No Clothes For A Year: An Update

I did really well for the first 8 months...

If I bought anything (other than tights/socks/underwear) it came from a charity shop or off Ebay. 

One of the things that I completely forgot to factor in was work clothes for my Internship. Now I wasn't given any information about a dress code and after emailing my contact at the theatre and getting no response, I decided to go with the German status quo. That's smart, VERY smart. I was a 2nd year languages student and I didn't own ANY smart clothes. No black trousers, no shirts, no blazers NOTHING. 

So I went on a Charity Shop/Ebay search...

and did incredibly well. I managed to get two shirts (The Ralph Lauren was £6 and the cute Stripy one was £10) 2 blazers (United Colours of Benneton and Windmill both for the £3 each) a black wool skirt (French brand £3) two pure wool jumpers (Grey £4 Red £2)  and a Black Dress (£12 Sandwich) My housemate was also kind enough to donate me a pair of denim shorts and a beautiful red coat after her clothes sort-out. Gorgeous clothes, for practically no money and my conscience was clear.

One thing I really struggled to find were trousers. This dilemma was only made worse when my jeans decided to split two weeks before my departure. I hate jeans shopping anyway, but trying to do it ethically was an absolute nightmare. I ordered a pair of chinos from Ebay and they were much to big and I got a pair of jeans, also from Ebay, that were too long and a completely different colour to what was shown on the internet. I then tried Fairtrade companies such as HOWIES and MONKEY GENES but HOWIES didn't have the style I was after and MONKEY GENES were still too long. I'm also currently between sizes so it's really difficult for me to tell if something will fit from an internet picture. Thus, being short and sizeless proved to be a problem for fair-trade-bottom-half shopping.

Another problem...

Turns out the dress-code at work wasn't super smart, but actually the complete opposite. I only took one suitcase with me and my super-smart-office clothes took up a good amount of room. SO AWKWARD. I'm also in that weird transitional phase from teenage girl to young woman and I feel like my wardrobe needs a bit of a facelift. A lot of my casual clothes are now too big for me or have deodorant stains or holes in them and I just don't feel very presentable, especially in Germany's fashion capital. 

Another thing to add to my dilemma is the fact that Germans don't do charity shops. I've found one Oxfam in the whole of Düsseldorf and it was filled with lederhosen and 80s bridesmaids dresses. I'm all for buying ethically, but not if it's something I'm never going to wear!

However!

I'm wary of shopping getting out of hand and I don't want to be an impulsive buyer, I don't want to spend lots of money and I don't want to be wasteful. Furthermore, once you've started shopping with a conscience it's hard to shop without one. I'm still really passionate about buying ethically and responsibly  but at the moment it's proving rather difficult. I actually really miss the fun of charity shops and I will definitely be hitting them hard whenever I'm in the UK. In the meantime, I'm going to do some research on which high-street stores have the best reputations for ethical and environmental manufacturing. I just feel really convicted that there's really no excuse for me to not at least TRY to shop ethically; I'm not well-off but I'm still statistically part of one of the richest social groups in the world. In light of this I feel it's my duty to my brothers and sisters in the developing world and to this planet  to find away to shop responsibly within the budget that I have. I will post any research I find on the blog. 

Will you join me?

Thrifted Skirt

I found this skirt in a charity shop for £3.40 and completely fell in love with it. I know I'm not supposed to be buying unnecessary clothes but just LOOK at it, it's so perfect. It was one of those thing that you try on and instantly feel like a million dollars in. The top is also from a charity shop, but I bought it with work clothes in mind. I'll do another post about finding smart, work clothes second hand because I have been EXTREMELY lucky. In other news I had to throw my beloved brogues away. They have been re-soled about 3 times now and they completely fell apart on our trip to Manchester last week *SOB* so if anyone knows of a good cheap place to buy brown leather brogues hit me up!

The Skirt-Dress

So it's been a while since I mentioned the whole 'No Clothes For a Year' project and I'll happily admit that 'No Clothes For a Year' has quickly turned into 'No Unnecessary Clothes For a Year' and 'No NEW Clothes For a Year'. In short, I have bought clothes, but they have all been second hand or underwear and thus entirely justified. It has made me a lot more thrifty and creative with the clothes that I do have FOR EXAMPLE, what with all this lovely sunshine I was desperately dreaming of a new floral skirt. For those who know me, you'll be well aware that I have at least 3 floral skirts, but I'm a girl and was therefore dreaming of an entirely different floral skirt from the ones that I already owned. But I resisted the urge to hunt charity shops and bid like crazy on ebay - a new floral skirt is an indulgence NOT a necessity.

  

So I took inspiration from Elizabeth from Delightfully Tacky and I made a skirt out of one of my pinafore dresses by folding down the top. It was so perfect and I felt so smug. It was like having a new floral skirt for zero pennies...well it wasn't LIKE having a free skirt, it WAS a free skirt. So I encourage you ladies to try folding down your dresses - let me know how you find it! I have since tried it with other dresses and it hasn't worked so well (the neck hole of the dress gets a little tight round the thighs) so I think it's something that can only really be done with pinafore dresses...what do ya think? Also how lush is the Suspension Bridge on a Summer's evening?

Combatting failure with a homemade skirt, ice-cream and opera

So I failed my Italian exam. Boo. Lame. No likey. However, this is not to the time to despair, nor the time to work harder, instead it's time to work differently. Instead of pouring over grammar books and going through past papers, I need to watch more films, listen to more radio, read more Italian literature and find an Italian penpal (if anyone could help me with this...PLEASE SAY!) For a moment I thought I might have to leave Italian behind altogether and that option is still possible. As my tutor says 'It's like the late night email Ellie, don't send it, wait till the morning to read over it' . So I have made myself a target for the end of the term, and if I do not reach that target then I will no longer study Italian, knowing that I gave it my best shot. Capito?!

Despite this little nuisance, life is jogging along just fine. I wore my favourite skirt with Sophie's Jumper and my brogues and it made me so happy! I bought ice cream and danced on lamposts and walked through Clifton in the beautiful late winter sunshine. I went to watch my friends in the opera and it was awesome and fun and sad and great. I've brewed great coffee, rediscovered popcorn kernels, enjoyed my fountain pen, had a text conversation with my Dad completely in German, I've been to rehearsals, I've directed rehearsals, I've learnt how to dance like Fred and Ginger, I got a place in the National Youth Music Theatre (more to come on that) ,I've shown people how I can stick my whole fist in my mouth and blow a Malteaser up into the air before catching it in my mouth, I had a boyfriend-bought Boston Latte and a great catch upwith my Welshygirl over dark chocolate and I've sat on a roof and eaten custard accompanied by cups of tea, I've seen the whole of Orion in the sky and not just his belt and I've had breakfast with my Sophie-friend and got loads of awesome books out of the library. All these things remind me that God is good and life is blessed.

But oh my (!) isn't life just whizzing by!?

Got Green Milk?

Okay, so I'm officially terrible at this outfit posting thing. I am clearly not cut out to be a fashion blogger. Thank goodness this project has some sort of focus and costs me zilcho otherwise I'd be in such a crazy crazy clothes shopping mess.

These photos were taken almost two Sundays ago after church. I wasn't intending to take any outfit shots, but I really liked how much green I was wearing - I even had a green top underneath my green coat. CRAZY. It was also one of those days when you finally straighten your hair and realise how long its got - YES I FINALLY HAVE LONG HAIR! (but it needs a cut - look how split the ends are!) Finally, it was my first photograph with my new glasses. I've been getting a lot of comments about how I wanna be a hipster Zooey Deschanel look-a-like. Now, I love Zooey, I loved Zooey before most of my friends knew who Zooey was, I got my flatmates into Zooey, I could not be a bigger Zooey fan, but the hipster glasses were a completely practical choice. I have big eye lids and big eyelashes, my old glasses had small lenses and my lashes used to get stuck and it used to bug me how I could see over the rim etc. etc. Big frames eliminate all of these issues and make it easier for me to see and read, which is why I have glasses in the first place.

The milk is completely random and there to emphasise how completely spontaneous this is. I'm usually more of an orange milk drinker anyway (1% fat milk) perhaps its a metaphor for how I like to live my life, sat on the fence in between skimmed and semi. I would also like to thank Louis who risked his life (he nearly got run over by a car) to take this photos and also re-edited them (the first batch were so artsy you couldn't see that my coat was green, and the whole reason I like this outfit is because of HOW MUCH GREEN THERE IS!) He is great and so is milk, so drink it, cos it's full of calcium.

The Gloves

DISASTER. Snow is forecasted and I have no gloves (only scabby ones sent to me by Mum 'love you!') so instead of rushing down to Primark to buy a cheap pair of little mitts, I walked to the vintage shop in the Arcade where I found these Norwegian wool gloves. I had to spend a bit more than I would have done in Primark, but I'm definitely going to make sure I don't lose these because they're SO beautiful! Very happy with my ethical purchase. Also, everyone check out the vintage shop in the Arcade, the woman who runs it is an absolute gem!

The New Yorker

I woke up yesterday with Sting's 'I'm An Englishman In New York' going round and round in my head - I do THE best move for the 'I'm an alien' part of the song (next time you see me allow me to demonstrate!) Little did I know that the big apple would sort of be a theme for the day. When I finally got home from my slog at the library, what should be waiting on the doormat but a brand spanking new copy of The New Yorker. YAY. I got a mini-subscription to the mag for crimbo and I love it. The articles are always so interested and beautifully written.

These photos are courtesy of Ellie my housemate, who I grabbed as soon as I got home so we could catch the last bit of light. I wore this outfit for a date on Wednesday night and liked it so much that I wore it again the next day (since becoming a student my hygiene standards have slipped dramatically). As much as I dig these trousers, I hardly ever wear them, which is silly because they're so warm and I feel so 'bookish' when wearing them.

This necklace was another €1 bargain from the Paris market, all nice and vintage. I really need to restock my jewellery box, I had a bit of an unfortunate spat last year where all the chains kept breaking. I'm also in desperate need of stud earrings! So perhaps my clothes budget can go towards some new ones. These shoes are honesty my favourite pair of shoes in the WHOLE world. I always dreamed of owning a pair of leather brogues, because they LITERALLY GO WITH EVERYTHING. However, I didn't have £40 to spare. Alas, I got these leather babies off ebay for a mere £6 - C'MON!

I also had some fun using pixlr-o-matic to edit these photos. My friend Fiona introduced me to the website and I'm addicted. It's so fun! For those of you who wanted an iphone for instagram and hipstamatic - check it out! It's free.

Hobnobbing at Spoons

Hobnobbing:

a) to associate on very friendly terms

b) Archaic: to drink together

So this is a very late outfit post: apologies. I have a confession, I always thought 'Hobnobbing' meant to walk and skip gaily, perhaps whilst knocking one's knobbly knees, alas it doesn't mean that all! It does however explain the context behind this outfit. These photos are actually from just outside Whetherspoons near Park Street and were taken just before we were about to enter said establishment to hobnob with some lovely people from church. YAY.

This outfit was perfect for Sunday. I felt smart enough for church, dressed up enough for lunch with friends, but comfortable enough to go straight to rehearsals afterwards. I'm so glad to see these boots again, they are my favourite winter boots, but they were impossible to wear with my broken foot, because they have a slight heel (which is why I look slightly taller in this picture!) so it is a true testament to my healed foot that they are making an appearance again. However, my favourite part of this outfit is the necklace - I found it for €1 at a street market in Paris and I love how unusual it is. It looks like it's been made out of bark! Hahaha.

I would also like to apologise to all the people who had to witness my ridiculous jumping/outfit post ordeal. Feel free to laugh at me. I can take it.

A Day of Studying

So here is my first outfit post. I haven't graced you with a full length photo of myself, partly because there was no one to take it for me but also because I wanted to mix it up a bit. Did anyone have that Misfits card game where you got to mix up the head, the middle, the knees and the feet of different characters to create a hilarious looking person? Well, I decided to go with the card game feel only sans hilarity (I hope!)

This is my standard 'I've got a long day of reading/note taking/organising' outfit. The main objective is comfort and ease, so naturally I turn to my faithful jumper and leggings combo. Bristol has fuelled my charity shop jumper collection and this particular one is a man's wool/silk dark grey jumper from Gloucester Road. It's large, but has a narrow fit so I can wear it like a jumper dress (because I'm short!) The red scarf was 65p in the Salvation Army shop on Stokes Croft - I originally bought it as a Christmas present but I liked it too much! These socks are from Next and although rather expensive in my eyes, completely worth it. They are so comfortable and they act more as slippers.

Finally, when I decided to leave my study cave and venture out to Santa Fe coffee shop for a change of scenery, I donned this rather wonderful hat (my £5 River Island bargain!) I've always wanted a trapper and this surpasses any of the ones I've tried on before. My ears are SO warm. My faithful TOMS are really as comfy and practical as they are ethical and, unlike the their slip-on siblings, these booties don't make your feet smell and actually have a grippy sole. PARFAIT!

My friend Gemma and I are in the process of creating a blog dedicated solely to this No Clothes For a Year Project, partly to make the process a little more fun for ourselves but also to document DIY Projects, potential pitfalls and any lovely clothes swaps that come our way. WATCH THIS SPACE.

The New Project: NO CLOTHES FOR A YEAR

So many clothes yet nothing to wear: the mantra of the fashionista. Did you know that, on average, women only wear 20% of the wardrobe 80% of the time?! It's RIDICULOUS. After getting ride of 1/3 of my wardrobe over the Summer and STILL not having enough room to store all my clothes, I have decided to be ruthless with myself. Inspired by my friend Gemma and this lovely lady's blog (who pretty much sums up the reason why I want to do this!) I have decided not to buy ANY clothes for a WHOLE year. There are, however, a few rules/exceptions:

1. I can buy underwear and tights. But only on a NEED rather than WANT basis.

2. If I get a job which requires a certain style of clothing or a uniform of sorts (eg. suit/black smart stuff) I may purchase items but ONLY from charity shops or ethical companies.

3. If going to a posh 'do' and none of the dresses in my wardrobe feel appropriate, I may purchase an outfit, but again ONLY from charity shops and ONLY after having raided my friends' wardrobes.

4. I can make clothes with a sewing machine and knitting needles.

To prove to myself and to the blogging world that I have enough clothes in my wardrobe to create outfits for an ENTIRE year, I propose to do AT LEAST one outfit post a week. This will hopefully get me out of my style rut and wearing some of those items of clothing that I can't bear to part with and yet never seem to don. Wish me luck!