Wear have I been?? In wardrobes mostly! PART 1

I am sorry to say I have not found the time to write (informally rather than academically) for a while. However, Fashion Lexicon and the sort of stuff that informs my lexical projects has been ongoing in various settings during the last couple of years. Reflecting on this, it appears I have spent large amounts of time in wardrobes – mine as well as other peoples!

First adventures in my own wardrobe….in 2023 I joined the Joyful Closet project (a practice-based research project established by academics exploring sustainable fashion consumption). This involved participating in monthly activities designed to provoke examination and self-reflection on personal wardrobe habits from volumes, personal style, patterns in consumption as well as monitoring most/least wear, organisation, care and storage…with the intention of finding joy in your closet (not overwhelm, anxiety, frustration, guilt….). Altho’ I considered myself a well-informed conscious consumer, having to count, document and report back to my peers forced me to confront what I had accumulated in drawers, suitcases, boxes, on hangers, in the wash basket and on loan!

Then later that year, life events led to my relocation from Australia back to the UK, an experience that really bought my accumulated material possessions into focus. Having lived with a slowly accumulating wardrobe, I hadn’t been aware of the numbers of undisturbed hangers or bottom drawers where previously loved garments slept quietly. These two events started some serious wardrobe introspection, a refocusing on what was important enough to relocate with me. The practicalities of shipping one’s life from Australia to UK requires serious evaluation of every piece of stuff you own….and question what value does it hold? 

Well, these combined events led to an examination of the value and values held in wardrobes…a topic that has taken grip of my attention and driven my curiosity; with different and shifting dimensions of value – importance, worth, usefulness as well as emotional, practical, rarity and economic, value for my younger (Australian dwelling) self, value for my older (UK dwelling) self!! Determining the value and values in wardrobe contents can of course be ‘overthought’, it’s not a science, its personal and as I have found, context dependant. I learned that wardrobe introspection is a bit like therapy, it deepens awareness, understanding and love for what fashion and clothing bring to our lived experience and sense of self….getting deep into your wardrobe contents can give you renewed confidence to go out into the world, whoever we need or want to be.