It’s day fifteen and I’m halfway through my #SecondHandSeptember challenge. This, in case you haven’t been following my Facebook posts and tweets is an initiative by Oxfam to focus attention on the environmental damage fashion is doing, by getting people to pledge not to buy any new clothes for a month.
Not shopping has been easy for me. I once went a whole year without buying any new clothes, though I did get a couple of presents and made an exception of preloved charity shop bargains. This month I’ve not even done that. Thirty days without browsing in Cancer Research, Age Concern, Douglas Macmillan, or Oxfam shops is no big deal.
I also resolved to wear at least one preloved item every day and this is proving to be more of a challenge. The main problem is that I tend to forget what was new and what came from a charity shop. Also do hand-me-downs count as preloved, or new? I must admit to considering them as preloved and have included them in this month’s wardrobe choices.
In any event whatever I choose takes a little more thought and planning than usual. Sometimes this is fun, putting together an outfit can be quite creative. Over the last couple of days I’ve worn a blue, preloved Boden T-shirt under a very old Phool dress, followed by the same outfit and a pink cashmere jumper, preloved and a pair of thick cotton tights when it got colder. Items I’d never have put together before and which have proved to look really good. It’s also taught me that with a bit of thought I have an infinite variety of outfits in my wardrobe and will never actually need to buy anything new again.
So that’s shopping sorted for the rest of my life. From now on I can concentrate on writing my next book, seeing family and friends, diminishing on my to-be-read pile, sorting out the garden, writing the book after next…and baking the occasional muffin.
Misha Herwin 