How old were you when you stopped growing? I still have stuff from when I was about 13; and yes, I can still fit into it. Whether it still fits my idiom is another question altogether.
In our household, we have the concept of what’s known as “the permanent wardrobe”, things we expect to keep to be prepared for opportunities and contingencies. Also included are items we only expect to buy once.
Wardrobe items it makes sense to select with care as soon as you are fully grown:
- Letterman jacket. Both my girls have one, and since we homeschooled they chose whatever color they wanted. he hee. The store doesn’t care what the color of your school was as long as you have the right color money.
- Black skirt, black slacks, white blouse. Sooner or later, someone is going to require you to wear them.
- Dress sandals.
- Knee high boots.
- Snow gear.
- Good sweaters.
- Basic leather belts. My skinny brown one I bought in High School.
- More coats: puffy down parka or vest, trenches and pea coats, any wool coats. And leathers (thanks Monica!).
Moreover, some items that could be fun to hold onto are:
- dresses. Oh, how my daughters wish I had more Gunne Sax for them to wear!
- Converse
But don’t get carried away. Most items will be useless after being stored for 20 years.
What items would you add to the list?
Select classic handbags or purses?
Good thought! Leather jackets (if, you know, that’s your idiom)–I have a hand-me-down from the 1970s that is still going strong. Winter accessories, too–when I moved north I ‘inherited’ some Isotoner gloves perhaps twenty years old and still in good shape (now, if only I could find them since moving…) Sweaters are investments, I suppose, but short-term investments, not like leather belts or shoes–I tend to be able to wear a sweater for only about three years before it pills or grows thin or misshapen and is only fit for wearing around the house–maybe I’m absurdly hard on them. I’d add a black jacket that matches the black skirt and black slacks, since it’s useful to have a suit on hand, especially one somber enough for funerals.
Wendy ~ good thought. Especially leather, right?
Monica ~ I can’t believe I forgot leather jackets! I may have to go back in and edit the post. Yes! That’s exactly the kind of thing I’m talking about. (For me, it would have been a brown or colored suede, but I never bought one in high school. My sister had a black smooth leather; when it didn’t fit her anymore she gave it to me, but I just can’t do black leather for long. Too aggressive.)
As a northerner, I suspect the person you inherited the gloves from didn’t wear them. I need a new pair of Isotoners every couple of years. And, although I was thinking more like “cashmere twin set” on the sweaters, I confess I have totally worn out, as in holes in the elbows, a cashmere sweater I inherited from my grandma. I think I had it 5 or 6 years.
Black “suit” is a good idea, too! 🙂
You know, I love the idea of a lifetime wardrobe, but I don’t think there are very many everyday items that really have a useful life of more than, say, twenty years. Leather jackets and boots, well-made wool jackets, evening wear, and dress shoes (esp. fancy evening pumps) would be on my life list.
You’d think that a good wool coat would be on the list, but I’m not convinced. At 16 (in 1984, I think), my parents bought me a beautiful, high-quality wool coat. It was red with a black velvet collar, and the style was quite conservative for the day; it was long and swingy, with dolman sleeves. Flash forward 15 years. I got loads of use out of the coat, but by 1990, the shoulder pads were laughably large and the wide armholes and dolman sleeves seemed to dwarf me. I passed it on to my mother, but she had to retire it by about 1995. Twenty good years of wear. Perhaps we could have packed that coat up for another twenty or thiry years, and we’d be glad to have it in 2035–but is that a good use of resources, including attic space?
I think the same could go for most of the more classic clothes I wore in high school. The fashion was to wear tops very baggy, so my sweaters and blouses from those days would all be “too big” today. My wool trousers–made by my mom, who is a brilliant tailor–were pleated, too narrow in the leg, and too short by modern standards. Will those looks come back? Maybe …
The only items I own that are more than twenty years old–besides purchased or inherited vintage pieces, all more than forty years old–are a leather biker jacket (now “too big,” I keep it for nostalgia and Halloween) and some belts and scarves. Oh, and handknit mittens! 🙂
You are really right, Sheri. I don’t think it’s useful to pack stuff up and wait for it to come back – that’s how we end up with alot of garbage. But if a young person learns to think in terms of a permanent wardrobe, they are likely to be alot happier with the things they end up wearing for 20 years. For example, when puffy vests came in a few years ago, a down-filled one would be the more sensible choice over a poly-fill, because a down vest is a classic for skiing and …
Speaking of poly-fill, I learned my lesson the hard way: we saved my ski pants from when I was growing up. When we pulled them out a few years ago, oh yes, they fit all of us — but the stuffing was nothing but dust. lol
Whether you’re using it or not, it’s decomposing. 😉
Maybe a 10-year plan instead of 20 years would be easier to achieve? Just thinking that a high schooler has more style similarities … and body type … to a 24 year old than a 34 year old.
I bought a goretex-downfilled Eddie Bauer parka 12 years ago, when I worked there during college. Its still great. And I have Sorel snow boots, also purchased there with my employee discount, but they are getting too tight because with each pregnancy my feet really do seem to get a little bigger!
Sorels – yes!
I wonder if feet are like noses and ears, continuing to grow throughout life? My feet have gone up almost an entire size in 25 years.
Correction: by the previous tally, we had that wool coat only 11 years! My mother (She of the Perfect Memory) tells me that I actually had the coat until 1994, and that she kept it until 2000–which would be roughly 15 years.
I think I am going to do better with my present coat. It is a simple, well-fitted, long black wool coat with a back belt (Calvin Klein)–purchased in 2000 and still going strong. I think I paid about $75 for it at T.J. Maxx. Purchases made in one’s 30s must be safer than those made at 16!
I wish I had kept some of my wool coats (got rid of them when I got engaged, as DH is allergic but he seems to be less and less sensitive to wool as the years go on). Unfortunately, many of us don’t retain our figures from decade to decade and it is a psychic drain to keep too-small clothes around. I am also terribly rough on clothes and shoes, even handbags. Although, for some reason, a jacket I bought about 10 years ago still fits. It is in a size I wouldn’t think would fit now, but I wear it once a week and it looks great.
Handbags, particularly “hip” styles that flashed in and out quickly are super funky accessories people recognize and love to see again in 20 yrs. I have a few vintage treated canvas designer bags that I carry and get tons of compliments on (Gucci in a funny shape, a real LV satchel, etc) and I remember reviving a rattan job from the 60’s and an orange bucket bag when I was in HS….
I have and still wear my grandfather’s vintage Levi’s jackets.
I think the logo/brand thing in vintage could be an indicator of something to keep.
Rebecca, I’d be interested in your thoughts on the practical life of particular categories of clothes and accessories. Does this influence your strategy when you walk into a thrift shop? (I’m a dedicated thrift shopper, but I think I’m in need of a system!)
Beth ~ I agree. “Psychic drain” is a fitting descriptor for the practice of holding on to old (often out of style) clothes in the hopes of being able to fit into them again.
dana ~ the handbag thing is definitely a good fit for the second list! Bonus: they don’t take up much room to store. 🙂
Sheri ~ I’ll have to think on that. My main strategy when thrifting is to not get tired of the item before I have gotten my cost per wear out of it and preferably it’s also worn out. 😉
Ditto the vintage branding … I do still have a Levi’s denim jacket from high school. LOL … it was baggy then (in style!) and now fits perfect!
What a great list. I am going to actually print it out and save it. I need to work on these things. Of everything you mentioned, I only have:
Snow Gear
Nice Sweaters
white blouse
Isn’t that sad?
Oh, oh and black dress pants. But they are too big, so that is why I forgot about them. I need a new pair since I lost weight. Actually, um, they will probably be able to fit me again in oh about 9 months. Unfortunately. 🙁
My mother saved a lot of her beautiful Ferragamo shoes and four or five cashmere sweaters for me. Unfortunately, I’m four inches taller and a size and a half bigger than she was everywhere, including my feet.
Nonetheless, I definitely plan to save those sweaters for my daughter (and one or two of them fit me – just barely). And I can still carry the purses she saved. Coach made some really, really classic shapes which people comment on to this day, wondering where I got them – they’re astonished when I say, because they look nothing like most Coach bags today, but so good!