Last night as I was rummaging around in my closet looking for something to wear it occurred to me that I have given, thrown or recycled a lot of clothes over the past ten years. Darn, I’d love to have some of those items back, and if not the items themselves the time it took for me to shop, clean, futz and manage them into my wardrobe. Especially now since I am no longer able to purchase any new apparel. I remember vividly, an amazing and probably overpriced DKNY sweater coat. A sort of retro 20s style with velvet accents. I wonder who’s wearing that gorgeous garment now. I wish I were.
This morning, right on the heels of my closet rummaging, I read an article in the NYTimes magazine about storage and consumerism. By 2005, according to the Boston College sociologist Juliet B. Schol, the average consumer purchased one new piece of clothing every five and a half days.
This eye-opening statistic got me thinking about a “slow clothing” movement. There are official slow food, slow money, slow travel and slow sex movements these days. Why not a slow clothing movement? I wondered. And is The Great Amearican Apparel Diet the beginning of it?
I googled “slow clothing” and “slow fashion,” and guess what…we’re slow to the movement. People have been blogging about this for a long time. “Wear local,” they say—is that like a sweater made with Fido the family dog’s hair? Or does it mean belting your neighbor’s old drapes and wearing them as a topper, a la Maria Van Trapp? Maybe we could learn from the Hispanics who wear huarache sandals made from repurposed flat tires? Buy from a thrift store and then remake your own, the experts suggest. Sew the arms of one sweater to the bodice of another, cut off pants and make them into a patchwork skirt, turn a tube top into a Rasta hair band. I am envisioning a renaissance fair.
In one article I read in the Christian Science Monitor, the author challenged US households “to create a single outfit for every man, woman, and child that is homemade.” Going back to a bygone era, she also suggested that people mend and darn their clothes.
Good idea for those people who:
a.) Know the meaning of darn in this context.
b). Know how to darn or sew http://www.ehow.com/how_648_darn-sock.html
c). Have a sewing machine. ( Investment Tip: Buy Singer, Ticker Symbol: SEW, you heard it here).
Darn (as in Darn-it), I wish I had that DKNY sweater coat and that brown Liz Claiborne maxi, corduroy coat from 1987, and let’s not forget the blinding Neon Obermeyer ski jacket I bought in 1992 to match the bottom of my K2s. Looking back, I admit, it was a wasteful, hedonistic and consumer-centric few decades—but we looked good.
Now, with my apparel budget cut to the quick and my participation in The Great American Apparel Diet, I am left fantasizing about my old wardrobe. I imagine a lovely waif of a “slow clothing movement” girl prancing down the runway of life in my old clothes and my Guess booties. I trust that she appreciates where her wardrobe began. I really hope, upon further reflection, that the “slow girl” hasn’t sewn the arms of my Obermeyer ski jacket onto the bodice of my brown Liz Claiborne Courdory Maxi coat. But if she has, all I can say is “you go–slow girl!”
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.
problem solved.
Now, a majority of members are women and we know that it’s a challenge in itself to not purchase clothing, and make outfits work that haven’t been worn in years. So as you struggle with wearing old sweaters and layering all of the items which you do already own, take a moment to think about the items that are going on underneath all of that winter layering. An ill fitting bra can make an old top look more worn than what it actually is, so remember new bras are allowed (thank goodness!) and wearing a properly fitting one can make an old shirt look a lot newer than it is! One of our old dieters and a good friend to us at The Great American Apparel Diet, Rebecca Kotch, is doing some research on where we buy the undergarments we put on before we get dressed for the day or go out for the night. We love hearing your responses to all of the polls and are really excited for this new poll. Rebecca is hoping you can give some insight into how you purchase your often neglected (in our posts) but essential wardrobe items! We do have one question from the poll up on our site, but if you could vote through the link below, the information would be greatly appreciated! 
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