Good idea to keep track of one’s purchases (we started a Kakeibo book this year). I think we already wrote about this some time ago, I used the app Stylebook to keep track of my purchases, create outfits and check how often I wore a garment. But the whole process got too laborious for me, especially after a big wardrobe clean out which would have forced me to delete a lot of outfits which included garments I gave away as they did not fit any loner and to take new photos and and and..
But while reading your post I think about reviving this app and starting new (right now I infrequently make a photo of outfits I love and of new garments and store them in a folder on my phone).
And with the amount of garments you bought… I am not sure if the pure amount is important or if it would be more important if they added to your joy and/or if they served you well. But its not easy to formulate a balance, I mean how long should a garment bring joy so that it counts as a good purchase (and I am not thinking necessarily that wear alone is a indicator, perhaps the garment is connected to memories, ideals, aspirations etc).
I also think that purchasing less to save the environment is important, but sometimes I get a bit exhausted my the moral imperative behind it. I often feel forced to justify garment purchases (perhaps because of my ingrained Protestant conscience) and than I end in cycles where i count up that I do not journey nor have a car nor eat meat nor smoke etc… and after thinking about this I am back that environmental solutions must be on a bigger scale and that I cannot really get a grip in some topics (like its better to use a cloud solution or paper, or using glass bottles or linen bags, if I do not use them often enough…)
Tada… here you have a perfect example of how my brain works: I am able to over-complicate everything, I even do it in a comment.
Back to your purchases… For me both - a Trenchcoat and a raincoat- sound like lovely garments which could be used in a lot of outfits (especially with a beret). And the bigger amount of clothes you bought in 21… I remember you wrote your figure changed and that you lost weight, I imagine that you wanted to have good fitting clothes and that either means tailoring or buying.
And with books, fabric and yarn, I fear there I have no words, as I am nearly unable to resist, especially books.
Again I feel the need to apologies for this long comment, feel free to skip the middle part 🤪
Thank you so much for your lovely comment 😍. I feel these are all important things, so its good to be able to discuss them.
A short answer for now: there seems to be a trend, perhaps initiated/exacerbated by social media, for documenting everything that we do, rather than simply living 😂. By the time we have recorded our finances, clothes, food, creative endeavours and (my personal bete-noire) productivity, we have a lot of data, a second tier of mediated life, going on. My own approach to this dilemma is to focus on one or two things and to do spot checks now and then to see how things are going and whether I need to adjust.
With regard to fashion, clothing, self-identity and expression and their connection to sustainability, I feel there is something else going on as well, which is about an acknowledging and healing process that allows us (especially women, but not exclusively) to understand and accept ourselves, our being, our embodied wholeness. I'm thinking about your little sculpture oozing blood and the counter to that, as I'm writing.
Separately, I like the Kakeibo book concept. Are you joining the Saturday Savers Club this year? What I like about the Club, especially now I am a little more organised, is that I just turn up each week and do what is necessary. I don't have to keep re-thinking it, although I may review and revise things now and then.
Joining the Club would mean writing a comment once a week about how things are going with your savings plan, in this case, Kakeibo.
We are still filling it out :-D Hope the enthusiasm holds for a bit longer. We are planning to do it for some month just to get a more precise overlook what we are spending (although our bank account tells us its nearly every month the same , we seem to be creatures of habit).
ANd by pure chance: I heard a podcast two weeks ago about data collecting (sadly in German, because I think you would have like it) and some pretty dark results. Katika Kühnreich writes about the impact on society through social credits. She started to research in China but later found a lot of concepts to influence moral, monetary, health etc. behaviour are also used in „western“ countries, China is only a tad better in implementing it. I found one image she described very telling. She says there is no longer a „big Brother“ who is watching and controlling, hated and feared, but a „little sister“ with a tiny warm hand sticky from sweets which we want to have with us all the time (aka the cel phone, gamification, cashback etc.). I found a lot of concepts she presents very understandable, but do not share her very (veryveryvery) dystopian view of the future.
I try not to get too obsessive about data collecting (I'm talking about self-tracking here), I like to check now and then, as with the clothing audit or with my expenses, and make any adjustments I want to, but then I let it alone and get on with life.
I tried one of those wardrobe/make outfits things, but too boring and time consuming and I deleted it. I like a youtuber - slaphappysewing - very down to earth and nearer my age (@cryptocariad may follow her). She mentioned that taking pictures and filming herself had changed her perception of herself and she suggested trying it for your own evaluation, regardless of whether you were going to publish anything.
The website you linked looked interesting - my masters degree was on a very similar theme: digital media and society.
!LUV
@shanibeer(4/5) gave you LUV.