If you LOVE clothes almost obsessively

[YouBetterShapeUp]

How does this manifest? Do you own a lot? Do you plan your buys meticulously or impulse buy? Do you spend time mending, steaming, ironing, organising? Do you follow formulas or have varied wardrobe?

Since pandemic, I have started to focus on quality more but that means I do not have a lot of clothes, though I truly love what I won. I think through what I need but I would also like to fall in love thing more than I do.

I just want to know that this materialist love is shared by someone else…

Hi @YouBetterShapeUp, the pandemic gave me pause for the first time in 30 years to think about my clothes. I feel like a teenager again with a renewed interest in what I wear. I never wear anything anymore that I don't love.

Do you own a lot? I own more than I need, but it fits in what would be thought of as a small space. I got rid of loads and narrowed my focus.

Do you plan your buys meticulously or impulse buy? I've narrowed my interest to a favourite brand. I can't afford them so i only shop the sales. So it's impulse in that it's a sale, but i only keep what i love and that works in my wardrobe, so it's considered if not meticulous.

Do you spend time mending, steaming, ironing, organising? Do i ever! Once a week i have a pile of ironing. I mend, i do minor tweaking (I'm not good enough to call it tailoring!). My clothes are neatly organised whether that's folded and hanging.

Do you follow formulas or have varied wardrobe? Shopping one brand narrows this but i try not to repeat. So I don't have multiple jumpers in the same colour, etc., each item performs a separate function.

What was it about the pandemic that got you thinking about clothes, do you think? For me it was having time to dress, as opposed to getting up and out of the house at 6.30 every morning, plus not being seen for a while and therefore being freed up to think about what I want instead of worrying that my change of clothing would be commented on.

I don't own masses compared to some but a lot more than I used to. I'm disabled and used to not be able to work but then retraining in an area where remote work was possible (even pre pandemic) means I am now on a good income and able to buy nice clothes

I still have to have completely flat soles on my shoes because of my disability so I'm not quite so enthusiastic about them but I am building a nice clothes collection.

I'm plus sized which does limit my options and I only like to wear natural fibres which limites them still further but that's good as it stops me spending too much on them!

I have a very specific list of what I need and a terrible tenancy to stray off it! I do mend and organise and I'm planning a whole walk in dressing room but I'm terrible at ironing.

I follow a sort of formula but its more around having colours and styles that mix and match well so my wardrobe is easy to mix around rather than a specific style as such.

I have sooooo many clothes. I love them all. I have things my grandmother made for me when I was 16 and I have altered over the years and don't much each year but have amassed a vast collection....
I buy very good quality very reduced and currently only buying Kemi Telford pieces, great quality so I keep an eye on the outlet. I mend everything obsessively and wash carefully, my husband is the ironing king - which is great.
I only wear trainers for shoes - due to arthritis and pain, but I have like 23 pairs 😂

I think I am 48, I have bought maybe 10 items a year for 32 years, but I still have approx 50% of them - I look after my clothes and they last :)

@dudsville in pandemic I lived in my gym clothes for comfort and walked a lot. Lost weight and many things looked ridiculous on me, I sold them. I also didn’t buy clothes during lockdowns, but had time to watch stylists online etc, and had complete reawakening when returning to normal. Office style has changed, so my pencil dresses looked like a SLT caricature for every day wear. I switched to jeans and blazer and love building on that formula. Also midi skirt for variety.

New need to decide on winter wear, so it’s hours of browsing and savouring my outfit fantasies.

I love clothes so much. I especially love people watching and thinking about what other people wear.

I have quite a lot of clothes but rarely shop. They’re kept very nicely. Moth proofed, steamed, cared for and fussed over.

I obsess before I buy clothes and will wait ages to see if I really want them. Clothes will often sell out before I decide but that’s fine. I like mid to high end brands and buy really slowly.

I love clothes but can’t really understand handbags or watches.

I love clothes and have a lot of them. I spend a bit of time organising them, make sure everything is washed and ironed well. Shoes and accessories also. I practice ‘dopamine dressing’ so I think carefully about putting together an outfit. I also have an app called Smart Closet which really helps with this.

I'm totally obsessed. Before I saw this thread I was still in bed, planning what to wear today. I love how clothes look, how they feel and how you can express yourself through the way you dress.

I have a lot of clothes and, as I don't subscribe to wardrobe culls (other than for things that are trashed or no longer fit) I've had some of them a long time. If I hadn't moved house a lot in the 80s/early 90s I'd have even more. So there are very few things I actually need and most of my buys at the moment are either duplicates or upgrades of items I have already or it's something I desire so much I can't stop thinking about it.

I went through a phase of obsessing over body shape and whether things flattered me but I'm over that now and I've gone back to choosing clothes that make me feel fabulous. If that means they wear me sometimes, well I can live with that.

Collected vintage clothes since I was a teenager. Some are too fragile to wear now they're the most beautiful things I own. I still wear the coats, jackets, jewellery regularly.

I buy mostly second hand - always have done apart from a spell in the 90s and early noughties when the UK high street was really great. I can get quite depressed at the state it's in now.

I'm not a fan of online shopping. It's unavoidable now and there are obviously advantages but it feels like a business transaction and I find the solitary nature of it totally joyless.

I've (re)started making my own clothes. I'm not particularly good at it because I get impatient but it's very satisfying when it works.

I can't remember what else you asked now but that's probably enough!

Need coffee before thinking - but this thread has already prompted me to order some silk thread to darn a favourite jumper.

I like to think I love clothes, but in reality I probably love shopping. I definitely own too many clothes. I'm okay at clearing out, but there's always something in my wardrobe still with tags on- I'm very guilty of shopping for the life I want, not the life I have, so it's mainly dressy clothes that are unworn. But I LOVE to see a pretty dress.

I don't currently repair, etc, but I am keen to learn to make minor alterations - I do try to shop via Vinted, rather than new, but the fact that when you have bought something you can't return it means that being able to alter would be very handy. I've just bought a lovely & other stories dress, but it would just sit better with a couple of cm off the shoulder straps, and I'm a bit nervous of doing it. But equally, taking to a seamstress would probably cost the same as buying it on Vinted did.

I'm trying very hard to use the curated closet as a guide to making anything I buy from now on be 'my style', and suitable for the life I lead. Apparently, judging by my recent purchases, my style is glitter 😁. My downfall is sales and bargains.

I need to sort out clothes storage at home, and I've just decided I'm going to make that a priority since most of my money is currently strewn around the house with nowhere to live

My love affair started in 2016 with a 6 stone (eventually 7 stone) weight loss. It was a revelation. I love my clothes and even caring for them isn’t a chore. I wash them carefully, dry them properly, store them safely from moths. Because they last they are now - ahem - accumulating! I definitely am attracted to a ‘type’ or a look now. Im fairly brand loyal although because of my initial shopping forays when I lost weight I do have a bit of fast fashion in there to supplement- although if I bought it in 2016 it probably can’t be considered fast any more.

I do a lot of outfit planning and will often lie in bed putting outfits together in my mind. For me, it’s more about ‘feel’ - both in the tactile and the emotional sense of the word - than ‘look’ at an initial pass.

Ah yes, sorry op, you asked about caring for them too! I used to think I was a total slob in that respect but then I discovered this board and realised how many posters regarded not owning an iron as a badge of honour, so I've revised my opinion of myself a little. I'm still not great though and I feel bad at the way I mistreated some of my vintage clothes (not least because I'd be sitting on a small fortune otherwise.) One reason why I love good fabric - especially tweed - so much is because, well you can get away with mistreating it more.

I bought a darning mushroom this summer though so I'm improving. My mum would be very proud!

Despite an expensive education that definitely included needlework, I would have no clue what to do with a darning mushroom.

My mending is mostly just joining the torn edges together - which I vaguely recall from The Chalet School is considered unacceptably basic.

Noooo!

I love my darning mushroom. It belonged to my great grandmother - so probably 19th century given my grandmother was born in 1904 - and when I use it I love the feeling of connection.

Yes I was a little dismayed when I bought mine and realised it was plastic.

I'm obsessive about clothes. I have far too many and don't cull unless I'm sure I'll never fit into things again - and even then for some pieces, I still keep.

When I do cull I give them to people I think will like them. A friend's daughters once got 2 suitcases of dresses, work and evening wear, various girl friends of my son's too. The most recent give away was a floor length, double breasted black velvet coat.

As someone said on a similar thread, I lull myself to sleep thinking about outfits.

How does this manifest?
Vogue from around 14 years old. The 20th century thrill of racing to the newsagent the day it came out. Learning to interpret highly stylised photos and discern which bits of a fantasy outfit were actually things I could reasonably buy in shops. FT HTSI while still in bed on Saturday mornings. The 21st century thrill of googling all the fabulously obscure clothing / jewellery sources revealed by their Aesthetes, and adding them to Evernote. Years and years spent haunting and trying on and worshipping that which I could never afford. Scant few years buying same as overdraft increased. A lifetime generally forgetting that money might be spent on things like cars and holidays and ‘doing up the house’ rather than clothes.

Do you own a lot?
Not really. Have lost housefuls, too often. In total I probably need fantastic clothes for just a few weeks in the year, now. The rest of the time I’m at home in shredded rags.

Do you plan your buys meticulously or impulse buy?
Both. I love online shopping! I might see something £££££ today and stalk it across websites for months until it reaches a price that’s only slightly terrifying. Impulse buys are likely to be at the Zara end. I do also love buying for people I like - and am just about to start making Christmas gift notes.

Do you spend time mending, steaming, ironing, organising?
Yes. Brushing and laundry and ironing are carried out with almost ritualistic love. And I get a ridiculous amount of joy from the deployment of shoe creams and brushes and cloths.

Do you follow formulas or have a varied wardrobe?
I tend to avoid the middle ground. I don’t set any artificial restrictions on prices - my only limits are what I think is a fair price and what I can pay. Equally happy paying a king’s ransom for a velvet jacket as thruppence for a t shirt at the farm shop down the road. I would never say ‘I know what I like’ or ‘I have enough clothes now’. I really love seeing how designers interpret the times we live in. And craft. And people striving to imagine the ‘best’ and most exciting clothes possible. I care more about clothes than outfits. Things might linger in my wardrobe for years before hitting the moment when they exactly work. And for any important day, everything possible will be ironed, but I may not decide on how to combine them until minutes before I leave the house.

A lifetime generally forgetting that money might be spent on things like cars and holidays and ‘doing up the house’ rather than clothes.

Oh tell me about it. I'm currently contemplating spending the price of a "holiday of a lifetime" on a Max Mara icon coat.

Yes I love clothes and spend far too much time thinking about them. I am trying to buy more consciously now as I had several of the same item, but I still spend a lot of time looking and thinking!

I do prioritise holidays over clothes - just. I went to a big event this week and as well as the exhibition I went to see, I spent as much time looking at what the other guests were wearing!

I don't mend myself though. And I have a moth infestation so have had to stop buying cashmere.

I love clothes and shopping! I have far too many clothes and tend to keep stuff, realise I haven't worn it for 2 years and then keep it anyway. I know why - I had nothing as a child or teenager so when I got my own money I sought to rectify my embarrassment about that.
I iron, I store carefully and I make my stuff last. I've got too many shoes too!
I'm trying to switch to quality pieces now, rather than cheap and loads, as I've got a much better job in the last few years.

I love clothes, I'm trying to buy less but better, I think I am doing ok, not brought from newlook, primark, for over a year or two, it was only the odd thing from them, when I was younger we didn't have a lot to spend, I remember when I packed my case for summer holiday here in uk, my wardrobe was empty, now at 63 I have so much choice, it's sometimes a headache which clothes to take.

I love clothes, shoes, bags & worked in fashion for years. I have a ridiculous amount but it's less than before. I look after my things, some are very expensive but I only iron if i'm going to wear it.

As a teenager I used to outfit plan quite meticulously but I don't do that now except for a big event where I will decide on a look right down to jewellery.

I think you need a balance between functional, practical pieces & then some fun, frivolity on top. I have a lot of coats, we spend a large % of time in them but they often get overlooked.

Oh & from a very young age I worked in a designer shop in Bond street & then other fashion stores & then buying & merchandising.

I do struggle with the fact I find less I like now, well I do see lots I like but I'm not a millionaire 🥲