My love for the classics and sustainable fashion started at an early age wearing my mum's clothes. I remember my sisters and me would wear our mother's clothes to church on Sundays. She believes in quality over quantity with a habit of taking care of everything, clothes included.
Growing up and having kids, I have come to appreciate it more when I see my daughter's, slipping into my clothes like I did my mothers. Our little contribution to the environment is "sustainable fashion". Less I forget, she must have had the clothes I wore for years before I was born. Who knows because she is good at preserving things.
Buy one good thing, and it will last, mum always said. I learnt this from her. Years later, when I got married, she gave me a present, one of the clothes she knew I loved so much and had worn for years in my teens. To date, four children, 19yrs and counting, I still have it, wear it on special occasions because it is a classic and never goes out of style. That experience influenced my life. I choose the sustainable option of wearing my clothes longer.
The idea that clothes don't last long and end up in the garbage dump can change. The how-to change it is the challenge.
Building an item of sustainable classic clothing, shoes, and accessory collection you see yourself wearing for the next twenty years is the first how. I tried it, I'm living it, and it works.
The urge for brands to sell and the need for us consumers to own more clothes is the DNA of the fashion industry. As the years go by, I have noticed the quality of the actual materials has gone down. I believe it will continue to go down as consumer demands increases and manufacturers make more fast fashion. For this reason, I hold on longer to the clothes, shoes, bags and accessories I have from years back because the materials are of superior quality to now.
Be it synthetic non-biodegradable clothes, biodegradable such as cotton or wool, hand washing of clothes I believe could play a role in the longevity of our fabrics. When I say hand wash, that means washing with your hands. Not the hand wash setting of your washing machine. Easier said than done but, handwashing pieces that are not for dry cleaning is a start to doing our part in reducing our carbon emissions. Besides, it saves us money and prolongs the life circle of the fabric.
My mum, to this day, washes all her clothes by hand. I mean by hand. I soon followed in her footsteps because her clothes and fabrics always remained the same year in year out.
I still machine wash my clothes because life, kids, and work makes it hard to be religious to hand washing. But for the classic pieces that are not dry clean only, I hand wash.
Looking back, I believe choices, quality, care and lots of love play a crucial role in guaranteeing the longevity of whatever we buy. No matter the brand, even if it is from your high street store, every brand has a pearl!.
We can wear our clothes for decades, saving money and the environment at the same time if we shop, use, and wash smart and sustainably.
By caring more about our clothes, no matter the label, fashion can be as slow as we want it to be. The mindset should be clothes are a lifetime affair, not something for the night. I intend to wear and share my clothes, bags, and shoes with my girls. #passiton to my granddaughters too. What is your opinion?
Choices and quality. Let's talk Shoes. While we love and enjoy high heels, consider buying trend free comfortable shoes you see yourself wearing in your 50s and into your 70s. The Jimmy Choo Gala and Gabi shoe collections are great substitutes for heels for all ages. They are my favourite built for comfort and retains their resale value.
Clothes, I look for the pearls in brands. Considering product quality, durability and the timelessness of the pieces. I ask myself three-question before selecting pieces for myself, and you should too!
Does it fall into the #allages category? Can I wear that outfit in my 20s, 40s and well into my 60s? For instance. Like a pearl necklace or earrings that never goes out of fashion.
Is it sustainable can I pass this shoe, handbag, clothes down to my daughter's, to their daughters? Finally, does it retain its value? Can I sell this piece when tough time hits and make some money from it?!
A few years ago, we went through difficult times, which we all do at some point in our lives. We needed quick cash. What I did was take one of my classic LOUIS VUITTON bags and sold it online to get the money we needed.
I sold the bag for way more than I bought it a few years back. And this was because it was authentic! Important I must stress the value of authenticity. Also, I kept it in clean condition. I learnt very early to treat my things exactly how I treated my relationships and people in my life, with care and love to last a lifetime. My Louis Vuitton bag treated me as well as I treated it when I was broke. My bag and I had a thing going on like Billy Paul's song Me and Mrs Jones.
Always remember you and your classic pieces are in a relationship, a love relationship.
We can blame fast fashion as a culprit to climate change all we want but, the question remains. What are we doing to slow down the thousands of clothes already in our wardrobe? Like driving a fast car, you can slow it down, press the brake pedal wear with love, handwash more and or invest in clothes made to last. Invest in a classic trend free-style that stands the test of time. Instead of one-season wonders, clothes of endless elegance. Every brand has these in its collection because every brand has a pearl!
XOXO.