Hello!

It’s been a busy few weeks in the Threads household – how are you all?

The mammoth 40th party for Le Husband, which frankly, took more organisation than our wedding… is done, dusted and was a great success…

There have been a great many other family needs… just life in fact, which have been pulling and tugging at me and as a result, my blog had to take a back seat.

Which is unfortunate, but as I always say: real life comes first.

And now… we’re into Summer Sales Season.

Ugh!

This is, traditionally (… if you’ve followed my blog for the past couple of years…) a time when my blog suffers the consequence of, what feels like an eternity of ‘sales shopping crud’ season.

Of course there are brilliant bargains to be had.

And of course not all of it *is* crud.

But blogging about items which may, or may not be available in all sizes never feels great.

In particular, because I have a very specific mantra for my summer wardrobe shopping, which is… I hardly buy anything.

Yup! That’s right… most of my summer wardrobe is not just old, it’s ancient.

I’ve written about this before, but I struggle to spend on items which will not get much wear.

This is down to our rubbish British summertime weather mainly.

And I can’t justify spending loads on a one (or two) week holiday wardrobe.

It’s just too wasteful.

Last summer, I did somewhat live to regret my ‘no spending on summer stuff’ mantra.

But… this year, here we are, in LATE JUNE… and the weather is only *just* warming up.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to park up my usual Sunday 7 format.

Instead, I’m going to write about other aspects of fashion, life… and just ‘stuff’, which I’ve been meaning to blog about for pretty much the past year.

This gives me the summer months of “sales-season-crudiness” to think about whether or not to continue touting ‘new season’ wares, given the damaging impact of Fashion on our environment which, let’s face it… is no longer an issue about Climate Change… it’s an actual, real Climate Crisis issue now.

In this blogpost, I’m going to give you my top 7 tips on how you can alter your shopping mindset, and slow any spendthrift shopping habits you may have.

I will try not to be preachy or soapboxy… after all, I’m a fashion blogger, an instagrammer and there’s no doubt, I am a guilty party, whose contributed to the world of ‘Fast-Fashion-Frenzy for all things NEW.’

However… I am fortunate (I suppose…) in that my extra-petite sizing has never allowed for me to ‘shop til I drop’ unless I want to spend a small fortune on alterations as well as a fortune on shopping loads.

My uber-small sizing, and equally tiny shopping budget combined, have always meant that I am a careful, considered shopper.

Though not at all perfect, by any stretch of the imagination.

As I will highlight throughout this week’s 7.

But here’s how I think when I do shop, and these 7 “tips” are in no particular order of importance… they merely encompass my overall thought process:

7. Do I already have similar in my Wardrobe?

I really, really… like *REALLY* want a beige/neutral, boyfriend-fit, linen-look Blazer.

I really do.

But… I bought this H&M one last summer:

It’s a more fitted style and doesn’t feel quite as ‘current’ as I would like.

However, given how infrequently I choose to wear it, I question whether a newer, current ‘oversized’ cut of blazer… would get any more wear than the one I already own?

I keep arriving at the conclusion that “yes”… yes, a new, boyfriend-cut blazer probably would make me reach for it… but only a fraction more than my current one.

As such, is that ‘fraction’ more wear… honestly worth me buying an almost duplicate item?

No.

It’s not.

My resolve is just as weak as the next woman’s…

But I am determined to hold out.

6. Can I afford this?

This is a *BIG* deal, never under-estimate the utter misery of getting yourself into debt, (regardless of how small a debt it is…) which you then need to crawl back up from.

And trust me, I know all about this from my younger years.

In my 20s I was permanently overdrawn.

I already had a massive student debt which needed clearing when I went into working life… but I would then spend my monthly salary as though I was debt free.

Basically if I wanted something, I felt I deserved to buy it.

I worked hard, right?

And I would clear those pesky loans eventually… right?

I did indeed clear those debts… but it took a long, long time.

And ultimately, the fleeting joy I felt about my “new” purchase(s) was never enough to counter-balance the impending doom I felt about being in debt.

I do occasionally treat myself to pricier items, which fall far and wide, out of my normal budget.

But these are pieces I’ve saved for, or quite simply, then don’t shop for… well, a good couple of months to be honest.

I justify these items as pieces I will keep for years, and do date… I’ve not made an error of judgement in buying any of them.

5. Does this piece have longevity, in terms of style?

This is about trend-led pieces over classics.

To be honest, the boundary between the two is pretty foggy nowadays given there is *nothing* which is new in fashion anymore in terms of cuts & details of pieces.

It’s all been done before, right?

Take a ‘puff’ shoulder as an example:

river-island-denim-jacket

How many times have puff shouldered sleeves been in and out of ‘fashion’ in your lifetime?

I’m 48, and although I’ve lost count of the actual, real number of times a puff shoulder has been on-trend and then *BAM* no longer en vogue… in reality, if you favour a puff, gathered shoulder detail: who honestly gives a sh!t if it is on trend or not.

Right?

I have a Topshop blazer from 2004 which I consigned to the back of the wardrobe once I had kids because I wasn’t needing it in my day to day life as a stay at home mum of toddlers.

But, if I am honest, the little puff shouldered details of the blazer felt ‘out of fashion’ so the blazer has not been worn in years.

I do love the jacket though… so I will be resurrecting it, and wearing it with pride.

{Please note: I don’t have a photo of my actual Topshop Blazer, but I’ve used an image of the now sold-out River Island Puff Shoulder Denim Jacket – just to illustrate a puff shoulder detail!}

4. Does this fit with my core style, or is it a flight of fancy?

I’ll use my recent purchase of this frilly, Ganni dress as an example.

Frilly & frou-frou do *not* equal my core style.

I think that’s pretty well documented by now.

And yet, I loved this dress in the cream colour way, the very second I laid eyes on it.

BUT…  I just couldn’t see myself carrying that colour off.

Navy blue & polka dots… well, they both *DO* fit in with my style.

This dress sat in my virtual shopping basket for around 7 weeks, as I ummed and aaahhh-ed over whether it would be a wise purchase, and mentally planned all the ways in which I could style it.

I eventually bit the bullet.

And although the purchase can’t be described as a ‘perfect’ piece in terms of sustainable fashion… I do think it met my criteria of slow-fashion.

My next point highlights why…

3. Can I think of at least half a dozen different ways to style this?

I generally favour separates (bottoms & tops) over dresses for the simple reason that I feel I get more wear out of them as they provide me with a greater choice in styling.

So although buying the Ganni dress was by no means an impulse purchase, I had to think long and hard about the ways in which I could re-style and re-wear it.

It’s a very noticeable, statement dress and to date I’ve only worn it 3 times since buying it in late May.

I’ve worn it belted & unbelted.

With a blazer, denim jacket & sweatshirt over the top.

With cowboy boots, Converse hi-tops, as well as simple white sneaks.

I will be wearing the dress again this coming week to a 70th, so will probably go for a sandal with the dress.

I also plan on wearing the dress with an open shirt, knotted at the front over the dress.

And in the cooler months, with a knit and hiking boots.

I adore the frilly-tiered skirt of the dress, and whilst frills are flavour of the month out there… I’m so smitten, that I’ll still be wearing the dress, long after the fancy of frills has faded in the shops.

The one thing I didn’t give as much thought to as I should have is the fabric: the dress doesn’t lend well to very hot weather and the forecast for next week.

The dress is made from 100% polyester…

2. What fabric is it made of?

So this is something I always claim to be a bit of a geek about.

I love a bit of fabric-geekery, and always consider whether the fabric is ‘fit for purpose.’

What do I mean by that?

Well, let’s take Satin as an example, more specifically, the satin, bias cut skirt.

I have a couple of older, Ghost Satin skirts which are made of a thicker, silk-satin (not pictured.)

They can be worn at any time of year here in the UK and there’s no static.

My more recent (last Autumn’s) purchase of a Topshop Polyester Satin Skirt on the other hand… well… it’s no so great on the static front.

I knew that would be the case, given it’s polyester satin.

And yet, I allowed myself to get swept away with that obsessive “must have it!” feeling.

I’ve only worn the Topshop skirt twice… for me, it’s unsuitable for our British climate, most of the year round.

And I just find it’s shinier than my Ghost silk-satin skirts, and feels that much more dressier… and therefore unsuitable for my day to day life.

I regret buying the skirt.

There is however, a whole new world of fabric geekery I am learning about on a daily basis: and that is the environmental impacts of fabrics.

If you watched the Stacey Dooley documentary last Autumn, then you’ll know, natural fibre fabrics, such as Cotton… are *not* necessarily a sustainable option.

I have a lot I’d like to get off my chest on the issue of sustainable fashion, but don’t want to get into too much on this, in this particular blog post…

But, if you’d like to learn more, I’ll direct you over to Hannah whose En Brogue Blog and daily Instagram Posts are both super informative and I’m loving learning about how to improve my knowledge on fabrics.

1. Do I really, actually, chuffin’ need this?

The million-buck question, of EVERY.SINGLE.GAWD.DARN.PURCHASE.

“Do I actually, even need this?”

Right?

Taking this Arket pleated skirt as an example: I already have another 2 pleated skirts… but one is a pale, platinum gold, whilst the other is khaki.

The gold skirt doesn’t get much wear, as I don’t always fancy wearing a metallic skirt and the satin khaki one doesn’t get much wear, because… static.

So this crepe/twill Arket skirt has already been worn more than the other two skirt ‘wears’ combined.

But… it just shows… I probably shouldn’t have bothered buying those other two skirts.

Whilst our society (… thankfully!) dictates we have a choice, and are free to express ourselves…

It could be argued, that we have *too* much choice.

Unnecessarily so?

I’m not going to preach to you about this, one way or the other…

But there’s a LOT of good to be said for uniform-dressing.

Capsule-wardrobing it.

The reality for most of us, for most of our purchases is simply: no! you don’t chuffin’ need it.

I have plenty of summer sandals, and yet I became obsessed with having to have a pair of chunky, ‘fugly’ sandals so bought these Vagabond Erin’s this summer.

I love them in white too, but that would be greedy.

There is absolutely no reason to buy, say, a skirt (for example) in all 4 prints & colour ways.

In my opinion, that is.

I recently ordered two pairs of Birkenstock’s, in different styles… when I posted this image on my Instagram, there were a fair few “keep both!” comments.

As nice as that would have been on one hand… the reality is, I didn’t really, as in like… actually-actually need either pair… but having “a” pair of Birkenstocks fulfilled the mere “nice to have” criteria and that is all.

Whilst I’m in no way, shape or form advocating a Gilead (Handmaid’s Tale) style of oppressive ‘comrade’ uniform dressing…

We can *all* slow down.

Stop thinking of ‘going shopping’ as a leisure activity.

Stop thinking of new clothes as a ‘therapy’.

The joy and feel good factor that comes from new, is limited, but addictive.

Try and wean yourself off this type of thinking, if it’s where you are at.

I bought this Broderie Anglaise New Look Top back in April, in anticipation of warmer weather:

To date, it remains unworn, given we’ve had a pretty crappy late spring so far… and now we’re into summer, it’s supposed to be warming up… but honestly, I think I probably would have survived just fine without this top in my life as it turns out!

Once upon a time, it was acceptable to smoke (cigarettes) anywhere: in restaurants, on the tube… on the top deck of the bus even.

We’ve learnt and moved on from those dark days.

Perhaps we can do the same for our thought process on how we shop?

I know that’s an extreme comparison, but given how damaging the fashion industry is as a whole to our planet… perhaps it *is* extreme thinking on the subject, which we should all be adopting?

And who knows, it might just help us *all* slow down.

There are many other factors which come into play in my thought process when making a purchase, but certainly these 7 questions, highlighted in this blog post are probably always my first 7 thoughts of my internal dialogue.

I am not perfect.

Did I mention that before?

I recently bought the most ridiculous, frilly, pink Zara dress for a fancy dress party and honestly cannot fathom when or where I would wear it again… which does NOT feel good:

I am however, currently looking into how I can re-purpose the dress into a skirt… which would still be a bit of a statement skirt, but I think I might actually get a bit more wear out of the piece as a skirt, rather than in its current form of a dress.

Thanks for reading, I hope you’ve found this helpful and not too preachy?

I’d very much like to hear if you think I’ve struck the right tone here, or if you thought I’ve come across as a bit soap-boxy?

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again one last time: I’m no fashion saint or hero.

But these 7 ‘tips’ always form a part of my thought process when making even very small purchases, and if they help just one of you to slow down a little…

Well, I’d feel like it was worth me sharing then!

Leave a comment below, and I’ll get back to you: I’d love to chew the fat over this one!

B x