Friday, August 25, 2006

Confessions of a Clothes Hound

Lately my closet has been getting thicker. I'm ashamed to admit it, because I have a "prepared speech" on consumerism, materialism, etc. for young people that I feel very strongly about. But at the same time, I can't turn up 75% off ties with an extra 30% off at Dillards. Just for the record--in the past week, I've bought two dress shirts, a "smart casual" shirt, three ties, a pair of shorts, three polo shirts, and a short sleeve button up. My closet now extends into the guest bedroom so that my stuff won't get wrinkled.
Now--excuses, since I am self-righteous and all...I haven't added much onto my frame since college (or even high school) and some things in my closet have been there since then. Also--the grand total of this past week's shopping spree totaled to less than $100, even though the original prices would have totaled more like $600, so I am getting good bargains. But technically, I have enough dress clothes to go months withoug wearing the same thing twice. With all my suits, pants, etc. I could have enough combinations to go a year, maybe years, without repeating. IF I chose to wear polo-style shirts for a whole month, I could make it more than twenty days before I'd need to wear the same one again. And I have enough hawaiian shirts to take a whole vacation without repeating.
I am experiencing the classic "conscientious liberal" guilt, especially considering I could clothe a whole African village for years. But at the same time, I believe it is time to get rid of some of my "worn out" stuff I've had for years. Am I abnormal? Here is one case that optimism is being "tamed."

1 comment:

  1. I am very much in the same place-- I take my shopping sprees with a side of liberal guilt. I recognized that I was really having a difficult time dressing properly for work. Even though I'm still in Cali and it's casual, so many of my clothes make me look like a teenager. And too often I was deciding between flip flops and my eighth grade dance shoes. So we've gone shopping. Like you, I hit up some bargains. And I think it's a good thing. I have a hard enough time being taken seriously.

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