It seems appropriate to end my Six Items Challenge for Labour Behind the Label in the little white dress I started in. I wore my white Reformation dress to celebrate our two year wedding anniversary and it got me thinking…
I have too many clothes and although I am on a mission to make my wardrobe more sustainable, I still face fashion urges to buy something new. Even if it is beautiful and ethically made in organic cotton, I still need to learn that less is more. What I am saying is that I am not holier than thou. Weirdly though, the one time that arguably justifies a shopping trip (one’s wedding) I actually wore a dress I had owned for years.
It wasn’t from a previous marriage (not mine anyway) or a sample sale where all sorts of this is too good to resist scenarios run through your mind – strangely it was a student loan purchase for my photography degree. Nine years later, wise enough to recognise love at first sight kind of craziness and the value of a 1960s Courreges hanging in my wardrobe, I couldn’t get married in anything else.
One of my takeaways from the challenge is to think of buying clothes like choosing a life partner. Find out what they’re made of and ask yourself if you’re excited by the prospect of being seen with them years down the line.
©Photographs Reclaimed Woman