What have I gotten myself into?

So here’s the deal friends, I’m going to be spending the entire year without doing an ounce of traditional clothing shopping. Yes, I know what you’re thinking, “this girl is outta her gourd”, and I completely agree with you.

I was having a personal creative-funk-crisis this year and needed a bit of inspiration. Maybe it was because I was in the midst of turning 30 or perhaps it came from being overworked in a job that I luckily got laid off from – but what was for sure was that I was in a rut.

And then a Saturday afternoon viewing of Julie & Julia changed everything.  Now I didn’t want to cook my way through Julia Child’s French cookbook – je parle un peu Francais, but coq au vin just isn’t my thing – however, I did want to do something that would get my creative juices flowing everyday. And then the aha moment came to me.

The thing that makes this girl happiest is scouring flea markets, vintage stores and garage sales for the perfect pieces to add to my wardrobe. I love finding vintage goodies that may not fit me perfectly or translate well with the current state of fashion and then make them work on me. (thank you Tim Gunn – “make it work” has become my mantra) I get out my trusty sewing machine to change hems, cut sleeves and tweak to transform a lowbudge piece that had it’s moment back in 1976 and give it another shot today, decades later.   I have to say that whenever I wear my handmade pieces, I always get complimented and the best part is getting to tell everyone that I bought it for $1 and just shortened it, dyed it or cinched it to make it chic and current.

So, that’s where my ode to no traditional shopping begins.  This year, I will be foregoing trips to Bloomies and Nordstrom for brand new gear. Goodbye to H&M purchases and accessory grabbing at Forever 21. And seeing the “must have” French Connection dress in People’s Style Watch will just have to suffice as a cut out on my inspiration board.

Instead, the only shopping that I’ll be able to do is that of pieces that have been used and worn already.  So long to mall trips and hello to sifting through piles of vintage pieces at flea markets and at neighborhood garage sales. Each day for the entire year, I’m going to introduce a new piece into my existing wardrobe that I’ve found from these places.  On top of this, I’m giving myself a budget of $1 a day.

One person’s trash is becoming my treasure this year.

365 days. 365 items of clothing. 365 dollars. And the blogging begins…