When minimalism was a way of life....

Ahhh – the olden days….

When everything was harder, tougher and yet, somehow so much better, especially when we start lecturing the younger generation about how much worse off we were. I remember the time I walked ten miles home in the snow...barefoot...fighting off wild dogs. What didn't kill me made me stronger...blah, blah, blah. Yeah, that was a time!

There was the time when you couldn't buy anything on HP. No-one owned a credit card. That was the time when, if you didn’t make it to the bank by the end of Friday…you were pretty much stuffed until Monday lunchtime.  But even that wasn’t too much of a hardship because the shops weren’t open, and as long as you had stocked up on your cask of wine for the weekend, you could make it through.

That was the time when you couldn't blob out in your active wear because no-one had heard of Lycra, but you didn't have a car so you had to walk or bus everywhere so there was no time for blobbing. That was the time when spaghetti bolognese was some exotic foreign fare and your mum was ramping up the cooking stakes if she threw in some sultanas with your curried mince. That was the time when your father probably threw a bit of a tantrum at the "posh" Chinese restaurant because they didn't serve bread and tomato sauce with the dinner (entire family cringing under the table). Yeah...what a time!

What I do remember, as a child, is how much more frugal we were, which had nothing to do with minimalism but a lot to do with necessity.  There just wasn’t the money to go around, and it seemed to be that case for most of the families I knew.  No such things as takeaways, except for the occasional Friday night Fish’n’chip feast. Who doesn’t remember a white bread chip buttie - yes, white bread I said, because that was a time when no-one knew that carbs were the enemy, because the Hip and Thigh diet wasn't the number one best seller...yet!.

And certainly brand new clothes were the exception, not the rule.  As the youngest of three girls, hand-me-downs were a fact of life, and I don’t ever remember begrudging them, especially if it was an item I had been eyeing up in my sisters’ wardrobes. And it became even better when my sisters got jobs and started buying new, fashionable clothes. Then it became a wardrobe free-for-all (when they weren't looking). But they would probably raise an eyebrow if I started rummaging through their wardrobes, makeup and perfume collections, begging for some pocket-money from them before I headed off on a Friday night now-a-days. Now...that definitely was a time!

Yellow top (why oh why?) by big sister, jeans by big sister, white stilettos by big sister (see the pattern forming?)
Hair by Dynasty and Super-hold hairspray, and home decor by the 1980s

Mending, altering and re-purposing clothing was the norm, when I was young. I think my mother loved the Bay City Roller phase (for all you youngies..that is something you might want to Google – especially the accompanying fashion trends that went with that), because half-cast jeans were de rigour, and getting another year out of said trousers was made easier by adding on that essential tartan border to the jeans.  

"I love, you love, you love me too love...lalala"

Remember those lovely embroidered patches we could add over tears and holes in our clothing? They were the rage, and I am sure a God-send to all parents watching their pennies at that time. And I have a memory of my mum removing the collars of my dad’s work-shirts, reversing them and resewing the collars back on, thereby giving the shirt another year or so of life. Hey Mum, guess what...you were the original Minimalist...too cool!

Nowadays we seem to live in a more consumer driven, throw-away society where mending, altering, repairing and re-purposing is a forgotten art.  But now I am living through this six month challenge (SIX MONTHS I keep reminding you over and over again) of not buying any items of clothing, I have been looking through my closet to see what I have in there that I am not wearing and wondering is there anything I can do to the item to make it more lovable and allow it back into my mainstream wardrobe?

The challenge is to try the item on (even try wearing it out and about for a few hours) and see why it is you don’t wear that piece of clothing.  Is it too small (it shrunk, I tell you, shrunk)? Is it uncomfortable, and you always find yourself pulling and fiddling with the item of clothing.  One of my friends gave me a gorgeous top she had, just because it annoyed her when she wore it.  I loved it and grabbed it off her with glee.  One morning I put on said item, got out the door to the car, turned around and went back in the house because it had already started irritating me. It was just cut wrong and kept falling down off my shoulders, and not it a fashionable way. Not even five minutes in, that top was dead to me.  Girlfriend got the evil top back, and maybe she tortured/teased another friend with it or re-purposed it as a cleaning rag!

Is it every time you wear the item, someone comments on how tired/ill/let’s call the undertaker/how close to death you look.  I’m thinking the colour of that particular piece of clothing is probably not quite right for you. And I'm looking at you Yellow (see photo above) and Dusky Pink...dammit.

Is it every time you walk out the door in that particular piece, you feel fat, or frumpy or just not quite on top of your game.  It could be the shape is not quite right for your figure.

Swing coat that sat in my wardrobe barely worn

Add a zip...and voila...a more wearable jacket more suited to my shape

Once you have worked out what isn’t working, have a good look at that piece of clothing and see if there is some way you could alter it and make it work for you?  Can you dye it (something I haven’t had too much success with) or hem it, or take it in somewhere (here's ever hoping), or add a zip or button or let out a seam (yeah, that's more likely).

Irritating "won't stay closed" cross over jacket

Irritating jacket becomes less irritating with the simple addition of a button

If you have the sewing skills – good on you.  However if not, take it to a local tailor (they usually cost less than the ones in large shopping malls) and see what they can do.  Then you must make the decision as to whether the cost of the alteration is justifiable to the piece being altered.  If this is a piece you know that you could wear many times, making it a basic to your wardrobe, then the additional outlay is probably worth it.

To cut or not to cut...jury still out on this one...tailor says NO!

For me, there is no better feeling than being able to repair a much loved item, or alter something to ensure it will become a complimentary part of my wardrobe.

$25 to repair the heels or $200 plus for a new pair of leather shoes...this one's a no brainer!

As for hand-me –downs?  I still love ‘em.  But now it’s my girlfriends handing them on to me. Just no yellow please, or evil, sliding off the shoulder tops... but free clothes? Now that will make for a great time!



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