Following on from last week’s blog – I want to start by talking about how minimalism has changed my attitude towards fashion and clothing.
I initially used Project 333 as a tool to streamline my clothes. Going through the process of limiting how many clothes I wear and storing the remainder made it much easier to let go of what I wasn’t wearing and appreciate the clothes I feel good in.
I now own dramatically fewer clothes! Deciding what to wear is so much easier, I’m making better decisions on what to knit, sew or buy and I have definitely saved some money.
I’m wearing my handmade/up-cycled garments a lot more – particularly those I’ve made in the last couple of years because I think I’m making better choices. If you’ve seen me recently I was probably wearing one of these outfits…
Condensing down my wardrobe and breaking my fast fashion shopping habits has been a great first step but unfortunately I haven’t immediately acquired the capsule wardrobe of my dreams!
My dream is to have an entirely handmade wardrobe… but I know that’s unrealistic because I don’t have the time or the sewing skills to make everything. I need to add to/replace some items in my wardrobe but I’ve been feeling completely lost as to where to find what I need/want to fill those gaps, from ethical and sustainable brands.
Since watching The True Cost I’ve been feeling really uncomfortable about buying anything at all from high street shops but simply didn’t know where else to shop. And this is where I’ll hand you over to the expert –Aja Barber!
I started following Aja on Instagram earlier this year and as I was learning a huge amount from her posts, I subscribed to her Patreon... and I’m so glad I did!
If, like me, you want to opt out of fast fashion but are feeling a bit lost – hop over to Aja’s Instagram post on five things you can do right now to get started. And I would highly recommend subscribing to Aja’s Patreon.
As well as extra posts and links to interesting articles about sustainability in the fashion industry – Aja’s Patreon includes a hand-picked list of ethical & sustainable brands. This has really helped me to work out where I can shop guilt-free to fill my wardrobe gaps.
I’m also trying to get better at second hand shopping! I’ve never really been a browser – I’m normally looking for a particular thing and that makes second-hand shopping a bit more difficult. So I’m trying to do more browsing with a view to picking up garments I could adjust or use the fabric from to make something new. We’ll see!
