On the corner of Pinterest and Hallmark the saying goes, ‘collect moments, not things’. While we can all picture the stupid twirly font and watercolor background this catchphrase lives on, the sentiment actually holds quite a lot of substance.
My style has severely changed throughout the last few years alone, but more than that, my perspective on my shopping behavior has as well. Elbows deep in a closet clean out the other night, I found myself separating garments into three categories: my outfit staples (the shit I can’t get enough wear out of), sentimental pieces, and the crap. The common thread between everything in the donation pile was the carelessness in which I remember purchasing them with. Pieces that never really fit right but hit on a micro-trend I liked at the time. A going out top I wore maybe twice. An impulse buy because it was on sale. Raging-dumpster-fire-level crap.
Now in pile numbero dos, the pieces tied to really great stories, places, and people are my favorite.
Case in point, these GLORIOUS Jeffrey Campbell boots!! One of my favorite traditions is a mini girls trip with my mom to Chicago before going back to school. It was our last one this year and on a casual browse through Nordstrom, I had the chance encounter of a lifetime with these babies! In my size! So, like mother like daughter, I juggled these highly impractical and impossibly fabulous boots onto my arch nemesis, the Greyhound bus, back to school.
The rest of the outfit you ask? Definitely pile two material.
These 7 For All Mankind jeans caught my eye in my favorite resale shop by my campus at FIT. As if by punishment from the Universe, I got caught in a torrential downpour directly after (no doubt for spending my paycheck the day I deposited it). This Venice sweatshirt I bought in the secondhand boutique next to my apartment from my summer in London. I wore it when Britain upset Croatia in the World Cup match and I think it still smells like the honey cider my friend spilled on it. For the cherry on top, I bought this blazer in a Wicker Park vintage store while visiting my best friend where we promptly staged a photoshoot on the subway platform minutes after.
Moving forward in 2020 I want to only have piles one and two. Quality over quantity should be the goal because cutting out the overconsumption in our lives matters. Don’t just buy it because it’s cheap, we know all the reasons why you shouldn’t. Save your change for the good stuff that lasts and is painted with a memory. They say your style is a reflection of your personality, so why not let your clothes be the roadmap of your experiences?
Put that last part in stupid font and my job here is done.
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