Fashionable de-cluttering
Blogging time has been a little reduced these past weeks as I've been on a bit of a mission. From a rather loosely made New Year's resolution to de-clutter, clearing out my wardrobe progressed into a proper fashion event held last Friday evening. It's been really fun, a lot of hard work and perhaps not the wisest move when trying to meet a large work project deadline but would I do it again? Hell yeah!!!
An initial clear out in early January left me with a rather embarrassing number of bags of excess clothes. Some had been hung onto for sentimental reasons, some were projects that were fun in the making but didn't look much on, quite a few were things I'd either grown out of or were now too saggy and baggy after weeks on the 5:2 and others were things I liked but just hadn't worn for ages (I had to be strict). The stash was sorted one weekend a few weeks ago. Holey, frayed and those unfit for further wear were taken for textile recycling, better quality items were donated between several local charity shops, a few diligently listed on eBay to fund some travels later in the year and a number of bags were put aside to 'swish' as part of an idea for an event on sustainable fashion that had taken root sometime before Christmas. 'Swishing' if you have not come across the concept before, is basically a swop shop. Everyone brings a set number of good quality clothes, gets a token in exchange and then 'spends' their tokens on the items from other guests. Simple and effective.
I am already a dedicated charity shop fashionista and am rather happy to say that the vast majority of my clothes are 'pre-loved'. Partly this is because I'm always short of cash, can never find something I love that fits properly but mostly because I find cheaply made fast fashion rather depressing. If you have ever made yourself anything to wear you will wonder how on earth a pair of jeans can cost £5, what does the maker, usually a woman, get paid? After a discussion along these lines with a work colleague, we managed to put together an evening screening of the critically acclaimed film The True Cost which shows just how cheap clothes impact of the lives of the workers and the state of the planet, with a performance artist from Brighton Fashion Week and a rather successful swishing session to end. From my nine unwanted items I came away with a beautiful navy silk dress, a jumper and a denim skirt plus a very satisfied sense of an evening well spent. Now it's time to start concentrating back on food!
An initial clear out in early January left me with a rather embarrassing number of bags of excess clothes. Some had been hung onto for sentimental reasons, some were projects that were fun in the making but didn't look much on, quite a few were things I'd either grown out of or were now too saggy and baggy after weeks on the 5:2 and others were things I liked but just hadn't worn for ages (I had to be strict). The stash was sorted one weekend a few weeks ago. Holey, frayed and those unfit for further wear were taken for textile recycling, better quality items were donated between several local charity shops, a few diligently listed on eBay to fund some travels later in the year and a number of bags were put aside to 'swish' as part of an idea for an event on sustainable fashion that had taken root sometime before Christmas. 'Swishing' if you have not come across the concept before, is basically a swop shop. Everyone brings a set number of good quality clothes, gets a token in exchange and then 'spends' their tokens on the items from other guests. Simple and effective.
I am already a dedicated charity shop fashionista and am rather happy to say that the vast majority of my clothes are 'pre-loved'. Partly this is because I'm always short of cash, can never find something I love that fits properly but mostly because I find cheaply made fast fashion rather depressing. If you have ever made yourself anything to wear you will wonder how on earth a pair of jeans can cost £5, what does the maker, usually a woman, get paid? After a discussion along these lines with a work colleague, we managed to put together an evening screening of the critically acclaimed film The True Cost which shows just how cheap clothes impact of the lives of the workers and the state of the planet, with a performance artist from Brighton Fashion Week and a rather successful swishing session to end. From my nine unwanted items I came away with a beautiful navy silk dress, a jumper and a denim skirt plus a very satisfied sense of an evening well spent. Now it's time to start concentrating back on food!
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