Oh My Gawd! She Wore the Same Clothes All Year
by Bonnie Alter, London on 08.16.07
We call it wearing the clothes from our cupboard,she calls it art. Can we survive without the retail buzz that we get from shopping? "Can a person wear, in heavy rotation, the equivalent of one suitcase worth of clothing for an entire year and survive and be "normal" in modern America?" To examine this question, for one long year the artist Alex Smith Brown wore only the clothes from her closet; "I wore only things I made myself (clothes, jewelry, shoes, underwear, bags, everything) and my source materials were clothing items already in my possession - a completely closed loop, 100% recycled from my own closet." It is the ultimate anti-fashion statement. Last year she wore the same brown dress for an entire year (this girl is tenacious), she called it a "one-woman show against fashion", so this new recycling project was an offshoot of that experience. She wondered if she could claim some sort of complete ownership over an aspect of her life by designing and making everything in her wardrobe.
How did she do it? She wore 2 pairs of trousers, 2 skirts and a pair of shorts. Six tops, one fleece and one coat plus three pairs of shoes and some odds and ends completed her ensemble. In her journal/blog she outlines her trials and tribulations. Her home-made recycled shoes, made from some old leather trousers were a problem so she switched them. Creating new clothes from old was much more time-consuming than she had thought. And her conclusions at the end of the experiment--a person can wear the clothes in her cupboard for an entire year and live happily. But a person does get bored when everything is hand-made and recycled. And shoes start to smell when you wear them for a whole year. :: recycling project :: Via :: Hippyshopper
I've work my same shoes for a couple years now and they don't smell. I wear pretty much the same clothes all the time, office environment where I have to wear the "dockers" like pants and I have maybe 6 pair now. I wear the same pants two days in a row like how people do with their suits between cleanings.
I haven't bought socks in about 5 years, found these bulk packs of hiking socks at sams club that were blank and dark colors so they look like dress socks.
We did this while traveling the world for a year. It was tiresome at times but it really proved the point that we can be happy with less. When all you own is on your back you become very content and the experiences provide happiness.
I always laugh when i go into old houses and see how small the closets were. back in the old days, men had a couple suits and a few white shirts.
but i guess this girl doesn't exercise, eh? because sweaty exercise clothes are over half of my laundry per week. and she must wash everything by hand, because washing that small load of laundry over and over by machine is energy inefficient.
Get a grip! This is hardly going without electricity.
I live something similar to this but not just the one outfit. I wear T-shirts and pants (jeans or khakis). For about a year I only had six shirts and three pair of pants + five changes of underclothing/socks. There are three or four sweaters for winter and obviously a coat/shoes. That's my wardrobe. I stay out of the malls/stores and just wear my basics every day. It's a principal that I've kept since I was 14 : if I can spend less on my life I'll have more to give back to the people that really need help i.e. unicef/red cross/etc. I think I spend about $45-75 annually on clothes for myself. Works well for me.
Give me a freakin' break! I've worn the same clothes from my closet for SEVERAL years. The only time I find I have to buy clothes is when I gain or lose weight. Who are these people that think they need new clothes every season?
Well, I guess if it weren't for them, there'd be no hand-me-downs at Goodwill for those of us who struggle to keep our money.
If we all had style like Fonzie on Happy Day's we'd just need a few of the same shirts, pants, shoes socks and underwear, oh and a jacket.
That's about how many clothes I wear. Nearly all handmade by me - though I prefer a less, um, patchwork style. I do shift the tops for the seasons - I have about twelve total, but only wear about six at a time. Trade the shorts (hate shorts) for an extra skirt - but it's been out of commission the last few weeks (yoke fabric wore out, and I just figured out a replacement) and really haven't missed it, except that the pockets on it are better than my shorter skirt. (I don't like handbags, either.)
I workout in underwear. Sheets and towels make up the rest of the laundry. Creativity is more usefully found in other places.
Sarah:
You go running, cycling, or to the gym in your underwear? Well, that's one way to stop traffic.
And then you wear that same set of sweaty underwear under your clothes until laundry day? pretty rank!!
@ brennan:
Why is out of the home the only place you envision exercising talking place?
@greenisfrugal : That's pretty much me too.
@e: That, too, described my wardrobe for a good chunk of the last 10 years. I wore jeans and white t-shirts, almost every day, all year 'round, with the same sneakers.
Like a lot of posters here, this experiment doesn't seem too radical to me. I suspect that in a lot of places in this world, a pair of pants and a couple shirts is still the norm.
About excercise, when I get back from cycling, I throw my gear in the tub as the shower water is heating up, sometimes with some detergent. This way I never have to wash my exercise stuff, and, being synthetic, it dries quickly.
In the future, we will all wear shiny one-piece bodysuits every day.
My wife and I traveled around Europe living out of two backpacks. She had the larger 3500 cubic inch bag that had a blanket. I had a 2500 cubic inch little thing that carried our technogear and my clothes. It worked great and we loved it.
Sorry one more comment...in China it is very common to wear the same clothes for weeks on end. Also many people only shower once every few days because it costs money to go to public showers. The funny part is they don't seem to have an issue with BO like westerners do...go figure.
that's really interesting.
thank you for doing that. I've always wanted to prove that fashion isn't the reason for living.