Oh yes. Clothing. It's a big business, isn't it? It's very easy, as a female, to acquire a lot of clothing. I certainly didn't think I had a lot of clothing, since I don't follow fashions or buy stuff every season- but I still have over 200 pieces of clothing, excluding home clothes and underwear.
I think I ended up with far more clothes than M for four main reasons:
- There is a larger choice. Much larger choice. M gets to pick betweeen polos, t shirts or buttoned up shirts. In necklines alone, I get to choose from boat, v, u, scoop, sweet heart, turtleneck, square, plunging, bateu, round, round split, cowl, draped, halter, one shouldered, portrait, scalloped, cross over, diamond, keyhole, asymmetrical, wide...
- Other stuff. I cannot wear the same bra under all these necklines... actually, I do. Because the last time I wore a strapless bra, it was so tight (the shop assistants swore to me it was supposed to be tight) it actually cut off my circulation so badly, I ended up with these weird fat deposits under my arm. Like blisters, because the flow of bodily fluids were so badly restricted. Ok, so I have only regular bras, and I refuse to go strapless, ever. I also refuse to go braless, ever, and I can't be stuffed buying all different types of bras to go under different types of tops. But even then, I still need other stuff. Like a slip to go under a white dress. Or bike pants, to go under dresses and skirts. Pantyhose, in various deniers. Camis or singlets, to go under various tops. You get the idea.
- Then there is a wider range of cuts, and fabrics, making them suitable for vastly different events. Women's clothes are generally harder to dress down or up, compared to men's. Example: cocktail attire, going out for drinks wear, clubbing wear, after 5 wear, business casual, dressy casual, business formal, a job interview, graduation clothes, "friend's wedding at the beach", "friends wedding at church," and "friend's baby's baptism," would have me reaching for vastly different items of clothing. M can get away with a long sleeved buttoned up shirt, men's dress shoes or non scrungy closed in shoes, good jeans or formal pants, and perhaps a tie for all of these events. 5 items- 9 if you include cologne, a watch, underpants and socks- has all his dressing up needs covered for the next 20 years or so. But me? I could wear more than 9 items in the one outfit. (Dress, cardigan, knickers, bra to match the colour of dress and neckline of dress, slip, panty hose, socks (because I'm weird like that) bike shorts (it's a modesty thing under my skirts) shoes (to match the dress and occasion) handbag (again, matching the dress, shoes and occasion) make up (eyeliner, foundation, mascara, lipstick, eyeshadow) necklace, earrings, other accessories (hair? broach? scarf? etc). Also, it's faux pas for a girl to wear black to a wedding or baptism (sorry little black dress), and colour to a funeral (sorry, all purpose red dress), unless otherwise specified. Unless the wedding has a black theme, I guess, but even then it doesn't seem right. Oh, and never wear white to a wedding, unless you're the bride. Also, fashionistas will argue that certain colours belong in certain seasons ie you can't wear winter colours to a summer wedding.
- Oh yeah. Colours. There is a larger colourway. Men's clothes normally come in 50 shades of drab. Girls clothes come in every colour of the rainbow because SEASONS ARE SOMETHING WE NEED TO FOLLOW AND COLOURS CHANGE EVERY SEASON AND EVERY YEAR apparently (this dates back to Japan's Heian times, the idea that one should wear certain colours for certain seasons) so therefore, you end up buying more clothes in different colours to match other stuff. Like, I can't wear my red cardigan with my purple dress, clearly I need a different cardigan. Also, the blue shoes I always wear with my red dress aren't suitable for this event, because they're strappy heels, and it's a winter event held on grass.
At this point, M's given up and just handed me a $20 dollar note, going ok, fine, whatever. But this is bigger this us, darling. I cannot go to your friend's spring wedding wearing the same outfit from my friend's winter engagement party because they require totally different clothes. No, I can't wear the heels I already have, because they're green. You know I can't wear green and red. That's for Christmas only...
These four reasons- larger choice, different expectation from society, colour matching and accessories(? Undergarmenting?) kinda explains why I have so much more clothing than M, even when you knock out the 5th reason of "advertising is constantly telling me to buy more clothes." So, the idea of shedding so much clothing is kinda scary... will I still be socially acceptable if I wear the same four things to every fancy event for the next 10 years? Will people give me the side eye and refuse to be my friend? Will I be able to make a good impression? But... I'm going ok so far. I've gotten down to about 80 items of clothing. It's not so bad, to be honest. Once I started, it was ok. Therapeutic. I've hit a wall, because I don't want to go through my winter stuff just yet. I just don't think I'll make a rational decision during a heat wave. (WINTER CLOTHES! Who needs winter clothes! It's so hot, how could I ever be so cold?)
So yeah. Perhaps when I get down to 60, I'll do some sort of post about what my wardrobe looks like then. But I also wanted to make sure people didn't think I was a witch who carted 8 large bags of her daughter's toys to the op shop, with no thought to my own junk collections. ;) I've also culled a lot of my books and linens (towels and bedlinen). The next stop is our kitchen, which probably isn't too bad.
Anyone else doing a wardrobe clean out?
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