It's Not The Size Of The Ship

Oh, I am not going there. I'm talking about our wardrobes.



In my youth I was hung up (ha!) on quantity and shopped for clothing nearly every week. This was the dinosaur ages, before the Internet and electricity, so I had to go into actual stores, with my feet. One of my favorite places when I was working in downtown Boston, was Filene's Basement, the original (Rest in Peace). I scarfed up a lot of bargains there, and withstood the teeming crowds. Ah, youth.

I miss you, Filene's Basement.

At that point in my life, more was more. And to be fair, I had to wear business clothing every work day, and be ready for disco dancing every weekend. So my wardrobe needs were more demanding back then. Silky black jumpsuit, yeah.



Many moves, to Washington D.C., and then to Florida, and many house-moves after that, taught me that a big wardrobe is a lot of work to maintain. Then my career change to mental health made work-wear much easier. No more suits, hose or heels. And disco moved on.



I went through a phase a couple of years ago of experimenting with how little I could own and feel content. It turns out I don't need much, but I still enjoy the stimulation of the new. I played with the ten-and-six-and-33-item theories, but mainly in my head.



Now I keep a small - by my standards - closet. Yes, I have five black skirts, but I like each one and don't want to part with any of them just yet. And really, no one can confuse my tutu lace black skirt with my wool pencil skirt. They are totally different!

Black wool pencil skirt - I need this!

Black tulle skirt - I need this too.

This quote is from one of my many style books, and it's a good guideline for my wardrobe: "I don't need endless variety. It's not how many, it's how fabulous." So that's one of my guiding principles: If it's fabulous, I want it to come live with me. Size (of the wardrobe) does not matter.



Do you have guiding principles for how large, or small, you like your wardrobe to be? No wrong answers, of course, the heart wants what it wants. xo