A week ago, I set myself a challenge: to buy nothing new, and to wear things I’d neglected to wear in my wardrobe in new ways. The challenge came about after I realised I buy way too many clothes, and I use shopping as a crutch to get me through a variety of strong emotions. I gave myself a 6 week period, because that’s how long lockdown 2.0 is officially for here in Melbourne.
Was Lockdown Wardrobe Week #1 easy? Well, no, actually, it wasn’t. Was it fun? At times, yes. Did it feel like I gave myself something a bit too challenging? Um, yes, every day, actually.
But after a successful week of keeping to my Lockdown Wardrobe guidelines, I’ve become a little more confident in myself. If I can do it for a week, then surely I can do it for 5 more?
It also gave me time to rethink things, and to observe myself. Here’s a snapshot of what I came to realise:
Mirror selfies helped my confidence grow
It took me ages to get it right. Mirrors don’t lie, and neither do bodies. The first time I tried photographing my outfit in a full length mirror, I ended up with about 20 photos that I discarded before hitting the jackpot with a photo I felt was passable.
The thing is, though, it surprisingly became easier to do as the days ticked by. And in some strange way, the selfies helped me grow in confidence. Either that, or I stopped caring as much. Either way, each selfie I took added to my confidence in some way. I can’t explain how exactly, but they did.
Dressing well made me feel better about myself
Sounds obvious, right? But truthfully, I was in a clothing rut before all this. I wore the first and the easiest thing. And honestly, it didn’t help improve my mood.
This week, I took many dresses I wouldn’t usually touch for a weekday, and played them down by wearing jumpers over them, and pairing them with casual sneakers. And to be honest? It did help improve my mood to dress a little better. Makes sense, of course, but it’s so easy to forget things like this in the hustle of life.
There is a direct correlation between feeling crappy and wanting new things
Just like recovering alcoholics fall off the wagon sometimes, I wasn’t perfect this past week either. I didn’t actually buy anything new, but I did think about it, I won’t lie.
Every time my mood dropped, my desire to go out in search of something to cheer me up suddenly appeared. It was basically like a modern seesaw: mood goes down, thoughts of acquiring something new rise to the surface. And yes, it’s that swift.
Creativity breeds creativity
This is an interesting one. Essentially, my Lockdown Wardrobe Challenge was about creativity. Pulling together new outfits involved me thinking outside of the box. Which is kind of what creativity is all about. But the more creative I got with my outfits, the more I noticed myself being creative in other, unrelated areas of my life too. It was an unexpected outcome, but one I’ll take any day!
So, Week #1 is now done and dusted. Lockdown Wardrobe, Week #2, here we go!
