Years of Fashion

I just finished reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin about the year she spent trying to make herself happier. Just before starting the book, I watched Eat, Pray, Love, which has a similar goal with a more drastic approach. Ever since seeing Julie & Julia, my copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking has been calling me to try the same thing. (I'm ignoring it. I may instead tackle one recipe a year.) All of these projects have me contemplating 2011. What could I do with a year?

One year projects don't have to be life changing or expensive (like traveling the world and buying expensive ingredients for cooking). I've read about several fashion-related projects that actually took a very frugal approach to the one-year challenge. A shopaholic vowed not to buy a since piece of new clothing for a year (which I did last year without meaning to because I was unemployed. Everything I did buy was with a gift card except my Alexander McQueen for Target jacket.) Last year a New York City woman wore the same dress for a year (seven copies of the same dress actually). She had to make it look fresh and new each day without buying anything new. She also raised money for underprivileged children while she was at it. Look back at her year on the Uniform Project.
Currently, the blogger at New Dress A Day is taking on a creative, frugal project to create a new dress everyday from and old dress. She cannot do any traditional shopping so all the dress must be used. Also, she only has a budget of a $1 a day.
Even if I don't undertake some year long project for 2011, I have a lot of fashion goals I'd like to undertake like learning to sew, dressing up even though I work at home all day, getting better at making my own jewelry and accessories, and maybe even opening an Etsy shop to sell the hair accessories I've been working on. If I do challenge myself to something in 2011 I know I'll devote at least some time to fashion since it's one of my biggest passions.

Do you have any fashion goals? Could you go a year without buying anything new? What kind of challenge would you do if you wanted to undertake a year long fashion mission?

Comments

Jael Paris said…
I also want to learn how to sew. I don't need to know how to make a jacket, but I'd like to be able to hem my pants.

Currently, I have a sweatshirt project. I will say no more.

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