O.K. so this week’s poll is a wrap. The winner goes to the casual top–62% of you said it’s what you own the most of in your closet. I don’t know about you but the casual top category has been the death of my debit card over the years. Whenever I have a jonesin’ for a polyester pick-me-up what better to feed that urge than a cheap casual top. It’s like a Kit-Kat bar at the checkout counter at the grocery store just screamin’ “take me home, I’m lonely.” It’s a spontaneous decision–the People magazine or the Kit-Kat bar? The Kit-Kat always wins. Don’t get me wrong, I like my People Magazine I just prefer it free at the gym or in the gynocologists office. The casual top for me is often spontaneous because it’s usually cheaper than a sweater or a blouse and it promises so much. It can be playful, outrageous or just plain trashy and it doesn’t take a big chunk out of the budget. This behavior, this spontaneous feel good item for which I imbue so much expectation is exactly what I am aiming to get away from once I’m shopping again. I look at it this way. The casual top is like a gateway drug… it leads to more shopping, more consumption and confusion–expecially if it comes in a print. My motto–just say no to the casual top impulse. Say no to buying without trying, say no to made in China, say no to trendy and say no to anything that looks ten years younger than your age. If it’s not something you are sure you’ll wear at least once a week walk away, take a breath and ask yourself—do I need this? That’s my two cents, or call it five.
Twenty-five years ago I lived in San Francisco with my childhood friend, we will call her Jay. We had parted ways in high school due to my father’s relocation for his job and reconnected after I had graduated from college. “Come live with me in the city,” I begged. She did. 
Part of the reason we live in a disposable apparel culture is that we don’t take the time or make the effort to take care of the clothes we own. I remember as a kid my mother hand washing her favorite items. This was long before people sent everything to the dry cleaner, which by the way can ruin a wardrobe if you are not careful. My mother’s special “delicate” silks and jerseys would hang on the shower rod in our bathroom or on the floor laid flat to dry. I can’t remember the last time I hand washed something. My mother, by the way is a fashion icon at 72 years old. Her wardrobe can go up against anyone’s wardrobe anyday. Most of what’s especially beautiful in her closet are those things she has hung onto for years. So that brings me to this…how do we modern girls learn from the generation before us about taking care of what we already own? Here are some basic principles. Please add on your own and I will post them too.
Hello all, I must admit I am looking forward to going off this diet (less than a month away). It has been a fast year. It seems like yesterday that I was floating this idea out to my sister, who by the way, lasted only one month. 
Tonight I was with my friend Portia who has been contemplating going on this diet for 11 months now. I told her that I have decided to extend the diet for one more year, in light of the fact that there have been so many people interested in joining the effort in the past few weeks (here we go again). When I told Portia it wasn’t too late to realize the benefits of clothing deprivation she hooped and hollered “That’s what I need, a closet colonic.” The visual made me gag. She went on to claim, “Deep within my big, fat, bloated walk-in closet there is a skinny one begging to be free.” Portia, warming to the idea, is going to “think about it,” before she commits. Let me be clear…I am not doing this for another year myself but I will moderate, facilitate, contemplate and write about life post diet. 
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!
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