The Timeless Wardrobe Manifesto (Or How I Try to Convince Myself to Buy Less and Live More)
Rules of thumb for buying better
In Finnish there is a saying that goes, “A poor person can’t afford to buy cheap” (Köyhällä ei ole varaa ostaa halpaa). It’s a counterintuitive but wise rule of thumb.
When I set out to break the cycle of shopping and decluttering about five months ago, I knew I would eventually want to define my own rules of thumb for buying better. I wanted to reflect on what it actually means to build a long-lasting wardrobe. And that’s what I did.
I call it the Timeless Wardrobe Manifesto. It sounds fancy, but essentially it’s just an attempt to convince myself to buy less and live more in 2022. If you want to do a similar exercise yourself, you can download the Better Buying Worksheet I created at the end of the article.
Consider not buying as the default state
A timeless wardrobe is a wardrobe that consists mainly of favorites, is manageable in size and has a low turnover rate. But how do you get there? By simply refraining from buying most of the time (duh). Instead of seeing shopping as an activity that can be done regularly or for its own sake, it should be seen as an exception. The default is not buying things. The challenge, of course, lies in sticking with this plan.
Although the benefits of not buying are quite obvious, I’m going to lay out three of them to boost motivation. Can you guess the first one? Yep, it’s saving money.
Sure, I’ve occasionally bought a candle holder that can’t hold a candle or a book that ends up merely making my friends think I read the classics (I don’t). But I’ve definitely wasted the most money on clothes.
Clothing can easily become a big source of wasted money. Most other expenses are either unavoidable or consumable. At least for me, clothes top the charts of The Most Useless Purchases of All Time. Sure, I’ve occasionally bought a candle holder that can’t hold a candle or a book that ends up merely making my friends think I read the classics (I don’t). But I’ve definitely wasted the most money on clothes, especially shoes (it’s almost impossible to find running shoes that are not too big, too small or don’t give you blisters) and jackets. What’s more, we tend to use only about 20 % of our wardrobes regularly. The unsuccessful thrift store purchases I’ve made over the years definitely add up to the 80 % in my wardrobe. The high error rate and the low usage rate make not buying clothes and accessories one of the best ways to make room in your budget.
The second reason to avoid buying clothes is getting to spend money on the things that actually matter and bring joy. Research indicates that spending for intrinsic reasons (personal growth, relationships), on life experiences (whitewater rafting, skydiving) or experiential products (musical instruments, sports equipment) is the way to go. Although many of these things are more expensive than clothing, they are usually worth the splurge. For example, a flight to Zürich can cost as much as two pairs of Nikes (and should probably cost more considering the environmental impact) and bouldering twice a week costs approximately 900 euros per year in Helsinki. But I would rather visit my sister in Zürich or pick up a new hobby than fill my wardrobe with impulse purchases (or even the less impulsive ones). The return on happiness is significantly larger. However, the benefits of avoiding shopping are not limited to using money more wisely.
The third benefit is minimizing the time and energy that goes into buying things and dealing with the consequences of buying things. Shopping has lots of effortful steps involved: Searching on Google, reading reviews, driving (or riding your bike or commuting) to a store, browsing through clothing rails, trying something on, testing the new piece with different outfits at home (I actually do this!), returning unwanted pieces to the store or sending them back by mail, checking online banking to see whether the money has been returned,… And then there’s the infamous decluttering (which we often forget is also part of this hobby): going through the piles of clothing that have accumulated over the past months, years or even decades. Life is a series of trade-offs; spending time on shopping and decluttering is away from something you probably value even more.
Building a timeless wardrobe means aligning your purchases with your values and being more intentional with how you spend our time. But there are times when avoiding shopping may not be the most reasonable thing to do.
Don’t avoid buying out of sheer conviction
When you make up your mind about something it’s easy to go to extremes: to only see black and white and not the gray in between (at least that’s what happens to me). Not buying is a great heuristic, but it shouldn’t be followed rigidly. If you come across your dream dress at the thrift store, you should probably buy it (the real question is how you ended up at the thrift store in the first place).
But besides the occasional (and hopefully rare) unplanned dream-come-true purchase, how should you approach the purchases you do need to make? Should you avoid shopping during sales and buying lots of new things at once?
For the majority of the time, Timeless Wardrobe Builders (TWBs?) should stay away from the Cyber Mondays and the Black Fridays. Because for the majority of the time, they have no need to buy new things. But when they do need something new, it shouldn’t matter whether it’s bought during a global sales day (I also understand if you want to boycott these) or a regular day. Let me give you an example to illustrate the point.
Last November, I decided to continue jogging over the winter. To do that, I needed to get some new gear, because my existing running pants began to feel chilly at 5°C. And then one day I realized it was the extended Black Friday weekend. I checked the deals in my favorite sports store and bought a pair of Brooks thermal running pants which had good reviews on the brand’s own website. The pants have been a success. I’ve been running in them 1–3 times a week in temperatures ranging between 2°C and -8°C. The fabric is amazing: a dense knit on the outside to keep the cold air out and a thin layer of soft fleece on the inside. What’s more, the pants fit so beautifully that I get a mood boost just from putting them on, making me excited to surmount the slushy streets of Helsinki.
Unless you have a plan, shopping malls and online stores are not safe places for Timeless Wardrobe Builders during sales.
By not avoiding Black Friday I probably ended up buying a higher quality pair of running bottoms than I would have without a discount (the regular price was 90 euros). But the key is that I knew what I was looking for. Unless you have a plan, shopping malls and online stores are not safe places for TWBs during sales.
Now that we’ve covered sales, let’s discuss the cadence of shopping. If you are going to do something as reasonable as building a long-lasting wardrobe should you also be reasonable and evenly spread out your timeless purchases over the year?
Consider the following scenario. On February 10, you buy two shirts and a pair of pants that you need for work. The purchases amount to 160 euros. On February 12, the temperature drops to -25°C (imagine you live in Finland or Canada) and the weather forecaster predicts the freezing temperatures to continue for the next three weeks. You realize that the sneakers you thought could get you through the winter simply won’t do. Considering the 160 euros you just spent two days ago, how do you feel about making a new purchase?
The rational consumer wouldn’t feel anything in particular. She would just get herself some winter boots. But the regular consumer might feel a little hesitant.
Behavioral economists have developed two concepts to explain the hesitation. Firstly, we experience a kind of pain while paying which is most acute close to the transaction. A great illustration of this is how my mother deals with money while traveling: Before a trip, she deposits her part of the travel budget to my father’s bank account so that she can avoid paying altogether; my father pays for the restaurant meals and the gondel passes. Voilà! She has limited the pain of paying to a single instance. Secondly, we tend to treat money a bit like an accountant. In our minds (and sometimes on an actual spreadsheet like I do) we allocate money to specific categories like clothing or groceries and across a specific time, typically a month.
So the regular consumer who recently made a big purchase, evoking pain and using up the imaginary clothing budget for the month, may feel reluctant to buy the winter boots that could keep her warm in the freezing temperatures. She may prefer to put off the purchase for a few days or even weeks despite knowing that she will eventually end up spending the money.
Building a timeless wardrobe is not about avoiding new purchases at all costs, but about crafting a wardrobe that reduces the need to shop and declutter over the long term.
Sometimes the reasonable thing to do is to shop during sales or buy a lot of things over a short period of time. Building a timeless wardrobe is not about avoiding new purchases at all costs, but about crafting a wardrobe that reduces the need to shop and declutter over the long term. But when you’re struggling to behave rationally, you just might need a smart friend to nudge you in the right direction. When I was agonizing over spending 240 euros on a new winter coat (that luckily matched all the criteria I had set for it) after having already spent a lot on clothes that month my friend stated: “But then you don’t need to buy a winter coat anymore.” He had a point. We often forget that making a good choice today can mean not buying clothing in that category for a very long time.
Buy for the long haul (even if it takes longer while you’re at it)
One of the key ideas behind building a timeless wardrobe is buying for the long haul whenever you do decide to buy something. Instead of buying with the current season or even the next two years in mind, buy for the next five to ten years. The exact time horizon depends on your preferences. I know I can easily use a garment I love for five to eight years and would be happy if all my clothes lasted for that long. But you’ll have to define “long” for yourself. Unfortunately, buying for the long haul comes with a few trade-offs.
Firstly, the buying process might take a lot longer. When you try to find a new item that fits several different criteria, you may not find it the first time you visit the store, and maybe not even the second. Last summer, I was looking for a hiking backpack and it took me over three weeks.
Secondly, the process might not be as much fun as when shopping on an impulse. I vividly recall waiting for the bus next to the highway after visiting an outdoor outlet (which always seem to be located on the outskirts of cities) to look for backpacks. I had just missed the bus, it was blazing hot and I had run out of water, not to mention the unbearable noise emanating from the trucks driving by. Despite the agony, this trip was also part of the journey to finding a suitable backpack.
Finally, you may need to spend more money than you are used to. Sometimes doing your research can help you locate great deals. But for the most part, long lasting means higher quality and higher quality means more expensive. The backpack I chose ended up costing more than twice as much as a cheaper but less suitable option would have.
Despite all these trade-offs, when I’m out on a day hike in 2027, searching for a hummus sandwich in that same old backpack I bought in 2021, I will be grateful to my past self for putting up with the process and making a mindful choice.
Before I move to the next point, I want to provide a slightly more philosophical way of looking at time and shopping. I don’t know how old you are, but in case you’re really young (say under 18), I want to tell you a secret: time seems to pass by more quickly the older you get. At 7, a summer holiday feels like a life of its own, but at 27 I’m completely comfortable talking about the summer approaching in February. And apparently, “when you pass 50, every 15 minutes it’s breakfast”. So if a month feels more like a week when you get older, it no longer seems like a good idea to go shopping every six months or so. Like my friend said about my backpack hunt: “You don’t want to be doing this all over again next year.”
The brutal implication of not doing it again next year (and hopefully many more) is wearing the same clothes over and over again. So should you just play it safe and buy the beige trench coat and the black Chelsea boots? Not necessarily.
In the Timeless Wardrobe Project, timeless doesn’t refer to what people stereotypically consider as stylish. It refers to anything you want to keep wearing from one year to the next.
Create your own definition of timeless
I used to think that timeless equaled boring. It made me think of little black dresses, camel coats and anything in black, white, gray and beige or with a simple cut. But in the Timeless Wardrobe Project, timeless doesn’t refer to what people stereotypically consider as stylish. It refers to anything you want to keep wearing from one year to the next. It may mean slipping into a little black dress, but it may just as well mean rocking a fuchsia ruffle blouse — whatever makes you feel comfortable and confident.
Earlier this year I understood what timeless means to me. While I was putting together an outfit that made me smile, a sentence popped into my mind: Let joy be thy guide in fashion. If we ignore the tone of my inner voice (“thy”, seriously?), at that moment I knew that having fun with style was the right way to go for me — and has always been.
The pieces I’ve owned and worn for the longest time tend to be playful or bold: a reversible blazer with a funky print on each side, high-waisted black velvet pants with embroidered flowers and an ankle-length black wool coat. What some wardrobe aficionados call “the basics” either end up unused or make me feel uninspired. (I thank the personal stylist, YouTuber and entrepreneur Daria Andronescu for showing me that a fun capsule wardrobe is not an oxymoron.)
Now, playful and bold may not be the words you want to describe your style with. Perhaps you would rather look cute, sexy, professional, athletic, bohemian or cool. You may also want to look and feel different depending on the occasion: bohemian at the local book fair, but strong at your crossfit gym. That’s OK. Just make sure you have one dominant theme for each part of your wardrobe: work, leisure, gym, outdoor, etc. This increases the interchangeability of the individual pieces in each category.
It should be obvious, but since you are the one who will be wearing the clothes, they should feel right to you. Not your best friend, not your mum, not the random person you think you’ll meet at the party or your neighbor’s cat.
Finally, I want to emphasize how important it is to follow your own voice when defining what timeless means to you. It should be obvious, but since you are the one who will be wearing the clothes, they should feel right to you. Not your best friend, not your mum, not the random person you think you’ll meet at the party or your neighbor’s cat. This way you won’t feel insecure when you realize you’re the only one wearing a colorful outfit in a sea of black at the hip new outdoor club (this might have happened to me). You have your unique style, others have theirs. So do your own thing.
But what if you feel insecure despite staying true to your style (this might also have happened to me)? And what if you keep being swayed by the people and images around you leading to erratic shopping hauls?
Consider building a timeless wardrobe your mindfulness practice
If you have somewhat of a shopaholic past like I do, refraining from shopping or wearing a dress from 2015 (or even a new one — there’s always someone cooler than you) requires dealing with anxiety, sadness, jealousy and inferiority. However, confronting those unpleasant emotions and the need to keep buying things is the only way to build a solid foundation for a timeless wardrobe. You can blame society and the media all you want, but if you want to stop being influenced by them you will need to find a way to deal with your behavior, urges and desires. It’s not easy, but it’s certainly easier than changing the capitalistic system.
Essentially, maintaining a long-lasting wardrobe is a kind of mindfulness practice. It’s an opportunity to observe your emotions and see your thoughts as what they truly are: mind-made creations that don’t require you to act upon them if you don’t wish to do so.
Epilogue: Confessions of a timeless wardrobe blogger
At the end of last year, I had agreed to talk on the phone with a friend of mine while I went for a walk. I was still waiting for his call when I passed by a thrift store near my house. I decided to pop in, because I had been eyeing a cute cross-stitch pillow through the window during the past few days. My friend called shortly after I had entered the thrift store. He knew I had planned to go for a walk, but based on the sounds he was hearing through the phone he was wondering where I was. When I revealed my location to him, he was clearly amused: “Didn’t I just read a Medium article about a project to shop less?”
Hmmm, maybe…?
I wanted to tell you this story to highlight that breaking the cycle of shopping and decluttering is a journey. It’s not that easy to cut out unwanted behavior patterns — not even for the person who is trying to write some wise words about it. That’s why it’s important to be kind to yourself when you act against your philosophy. And perhaps approach it with a little bit of humor.
The Better Buying Worksheet
If you want to create your own buying philosophy, you can download the Better Buying Worksheet I’ve created. The purpose of the worksheet is to help you define your buying philosophy. Filling it in should take no longer than 30 minutes. I promise you won’t regret those 30 minutes.
Notes
Arkes, H. R. (1996). The Psychology of Waste. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 9(3), 213–224.
Gourville, J. T., & Soman, D. (1998). Payment Depreciation: The Behavioral Effects of Temporally Separating Payments From Consumption. Journal of Consumer Research, 25(2), 160–174.
Guevarra, D. A., & Howell, R. T. (2015). To Have in Order to Do: Exploring the Effects of Consuming Experiential Products on Well‐Being. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 25(1), 28–41.
Prelec, D., & Loewenstein, G. (1998). The Red and the Black: Mental Accounting of Savings and Debt. Marketing Science, 17(1), 4–28.
Tatzel, M. (2003). The Art of Buying: Coming to Terms With Money and Materialism. Journal of Happiness Studies, 4(4), 405–435.
Thaler, R. (1985). Mental Accounting and Consumer Choice. Marketing Science, 4(3), 199–214.
