Extreme minimalism

[AnythingButMagnolia]

Since not working I have realised that I only need 4 items of clothing (coat / shoes/ underwear excepted).

1 pair mid wash jeans
1 pair black jeans
1 white v neck tee shirt
1 Black v neck tee shirt.

This has led me to ponder selling or donating the entire rest of wardrobe.

Even when working I just switched the jeans with navy / black trousers.

I think I could manage with concentrating more on accessories.

Is anyone else embracing extreme minimalism boredom ?

When I decided to pack a cabin bag only on a 3 weeks holiday it was really simple and creative without the stress and too many choices having very few plain basics to dress up or down with very light accessories (scarf, necklace and earrings - not necessarily all at once ).

It freed head space. I got dressed very quickly. I normally try 5 or 6 outfits before I leave the house...maybe I should revert to this to help me be on time actually...................

most of us wear some stuff very often anyway despite a wardrobe full of stuff.

Betty - it's the 80/20 principle. I'm just getting rid of the 80 so I can focus on wearing the 20 which I would wear anyway even if I hadn't gotten rid of the 80. (Not sure that makes sense except inside my head...)

It's nothing you won't already know about Remus:
I roast the veg wherever possible - stick in the oven and walk away. Tastier too, especially carrots.
Fish rather than meat - less cooking time.
Pasta or rice - no prep, done in 10.
Lots of olives - flavour with no prep or cooking.
Pancakes and fruit - dead quick and delicious.
But most important of all - I have a husband and son who are both into cooking

Op - would you be happy with any kind of jeans and T? Because if I were ever to do anything like this, I'd become obsessed with tracking down the T shirt with the perfect fit, the perfect neckline, perfect shape, perfect shade etc etc. So although it might conceivably make me better dressed, I can't see it freeing up any head space. But then I'm not looking to - I enjoy thinking about this kind of stuff.

Flois- no it has to be the right t, right jeans. It's about quality not quantity.

The perfect t-shirt - still waiting to find this.

Flo - all v sensible re fod. Pancakes with fruit and Greek yoghurt one of my v favourite meals.

Re roasted veg - amde this the other day. Was spectacularly easy and absolutely delicious. Sorry for the hijack, OP!

Back to t-shirts - Cos the best I've found so far.

Thanks for the tip Remus I may track her book down, she sounds like my kind of cook!

The best T shirts I've had recently have been from Toast, People Tree and Esprit/EDC - the last being a charity shop find that straight away became a favourite.

Sorry - just noticed all the typos. Can I blame those on the per--menopause too?

I bought her book on the strength of that recipe, and it's now full of Post-Its of the things I want to try next.

peri- ffs

AnythingButMagnolia
A coincidence you mentioning the late Jean Muir as I was only thinking of her the other day.
I was thinking I wear a lot of her palette. Navy, pared down dresses.
I can see where you are coming from but your pared back wardrobe is too minimalist for me.

Inspired by this post I looked at project 333 and went through my clothes yesterday and got it down to about 26 items. I didn't do shoes or accessories, but I tend to wear the same few accessories and pairs of shoes, so it probably does come to about 33.

I've now got 2 huge bags of clothes in the bottom of my wardrobe and it's so much easier to find the clothes I want to wear. It was a bit of an eye opener as well as 1 full bin bag I clothes that don't fit! I can't delay starting a diet any longer.

I really, really want a more simple wardrobe. And then I buy another pair a trousers. I've done the massive clear put. And I've curtailed (by £1000s per year) what was my very unhealthy shopping addiction. But I have do much further to go. My wardrobe is simple and getting dressed is easy, but it's still a lot of clothes.

I got out my winter things yesterday to help me remember not to covet new things. I have nice things that adhere to the rules of I love it and is in good condition, etc.

Going back to Mark Zuckerberg, he strikes me as someone who isn't really into clothes but who realises that they send out a message so he keeps everything very simple and thereby controls the message. That's pragmatic and sensible if clothes aren't your thing, but I don't regard it as minimalist.
To me, a style minimalist is someone who will happily spend as much time and effort finding that single perfect white T shirt as I spend thinking about my entire autumn-winter wardrobe. It can look really good but I still don't see how it saves head space.
Or am I just splitting hairs?

I agree @Floisme.

@Floisme

"To me, a style minimalist is someone who will happily spend as much time and effort finding that single perfect white T shirt as I spend thinking about my entire autumn-winter wardrobe"

that's interesting, I don't see it that way at all. I see a style minimalist as someone who picks a small number of items that work, and who does it efficiently, to free up the head space for other things.

you might still absolutely love your coat, but you picked it out and that's that, if you see what I mean.

I do see what you mean but, for me that's just being pragmatic (e.g. as I am about cooking). I know a couple of people who keep their houses in a minimalist style and they would be the first to admit they're totally obsessed and, although they may only buy a few things, they spend forever thinking about it - and often spend a fortune when they do.

But I guess it's what the op means that's important.

I think it's a great idea, I work in retail & honestly the waste and consumerism is shocking (obviously though without it I would not have a job ). I am quite minimalist in what I buy but I do need to pare down my wardrobe considerably. I only buy from charity shops & make sure I donate something for every purchase I make.

Flo, funny, i never thought of minimalism as being anything other than pragmatic, but I'm not a shopping person so can't imagine spending ages looking for anything.

Having spent the last year being either pregnant or post partum, I've basically done this, by just rotating the same couple of jeans, t-shirts/vests and cardigans/jumpers. It's been massively freeing. I've also had about ten massive knickers all the same, and five bras all the same. All my old clothes (of which there are a lot) are boxed up waiting for me to sort through. I'm only now starting to think about adding some other pieces in and haven't missed my clothes at all really. Although it's been done more out of necessity than design, it has made me more ruthless around clothes. It's been.a useful phase to go through

This is such an interesting discussion. I couldn't be a minimalist in the way described by the OP because I love clothes, I love thinking about clothes, and I love putting together different outfits in different ways for different purposes. I know previous posters have said that not doing this releases head space for other stuff but for me that other stuff might not necessarily be an improvement! Thinking about clothes is one way I spend less time thinking about myself and all my failures (I have a fierce inner critic). But I do spend too much on clothes and for sure I have more than I need. And I worry about rampant consumerism. So I guess I am in search of a happy medium. For now I am going to try hard to shop my wardrobe better.

Yes, this thread has confirmed a plan I had to 'shop my wardrobe' much more. And have a cull when I do the seasonal switch over soon!

A couple of questions @AnythingBut Magnolia - why only have 2 t-shirts? You could buy another of each colour in case of emergencies/spillages etc. Also, don't you need a jumper or sweatshirt for cold weather? What about invitations to dinner, concerts, parties etc? What would you wear to a funeral? Thanks

@Clionba - OP has answered most of these upthread

@thedevilinablackdress - I've read the whole thread, seen a bit about her considering a sweater, but was interested to hear her thoughts about the other stuff.