I'm feeling an odd combination of virtue and guilt as I write today's post.
The virtuous feeling is easy to identify: I just spent the morning ruthlessly sorting the chaff from my wardrobe.
I do this periodically as I have a tiny amount of space in which to keep my spoils.
In fact, what you can see below is the sum total of all my clothes (not including the knickers drawer, winter sweaters - which have been put away, hopefully - and coats or jackets)
I rather like this enforced limitation. It's like bonsai in a way. I'm regularly pruning away the clothes that don't fit, haven't washed well, don't look the way I hoped, or that I've simply become bored with. (Did you know that most women wear only 20% of their wardrobe 80% of the time?) So what's left is really the stuff that I consider to be the best of the best.
Granted, it's a little frustrating when I'm hunting for something that I "retired" six months previously, and I'm often replacing identical items, so it's probably not the most cost-effective way to manage a wardrobe.
Now we come to the guilty part. Post-cull, as I was re-hanging all my clothes on matching non-slip hangers (because that's the kind of anal-retentive I am), I discovered that I own twenty-three dresses.
That is twenty-three dresses post-cull.
Surely twenty-three dresses is an excessive number of frocks, even for me. Especially twenty-three dresses that I simply couldn't bear to part with, regardless of whether I ever actually wear them or not.
Mindful of the 20:80 percent rule, I've decided to make a concerted effort to ensure that every dress in my wardrobe earns its keep in the coming months.
So, in the interest of that, today's wardrobe was this safari-esque dress from Barkins (www.barkins.com.au).
Dress: Barkins www.barkins.com.au
Shoes: Zu www.zushoes.com.au
I feel very Katherine-Hepburn-In-African-Queen, though I'm sure the inestimable Kate would never have voluntarily donned a skirt this full.
It's a two-season-old dress, so it's unlikely to be still in-store, but if you like the look, check out the two Igigi (www.igigi.com) dresses below - they're both radically on-sale (find them under the "final clearance" section of the website) and they're very limited sizes, but you might be the lucky one.
Trench Dress in Stone - RRP $145, sale price $41.70
Tailored Portrait Dress in Grey - RRP $145, sale price $58
