped-out racing bike embarrassed him.  My new bike, donned with all the components and the aero dynamic seat that is sure to give me hemorrhoids, is something he can stand by with pride.  My outfit?  Not so much.   Upon completing the expensive bike transaction with the tattooed sales specialist, Mark insisted we stop by the apparel section of the store to check out some cycling pants.  He obviously had a vision. 

“Wait a minute,” I said, pausing in my tracks for effect.   “Cycling pants?  Are you !@#$%^ nuts?  I told you I’d ride but I didn’t say I’d wear the pants. I would rather wear a pair of high waist, acid washed jeans than a pair of ugly, spandex, sausage legged shorts with a crotch chaffing, Kotex Maxi Pad chamois.  It’s not my look.”   

“Well then what are you going to wear?” he asked.  

“My yoga pants.”

“Your yoga pants, for cycling?”   

“Yeah, why not?  They look so much better.  You know the ones, the bell bottom lulu lemon pants with the hipster contrast border at the waist.”

“You’re not serious.”

“Yes.  I am not wearing those weird pants.  No way.”

I saw in his eyes his vision for our future of biking together slip away.  “You can’t wear yoga pants babe.  Not with your fancy new bike.  It’s just not done.”

I knew then I was in over my head.  This cycling business was so much more than the bike.  It was a culture that demanded an aesthetic reset.  I was now the proud owner of a fancy bike that required me to scrap my instinctive fashion sensibility and embrace the ugliest, most unattractive trend invented by man (a woman would know better). 

And so right there in the bike store I acquiesced.   I gathered six to ten pair of black cycling shorts and began the demoralizing task of squeezing my soft body into a variety of girdle like contraptions, one after the other in search of the “most flattering pair.”  News flash, for those of you who have an issue with cellulite the issue becomes an all out crisis in bike shorts. I stood face to face with myself in the small, dingy fitting room and mouthed the words “you know better.”   

Mark called from outside the dressing room, “hon, come out and show us.”  The us included the youngish, sinewy sales woman.   “Not yet,” I said, nearly out of breath and laboriously peeling off another pair of tourniquet shorts.   The sales girl chimed in, “do you have a jersey?”  And with that she hung three loudly colored polyester jerseys over the dressing room door.  “Try these on, we just got them in.  They’re awesome.”   Awesome was not the word that came to mind.  Logo-mad print designer on acid was more like it.

I finally settled on a pair of black, below the knee knickers with a stayfree mini-pad sized chamois.  They were $90.  Who knew that being unattractive could cost so much?   My husband and his sales clerk side-kick were disappointed that I passed on the Jerseys.  I was certain that I could get away with cycling pants and a Gap t-shirt for a while.  At least until I found an inconspicuous jersey that didn’t scream “this is ugly.”

• share:
• Bookmark on Delicious
• Digg this
• Recommend on Facebook
• Share on Reddit
• Share with Stumblers
• Tweet this
• Follow this posts comments

Tweet This Post

All right dieters, for many of you this diet ends in 85 days.  I am trying to prepare as best I can for the day when we are “set free.”  The last thing I want is a mass binge on crappy, (earth damning) clothes all made in inhumane factories in China. 

As you know I have been pondering the question—what does responsible consumerism mean and is eco-fashion code for burlap dress?  First let me reflect a bit. At the beginning of this diet I didn’t know I would become interested in “world friendly” fashion.  But through TGAAD experiment I have read, met and interviewed several fashionistas who have made a concerted effort to be both fashionable and kind to the globe.  I have come to admire that goal and would like to try that myself. 

So, with that thought, I am hoping that when I am finally “let loose” at the mall I will be much more aware of where my products come from, who made them and what they are made of.  We are talking sophisticated, hot, sexy, sharp, professional, fun clothes, not Burning Man attire.  Apparel that looks beautiful, is made well and comes from a place that you can pronounce. 

So beginning today I am going to, along with my intern Kim, share the knowledge of what eco brands exist out there.  This will be a daily update.  We will begin to educate you on who is shaping the designs and direction of eco friendly fashion.  We will introduce you to people and companies who can legitimately boast fair treatment of their employees.  And finally and I think most exciting we will open your eyes to some stellar American sourced and American made brands that you can get enthusiastic about.  So here it goes.

• share:
• Bookmark on Delicious
• Digg this
• Recommend on Facebook
• Share on Reddit
• Share with Stumblers
• Tweet this
• Follow this posts comments

Tweet This Post

I cheated. Nine months in and I cheated. I bought two new yoga tops. I could give you some good excuses like – my droopy boobs that seem to have dropped two additional inches this year – needed a bit more support, but that would just be an excuse. A real one none the less, but still I could have held out. The real reason is that I started ‘not to care’…just got tired of all the other pressures of my life and this seemed the easier route to take. Just got back from a very rough trip to NY while my brother received chemo for 4 days in a row, with me by his side. Many, many family dynamics and a long flight delay home, to MORE RAIN and MORE family pressures and I just got plain tired. I’m sorry. But I’m not returning the tops. I will do my best to stay on track for the remaining months. As much as I say I don’t care…it does matter.

• share:
• Bookmark on Delicious
• Digg this
• Recommend on Facebook
• Share on Reddit
• Share with Stumblers
• Tweet this
• Follow this posts comments

Tweet This Post

OMG!  I can’t tell y’all how excited I was the other day when I made an amazing discovery in my attic!  I was up there conducting our biannual switcharoo of summer and winter clothes (yay for spring!), when I saw it… The label on the Rubbermaid bin of what I THOUGHT was just kids’ clothes read, “CATHY – TOO SMALL”.  Lordy, lordy… HALLELUJIA!!!

As I’ve posted previously, I have lost over 20 lbs since November (thank you, Weight Watchers!) and have slowly (and healthily) shrunk from a size 8-10 to a size 1-2.  I feel wonderful, but my weight loss has made this clothing diet exponentially more challenging.  I purged all of my too small winter clothes about a year ago (dummy me), and believed I had done the same with my spring & summer clothes, so I was pleasantly surprised… No, that’s too weak an expression… I was ‘ecstatically shocked’ to discover that I had actually KEPT an entire box of warm-weather clothing that I had previously grown out of!

After lugging that bin down from the attic, I spent the next 45 minutes trying on item after item (jeans, capris, casual skirts…), joyfully discovering that they almost all FIT!  It truly was like an exceptionally extravagant Christmas morning for me.    My fortuitous discovery happened just in the nick of time, too.  I was ever-so-close to going out and buying all of the clothing staples I needed in my size to get me through till Sept. 1.

Having just started a new job where corporate business attire is required, I do have some necessary clothing purchases looming on my horizon.  However, this fabulous, unexpected bin of clothing will make a WORLD of difference in my ability to stay TGAAD-faithful otherwise.

• share:
• Bookmark on Delicious
• Digg this
• Recommend on Facebook
• Share on Reddit
• Share with Stumblers
• Tweet this
• Follow this posts comments

Tweet This Post