Outfit Repeater

Simple Retro blouse (c/o) (similar)
& Other Stories skirt
Sezane heels
Sezane handbag
& Other Stories sunglasses
Hart + Stone necklace (c/o) (similar)
Linjer ring (c/o) (similar)
Stella & Dot ring
Maris Pearl Co. earrings (c/o) (similar)
Location: Osborne Village – Winnipeg, Manitoba

My current shoe collection is a thing of beauty – and rivalled only by my childhood collection of Baby-Sitters Club books. I never liked baby-sitting, or kids, really, but I would have killed to be part of that club, which was the height of female fun and camaraderie in my ten-year-old estimation. I owned at least a hundred of those books. At the time, I knew all of the characters and their back stories, even the minor ones. (My favourite club member was Abby, because she was both sporty and stylish.) Most have faded from my memory now, in many cases replaced by fashion designers. But the twins, Carolyn and Marilyn, will forever be engraved on my mind.

Carolyn and Marilyn were prepubescent fashionistas in Stonybrook, Connecticut. They lived in fear of being perceived by others as, “outfit repeaters.” And they judged anyone who repeated an outfit as harshly as nine-year-olds can judge.

It’s because of Carolyn and Marilyn that I’m not an outfit repeater. I rarely, if ever, wear the same combination of clothes twice. But not being an outfit repeater doesn’t meant that you can’t keep and wear your clothes for years. I bought the pumps I’m wearing in these photos when we lived in Paris in 2013. The skirt, bag and sunglasses are all from our trip to France in 2019. I received the earrings the summer of that same year. In this outfit, only my blouse and necklace are relatively new. But you’d never know it. How would anyone know the age of your clothes, once you’re wearing them, unless they truly look worn out?

The sustainable fashion movement always rubs me the wrong way. There are many reasons for that, but one is that there are so many new sustainable fashion brands emerging. And launching a new brand, even a sustainable one, is just a way of encouraging more consumption. I love to shop. I would never dream of denying it – I think anyone who says retail therapy isn’t real therapy just isn’t going to the right stores. But I don’t love buying things just for the sake of buying them. And I loathe the idea of bringing single use garments into my wardrobe. If I buy something, I intend to wear it… or make sure that it goes to a home where it will be worn and loved. And I absolutely believe you can wear garments over and over without every repeating an outfit.

The most sustainable garments are the ones you wear over and over again, no matter how you style them.

But the fact is, I’ve come disagree with Carolyn and Marilyn about outfit repetition. I don’t really think there’s anything wrong with being an outfit repeater at all. While I’ll always love getting creative with my clothes, a good outfit is worth repeating, as much as good clothes are worth rewearing.

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