What would you do? Please help me find my style...

[MadameSapphire]

So...I have taken a considered look at my packed wardrobe and would definitely appreciate some advice, wise S&B community! Please join me for the ride and apologies in advance for the long post!

I need to get rid (and by that I mean charity shop and sell) some of my clothes. I know this notion is talked about here already - basically, I have an array of really gorgeous clothes that just don’t fit my lifestyle! What is really hard is that I love them, they fit really well, but at the moment they aren’t being worn. Do I sell my fantastic vintage stuff?! I really don’t want it to be a ‘collection’.

This challenge is also related to an identity shift (of sorts!) over the last few years. I’m a mama to young children and have also embarked on a significant career change.

So (if you’re still with me! 🙈😂), I feel like looking at my wardrobe reflects a style chameleon. Don’t get me wrong, I know some people rock and work mixing a number of different styles, but for my lifestyle and probably, also, the person that I’ve become, it’s not working.

Am concerned about going totally minimalist, but don’t want to put everything in the loft for weeks/months/years, could actually do with the extra cash that would be made by selling some of it!

And some of me thinks that maybe I should just think, sod it, and wear the fabulous stuff everyday, but:

(1) it probably isn’t practical when I have Weetabix ‘shared’ with on a daily basis;

(2) I feel like they clothes might be wearing me (IYSWIM);

(3) I think lots of them fit my previous career in quite a different industry.

Totally happy to share more info if it helps. Can anyone heeeeelp me? TIA. 😀

Very gentle bump so this doesn’t get lost (and because I am excited about replies 🤣).

I'm going to focus on your vintage clothes rather than the lifestyle / style identity questions. I too have some fabulous vintage (as in early-mid 20th century) clothes that I'm confident I'll never wear again. So I sympathise. My thoughts on your dilemma (and mine) are:

I still get pleasure from them even though they're going unworn. This isn't only because they're things of beauty but because I've collected them for nearly half a century so there are memories and stories attached.

Provided they don't fall apart - and that's a real concern as some of them are quite fragile now - I can only see them going up in value. So for me (and your situation might be different) it makes sense to put off selling them for as long as I can. In fact ideally I'd like to pass some of them on either to a younger family member or a costume museum, but I'm holding off in case my pension goes tits up.

I have space to keep them - I realise you may not.

So much shit come under the name of 'vintage' these days - I've seen 'Asos' on sale at a vintage fair - that I think I'd have to do a shitload of research into the best way of selling them. And I'm too lazy to do that right now.

Last thought: when you have small children it's easy to fall into thinking that this phase of your life will last forever. It doesn't. And while I don't know the details of your new career, it's worth remembering how much workwear has changed, not just since the pandemic but over the last decade. Basically a lot of things we think are set in stone turn out not to be.

Not sure if that's helpful or not, and I realise I'm partly trying to justify my own inactivity

Hi 👋🏼 and thank you @Floisme!

So I guess, different to you, I’m not getting the pleasure that I’d like to from the vintage beauties hanging in my wardrobe - some of them I haven’t even worn and it’s taken a while for me to realise that, although I adore them and they fit like a glove - I think my style has changed (some of this in response to career/lifestyle shifts), I think I’d rather sell them on. Re. selling, I was thinking of just selling on Instagram (although I’d pay someone to do it for me!)...

That’s a interesting and useful thing to hear re. the small children phase. I think my Mum wear is so very far from my amazing, colourful, alternative vintage stuff (think jeans and very boring black sweatshirt) - a part of me wonders if I just need to sort my everyday stuff to reflect the characterful, vintage stuff a bit more (if that makes sense)?

an even! Sorry for typos!

Right, if they're no longer giving you any pleasure then yes that's different from my situation. I'd still bear in mind that you'll probably never be able to buy them back and that your style and your life will almost certainly change again but yeah, it sounds like it might be time for you you to move them on.

On the best places to sell, I've dipped a toe into this but it always sounded too much like hard work. I'd do as much research as you can and personally if, your clothes are older than .... well let's say 1960s, I'd be wary about using Instagram / Ebay. I realise I'm about to sound like an arse but I think there are a lot of buyers out there for whom vintage means 1990 onwards and who have little idea of the true worth of anything older. I can say this because I was exactly the same when I started out. Basically I'm not sure you'd get a fair price. A vintage dealer would be much more knowledgeable but then they'd take a cut of the selling price so I'm not sure how much better off you'd be.

This is how I end up going round in circles and doing nothing! But if I ever do decide to sell, I'm going get advice from an auction house first. If there's one anywhere near you, I'd check them out, especially for some of your really fabulous things. Even if they don't do any costume sales themselves, they can often value things for you and they will know their stuff and their market.

Thanks so much for the advice re. selling, @Floisme - my pieces date mostly from the 1970s.

I’m now beginning to convince myself that I actually just need to say goodbye to a handful of my vintage things and actually focus on infusing my everyday wear with some vintage-style!

From what I saw last time I was looking, I'd say 1970s is probably on the cusp in terms of Instagram / ebay selling. But see what other posters say - a lot of people on here use it a lot more than I ever have.

I think it also depends on how much of your energy you want to put into getting a good price for it - when you have small children, time is very valuable!

But yes, maybe selling a few of the higher value, less wearable things and finding ways of incorporating the rest might be the way to go. Honestly in the scheme of things, you won't be scraping Weetabix off your clothes for that long!

Thanks again @Floisme. Any other thoughts, lovely peeps? 🤞🏼