On Sustainable Fashion

“Simplify my life.”

“Learn about sustainability”

“Build a fabulous closet that I can love for a decade.”

These three ideas have taken up a lot of my mind space in the last few years. I carefully planned my purchases. I decluttered as necessary. I read every article I could find on minimalism for inspiration. After I hit my initial goals, I declared my closet done and built. I had the perfect Pinterest approved minimalist closet complete with the right Celine and APC pieces found second hand. “It’s done! I am a minimalist”, I told myself. But with time, I realized : it’s never done. Simplicity is something to be worked at, never a goal that can be checked off a list. It’s a journey, not a destination. If I am privileged enough, life inspires change and gives me an opportunity to evolve. There will be ideas that I outgrow. There will be things that I will no longer use. New needs arise as I chase newer experiences. How can I do so while honoring this pact I made with myself to live a more sustainable life ? My mentor has a quote that he repeats before the start of every project. “Every one has goals. But the ones with a plan achieve them”. True to his words of wisdom, I made a plan. It’s 4 fold.

Style is a point of view. It is a result of knowing your self. Style is the visual interface we choose to present ourselves to the world. Style is what we choose for ourselves from the options the world allows us. Knowing what we want to express helps. Developing a style philosophy helps.

“What silhouettes am I most comfortable in?” “What colors do I want to wear?” “Given where I live, what fabrics work for my lifestyle?” “Given my lifestyle, what clothes give me most wear?” “What colors flatter my skin tone?” “How do I plan to include texture in my clothing? ” “What sort of prints do I want to wear?” “What is sexy?” “What is seductive?” “What is elegant?” “What is feminine?” “How do you plan to balance the masculine and feminine elements?” “What do I want to wear for events? ” “What is my version of dressed to impress?” “What do I want to wear when life gets tough and I need some cheering up? ” “What do I want to wear when life gets tough and I need a uniform to get through?” “How do I want to invest my money in my closet?” ” What are my views on modesty? ” “What lessons did I learn from all the clothing I decluttered?” “What lessons on quality did my garments from the past teach me?” “What am I uncomfortable wearing?” “What garments do I like on Pinterest but don’t work for my lifestyle?” “What is on my never-ever-wear list? “

I think the answers to these questions are very personal. It’s also been my experience that when my mind has not been made up, I am more prone to impulse purchases. Trends surface every season and I end up trying them out because I don’t have a reason to veto them. If I am undecided, I am prone to be influenced by someone who wants to sell me something. In instances where I had no opinion, someone else comes along and answers them for me. I want to make up my own mind. I want to have a point of view.

My Plan: Stay out of the stores and spend some time introspecting. With time and some exposure, a point of view emerges and grows stronger. Stick to your style for an extended period of time. Its rather empowering to listen to all the noise on the street and walk away saying “its not my style”.

The purpose of building a closet is to be well dressed. I am not interested in a closet whose only virtue is that it has “n” items and this “n” is a small number. I want a fantastic closet that meets my needs. I want my style to evolve. My life started in a very conservative traditional society where women had very little choice or scope to experiment. With the passing years, the humans in my life have evolved. I have grown into myself and found my independence. It has allowed me choices. I fought for my ability to choose. Over the years, the clothes in my closet have reflected this freedom. That being said, it can’t be all “I, me & my”. Going into the future, I want to allow my personal style to evolve while being mindful about the consumption. To achieve this goal, I added a few hurdles to regulate the pace of consumption.

My Plan :

1. Track the numbers. Do not be scared of the analytics. How much can you really wear ? One body. 365 days per year. An average life expectancy of 86 years. Probably, one body shape/size per decade. How much can you really need ? How much can you really wear ?
2. Make sure a big chunk of your purchases are from stores that do not use the fast fashion business model.
3. Do not buy fabrics made from virgin petro-chemicals. Do not buy clothes that need to be dry cleaned in petro-chemicals. 
4. Sleep on it for a month, before making the purchase.
5. Walk away from it if you are second guessing the need for the item. The next fabulous item that you wont have second thoughts about, is always around the corner.
6. Buy second hand or ethically made items.
7. Do not buy something that isn’t worth getting repaired.
8. Do not exceed 5 additions per season. It’s plenty to choose from and play with. 
9. Wear a garment till it’s worn out. Make sure it has been repaired multiple times before calling quits on it. 
10. Waste can happen when a perfectly usable garment goes unworn for long periods of time and slowly bio-degrades inside a closet. Do not hoard clothes. Let someone else wear them.
11. Waste can happen when a garment that should have lasted 200 wears gets worn out in 50 due to lack of maintenance/upkeep. Take care of what you own.
12. Find a textile recycle facility to drop off your worn out garment.

Constraints ! They make you rise to the challenge. They gave me a sense of pride for being a part of this very important movement. Constraints helped me maintain a minimalist closet that I have always dreamed of. Constraints gave me the discipline to walk away from things I don’t need. This being said, it’s a work in progress. Temptation is always around the corner. Failure is always around the corner. I constantly have to work at it.

Fashion is a wearable art form. It’s a craft. It’s a form of self-expression. The creativity in the industry astonishes me. I LOVE it. In the past, “loving fashion” and “loving shopping” were interchangeable phrases.

“I love this dress” resulted in “I want this dress”.

“Interesting silhouette” meant “I need to wear that shape”.

“Unique design” translated to  “I need to add it to my collection of clothes”.

If this is how my brain processes fashion, it’s an orgy of consumerism. I had to force myself to re-forge the way I look at fashion. Taking a page from Buddhism : fixate on ‘What am I experiencing now?’ rather than ‘What would I rather be experiencing?’. “Let the thought pass. Observe. Meditate.”

My Plan :

1. Instead of browsing the shops, people watch for the fashion fix. 
2. Look up Pinterest for ideas on pairing what you already own.
3. Tumblr is the safest way to get style inspiration without all the shopping temptation that comes with internet content.
4. Learn about textiles.
5. Learn about the craft : patterns, sewing techniques, drape, embroidery, finishing details, …
6. Learn the history and evolution of women’s wear as we know it.
7. Pick one designer and research him/her from the start of career. Look through his collections. Read up the interviews to understand the philosophy behind the design.
8. Be critical. Say no 9 times before saying yes once. Choose like an editor. Act like a curator.
9. Have a handle on it. The more time I invest in fashion, the harder it is to resist the temptation. I don’t work in fashion. I am an outsider. My idea of a healthy relationship is to observe it from a distance. Be aware of the art form, but do not get carried away by it. There is no need to slavishly record outfits, shop every season, follow brands on social media, imitate influencers, write blog posts every week & beat your own drum about your style. Slow down. Keep a safe distance.  
10. Instead of fixating on purchases and outfits, blog about the meaning behind the clothes.

I wasn’t born liking patina and old things. It is an acquired taste. I used to like variety, experimentation and hoarding beautiful things in the name of collections. I had a large closet and would make additions to please myself. Today, I wear a uniform. I taught myself to like it. And I do. I love it. I believe you can re-wire you thinking based on the need of the hour. [ Applies to eating healthy and exercise as well.] Having a temperament that likes shiny & new garments might have been harmless when Marie Antoinette commissioned new clothes on an regular basis. But with 7 billion people, scarce resources, plastic infested oceans, climate change, growing middle class, hyper-consuming upper class,  …. it’s hardly sustainable. I can’t keep chanting that “I need the drug”, while ignoring the consequences of my habits on my fellow beings. I want to train my mind to find comfort in the old and familiar. I want to train myself to invest as much effort into mending an existing garment as I would invest into finding a new perfect garment. I want to learn to accept the boredom that comes from the familiar clothes. It’s alright to be bored. There are things much more important than curing my need for constant stimulation with consumerism. Luxury to me is something old, worn in and beautiful. This is the mindset I want to work towards. This is easier said than done. I am trying.

My Plan : Try harder. Read about wabi-sabi, the Japanese philosophy on perceiving beauty in the mundane everyday objects. Folks who love nature dress a certain way and for a good reason. Make them your style icon and the problem will solve itself. 

Minimalism isn’t about what isn’t. It’s the righteousness of what is. But sustainable living is about consuming less and being considerate of our interaction with the natural world.  Both these ideas are pathways to a more fulfilled life.

Imagine living with just your favorites. 

Imagine this amazing intimacy you have with your objects. You know how the collar of the chambray shirt will sit after a wash. You know how it will behave on day 2. You see the frayed edges and find them charming. A hole appears and you mend it. You try to find the perfect red silk cotton thread and embroider a small rose that only you can see.

Imagine not having a ‘back of the closet’. Nothing you shove behind. Nothing that you collect into a pile and hoard. Nothing that you haven’t touched in a while but hope that the day will come when you get to use it. Nothing that is new and unfamiliar. Nothing that has its tags on and waits for the right day.

Imagine having space. Space to hang your clothes without them being crammed into each other. Space to breathe. Space to think. Space to not be overwhelmed.

Imagine leading a lovely life you have always dreamed of. It has a certain calm, peace and a quiet dignity. 

Minimalism is all that.

From the outside, it may look like a rigid rule based rigor devoid of “fun” purchases and experimentation. It started that way but what I found is a balance. “Mottainai feels like sacrifice at first. Then it feels like the only way to live.” This post is not to declare that I am winning at sustainability. There are no individual wins in a collective goal. What I am trying to do is to come up with a plan to develop some discipline to achieve my goals.  I found a certain contentment in this process. If you are searching for your own path, I wish you the best of happiness as you finding it.