Take a shot anytime I mention the Rule of Five here :D Other fun drinking games include mentioning I’m budgeting, mentioning I’m budgeting for grad school, mentioning I’m trying to repair my relationship to consumption, or mentioning I got laid off. I’m a broken record. Yet here I am to talk about
in depth after five months of doing it. This might get #vulnerable and financially specific so click away if you don’t want that!As I’ve mentioned previously, Rule of Five is a challenge? a lifestyle? where you only buy five new clothing items per year. Five is not an arbitrary number. It is the number of items that individuals in the top 16 countries in the G20 can purchase if we want to reduce emissions from the fashion industry and remain under the 1.5 Celsius climate target needed to prevent climate catastrophes. In short, we need to consume a lot less. I’m not proud to admit this and don’t get me wrong, I care about the environment— I recognize the outsized impact the fashion industry has on climate change and the staggering (read: frightening) emissions forecasts for the industry— however, I also embarked on this journey to curb my spending and get my finances in order. The way I was shopping just wasn’t financially sustainable for me anymore. Rule of Five has certainly helped me reach my savings goals and feel better about my consumption but very unexpectedly it has helped my style and my overall happiness with my wardrobe in ways I could not have predicted.
In January I set my goal: to buy five new items and four secondhand items for all of 2024. Darke says secondhand items are fair game but she limits herself to four, so I’m doing the same. I recognize that this is still nine items per year, which is almost one new item every month, which doesn’t sound very hard or limiting, but for me, this has been a wild lifestyle change, and I have many thoughts. Before I started Rule of Five I wasn’t very discerning when it came to acquisitions in my closet. Some might say that’s insane and stupid and they would be right! I would buy things and not consider their functionality in my wardrobe or who I was buying them for (fantasy self vs. real self). I didn’t pay much attention to cut or fabric or quality. If I liked something at face value, and I could more or less afford it (emphasis on more or less), more often than not I would get it. In my three or so years of reckless shopping, I bought a lot of clothes. If you asked me last year if I could remember each item I purchased, I wouldn’t be able to tell you. Many items were hits, but many more were misses and now live in my closet unworn or on my Poshmark. My cost per wear was abysmal, I was more confused than ever about what I liked in theory versus in practice, and overall I was unhappy with much of my closet and felt the need to buy more to fill those gaps.
Since I started Rule of Five, everything I have bought has been a wonderful addition to my closet. My cost per wear on these items is much lower than many items that have been in my closet 5X as long. They are beautiful (to me), well-made, versatile, and I still love them every time I put them on, which I understand is an insane statement considering I’ve had these items for max five months, but I can’t say the same thing for a lot of what I’ve bought in the past. So, onto the purchases, the cost (eek!), the cost per wear, and my ~reflections~.
Rabbit Fur Lined Miu Miu Ballet Flats
Purchase Date: 2/10/24
Purchase from: Depop
Price: $316
CPW: $39.50
I’ve built up my shoe collection over the years and have all the basics for what I’d like in that department of my wardrobe. I have two pairs of black ballet flats, one pair of black sneakers, two pairs of black loafers, one pair of flat black boots, and two pairs of black leather-heeled boots to name a few of my workhorses. It turns out I have a lot of black leather shoes. Many of my black shoes have some unique feature that gives them some dimension but allows other aspects of my outfit to shine: a tabi toe, silver hardware, a gold buckle. However, now that I have those bases covered, I wanted a flat that wasn’t black. I would get dressed and feel like I needed some color in the shoe department. Enter these rabbit fur-lined off-pink-beige ballet flats. I’ve had my eye on these shoes for a while and searched for them on resale websites for several years and never saw anything under $500 until this February. I saw them for $300 in my size and I couldn’t pass them up. They fell right into place within my wardrobe, despite being a “statement” shoe. I have the black Kaitlyn Pan version of these shoes (without the fur), and I love them, but I find the Miu Miu ones even more versatile because of the color and the addition of the fur trim gives them a bit of visual intrigue. I love wearing these shoes with long skirts, short skirts with knee socks, dresses, and shorts, and they add a nice contrast to an outfit that a black shoe would not provide. I’ve worn them eight times since February which doesn’t seem like much but to be fair they are more of a cold-weather shoe and it has been too hot in NYC for me to wear them lately. The quality is wonderful and I feel giddy when I put them on and step out of the house.
Salter House x HKM Rose Pink Cotton Wrap Skirt
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Purchase Date: 3/30/24
Purchased from: In Store
Price: $260
CPW: $13
I will admit that when I saw this skirt it tested my clothing rules. I almost bought it on the spot instead of waiting my self-imposed 48-hour minimum. I saw it one evening after Salter House posted it on their Instagram, and I almost clicked checkout a couple of times that night but stopped myself from giving in to the impulse. I had questions. I’m five feet tall. Would it be too long? What did the color look like in person? Would I feel like a cupcake? I called the store the following day and they had the skirt in my size. I went that Saturday to try the skirt on in person and fell in love. Quickly all my questions were answered. No, it was not too long, yes, it was the exact length I wanted, and no, I didn’t feel like a cupcake but a beautiful little confection. Looking at the cost per wear, it’s obvious that I love and wear this skirt to death. Like my shoes, I have a lot of black skirts, so I wanted something with a pop of color, and this particular shade of pink works with much of my wardrobe. I also have a lot of midi-length skirts in my wardrobe and wanted a long, maxi skirt. On me, this skirt almost hits the floor. It is so gorgeously constructed with the drop waist and the beautiful, thick ties. The cotton is soft, durable, and breezy. She’s perfect and I love her.
Vintage Hampton Court Knits Tennis Dress
Purchase Date: 4/24/24
Purchased From: Poshmark
Price: $50
CPW: $6.25
No, I didn’t buy this dress because of Challengers though that is a fun coincidence. I had this along with a few other vintage knit tennis dresses in my Poshmark saves for a while. I really like a mini dress (as you’ll soon see). Before this purchase, I had two in my closet. One is a black 60s-style Gap mini dress from the 90s and one is a black shift-y spaghetti strap mini dress purchased from Zara about four years ago. I wear both of them a lot. I love the silhouette and thought this would be an interesting addition to an often-worn category in my wardrobe. I wanted something not black (another theme emerging) and casual. I love the style, length, material, and color. I love that I can wear it to the pool or the beach as a cover-up and I can wear it as a dress in real life (beach and pool aren’t real life, unfortunately). I’ve worn this dress eight times since I got it, and I’m excited to style it throughout the summer and into the fall.
Réalisation Par Christy Dress in Brown
Purchase Date: 5/1/24
Purchased From: The Real Real
Price: $151.29
CPW: $37.75
I have resold or returned everything I’ve purchased from Réalisation Par except my graduation dress which I keep for sentimental reasons. It turns out that something about that brand and my style don’t quite mesh. With that said, I’ve been eyeing this dress for months. I didn’t want to pay full price for it so I kept looking for one in my size at a discount on the secondhand market. A few slipped away as I wasn’t quite ready to pull the trigger. Did I want to spend the money? Did I really “need” this in my wardrobe? As I thought about the dress more, why I was buying it, and where it would fit in my life, I felt like it certainly filled a need. It’s more dressy than my Zara spaghetti strap dress, but it’s still casual. It offers some versatility because it’s brown instead of black (especially because I have so many black accessories). I loved the silhouette, the specific shade of brown, and the fabric, and I could think of a million different outfit combinations to wear this dress all year round, and so far that has proven to be true!
Repetto Farah Heels in Black
Purchase Date: 5/30/24
Purchased From: eBay
Price: $117
CPW: $10.60
I see the irony of me writing a very long paragraph about not wanting any more black shoes and then a few paragraphs down writing about how I am obsessed with these black shoes…but we contain multitudes, etc. I first saw these shoes when Lily-Rose Depp was photographed several times wearing an orange and black pair a few years ago. She paired them with mini dresses and shorts and looked effortless and sexy and cute as usual. I’m no Lily-Rose Depp, which sucks, but I do love these shoes. They are a replacement for a once-beloved pair of Justine Clenquet heels that I bought for full price (sigh) several years ago. At the time, I convinced myself I needed them because I saw them on Reese and Molly Blutstein and they looked sexy and pilgrim-y and would go with all of my outfits because they were— you guessed it—black. I don’t like the square toe or the chunky heel anymore. It’s not aligned with my style or the silhouettes I gravitate towards. The biggest issue I have with the shoes is that I can’t really wear them with pants. When I wear skirts, dresses, or shorts, you see the entire shoe, which gives the visual impression of a heeled mary jane or ballerina, which is what I’m going for. However, when I wear pants they look like boots, and if I wanted the look of a boot I would just wear a pair of boots. The Farahs are easier to style than the Justine Clenquet shoes and fill the heeled flat-size hole in my wardrobe. When I am dressing more femininely I can lean into that and the Farahs are quite unassuming as opposed to the boldness and chunkiness of the Justine Clenquet heels. If I am dressing more sporty, then they offer a nice contrast. I also find them to be quite sexy though some might call them modest. I’ve worn them almost every day since they arrived at my apartment about two and a half weeks ago. I love the heel height. As a short person, I almost always opt for heels, especially on a night out, but sometimes my feet can’t take a tall heel for hours. These give me a nice lift without killing me. I wear them with everything—I wear them to the office, I wear them out, I wear them dressed up, and I wear them casually. I love them with a sock and without a sock. They are perfect, and the cost per wear shows that.
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After five months I have bought five items of clothing— four secondhand and one new piece. While I understand that five pieces of clothing in five months is still a lot in the grand scheme of things, it’s progress for me. I have four items left through the end of the year and I feel confident in my ability to not go over that. My judgment as it relates to my closet and my style has gotten so much better as I’ve lowered my consumption. This got me thinking a lot about the creativity and intentionality that comes from limitations. It’s not like before I did this I had an unlimited budget or could shop all the time, but imposing stricter limits has helped my style more than watching fashion tik toks and youtube videos and making pinterest boards. Go figure that style largely happens outside the confines of highly curated algorithms and digital imagery (though these things have their time and place in a style ~journey~).
There’s a very misguided idea that the more things you buy, the better your personal style will be or that you need to buy things to hone your personal style. When you’re limited, you have to get specific about why you are buying something and how it will work for you. What you value in a garment comes into very sharp relief when you can only get five or even ten items per year. If you limit yourself to five items per year, wouldn’t you take each purchase seriously? This is what it means to invest in a wardrobe. It doesn’t mean that you buy something expensive and hope it retains its resale value or that its resale value increases. Rather, by buying a piece of clothing you are invested in its longevity in your closet. You are invested in the life of that item. You are invested in what it took to make that item, and that that labor and time goes to good use. The more time I spend thinking about an item of clothing, the more I develop a relationship with and understand what that item means to me and for me. I think about the life it will live among my other clothes and with me. Since starting Rule of Five there’s so much less shopping noise in my head and so much more enjoyment of what I already have. TLDR; shopping less is good! (for me)