100 Ways To Live A Better Life – 51. Change Your Wardrobe

You don’t know how much are you tied to what you wear. If you’re on the gray loving side, put some color in your clothes. If you’re on the black and white, try some gradients. And see what happens.

Of course, your clothes are not you. Hence, they’re much easier to change, right?

We’re constantly broadcasting meaningful signals even when we’re not, so to speak. Our clothes are some of those signals we tend to ignore after a while. Just a small change in the way you dress will lift you up.

Don’t believe me? Leave this blog post alone for a while and go change your outfit. I’m not telling that if you change your wardrobe you’ll be happier instantly, but a change every once in a while will help.

Your clothes, although they don’t represent you as a person, can surely change your mood. 

How To Change Your Wardrobe In 3 Stages

Let’s not be shallow, right? Let’s not be superficially-shopaholico-drama-queeno-hipsterical. I’m not getting there and I’m certainly not on the consumerism train. I don’t think shopping is cheaper than therapy or other  meaningless marketing lines like that. I’m not the advocate of the devil of fashion for the sake of fashion.

I’m just being honest and accept that clothes are part of our current level of civilization and they carry a certain significance. And, sometimes, we forget about that. We forget about what we’re broadcasting and about what we’re subtly instilling in ourselves, just by the way we use clothes.

Here’s a 3 steps approach that helped me reduce my wardrobe to, let’s say, around 40 items. This approach helped me feel good about myself and also helped me position correctly in front of other people.

1. Wear the same type of clothes to ensure the same type of attitude

I don’t use many different clothes from the same type. Let’s say, when it comes to teeshirts, I only have 2 or maximum 3 types. And for each type I usually have two items. If one gets dirty, I can wear the other one. I don’t find it strange at all to have two or three identical teeshirts, on the contrary, I find it somehow comforting.

This helps me to create and keep the same attitude (I’m talking about the impact on clothes about myself here). If there’s a certain attitude that I may have unconsciously linked to being productive, for instance, I tend to reinforce it by putting the same type of clothes. Please be aware of the fact that I don’t wear the same clothes until they’re falling apart (although when I was much younger I did this a lot). So, it’s kind of a uniform. Something that in time evolves into some sort of a “personal brand”. But don’t be fooled: I don’t take this to the level that I have a certain uniform for “feel good”. I just have a comfortable outfit that leaves room for any type of relaxing stuff I may do.

2. Limit the choices you have to make

If you follow the advice above, at some point you may find something that works. You may identify your “clothing identity” – like I like to call it. You will find “your style”. Well, when you find this, forget about it. Exactly. Just stop. You’re there.

That’s the moment when women, especially, fall into the trap of “fashion” or “trends”. And instead of stopping, they keep buying and renewing and stuffing fabric in their closets. What should I wear this season? What other people will wear?

It doesn’t matter. Believe me, especially for a woman, it doesn’t really matter. The moment you understand what goes well with your personality, you won’t need fashion advice anymore. You may renew every once in a while (see below) but only for the sake of keeping a fresh perspective about the world, only for the sake of being in sync with yourself, not because of pure fashion.

That limit you put on your choices will have a major impact in other areas. A surprisingly high amount of hours per year goes into decision making about clothing. Again, I’m not discriminating, but, historically speaking, women tend to spend significantly more time on this decision chain than men. Anyway, fact is the all people tend to spend a lot of time with this tiny little choice. But once you understand that you want to link your clothes to your attitude, to something that’s inside and not outside, you will regain those hours. You don’t have to make those decisions again and again and again. And that’s time that will be well spent living. Instead of choosing the color of your socks.

3. Renew to upgrade

And, every once in a while, do a major upgrade. Change the whole content of your wardrobe, taking into account the first step. I do it like once or twice per year. I’m just replacing my entire wardrobe with some new colors. Sometimes I may add one or two newcomers, and that’s it. By newcomers I understand a different type of teeshirt, for instance.

And that change of wardrobe has a much deeper impact than just the empty act of spending money at the mall. It’s a subtle, internal renewal.

I just feel refreshed without looking ridiculous.

Starting From Scratch




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