Slow Southern Style

I was recently lucky enough to get a voucher for a free month of Rent The Runway Unlimited, which lets you rent four pieces of clothing at a time. I used Rent The Runway once before; I rented a jumpsuit for a wedding I attended. I have to say, it’s pretty fun to rent clothes, especially brands that I wouldn’t be able to afford to buy at full price. (pssst. If you want to try RTR for yourself here is a $30 off code.) So a month’s worth of rentals was appealing, even though I was apprehensive about whether or not the service would be worth it. You can rent up to four items at a time including jewelry and accessories. When you get tired of wearing them you can send the items back and RTR sends you new ones.

Overall I was pleased with my RTR Unlimited experience. (Hey, it was free.) Once I was done with wearing my four items I just put them back in the garment bag they came in and dropped them off at a UPS store, which wasn’t a big deal since I live within a 10 minute drive of one. Still, I wondered how environmentally friendly it was for me to drive to UPS, then have these items shipped, then dry cleaned for the next customer. That’s not to mention the plastic bags that each of the items were wrapped in.

So what do you do if you enjoy fashion but want to minimize your environmental impact? Elizabeth Cline, author of two books on fast fashion and conscious clothing consumption, recently addressed this issue for Elle Magazine. While Cline pointed out all the things I said above about dry cleaning and shipping in her article, she did note that renting is a step in the right direction because it doesn’t contribute to, and potentially lessens, overproduction of clothing.

That said, consider the following:

“But rentable fashion contains one more environmental risk: that it will increase our appetite for clothes. Fashion rental platforms that own the clothes in circulation differ from true sharing economy platforms like, say, Airbnb or closet-swapping appTulerie, where users own the inventory. According to Steven Curtis, a researcher at Sweden’s Lund University, companies like Rent the Runway are better described as access-based consumption platforms. This isn’t just petty semantics: ‘Research suggests that access-based consumption can induce more consumption as consumers have access to a greater selection of goods at a reduced price,” says Curtis. It’s called “share-washing.’ Uber, for example, advertised itself as a way to share rides and curb car ownership; instead, it has been proven to discourage walking, bicycling, and public transportation use.”

Sigh. So what do we do? There isn’t an easy solution. One step I’ve taken to avoid the temptation of buying things I don’t need is to unfollow brand and store accounts on social media. I’m already inundated with ads for clothing companies on Instagram and Facebook, so lowering my risk of temptation is just one way to stop the mindless scrolling and purchasing of clothes. I also deleted all shopping apps from my phone and I abide by this mental shopping list I created for myself. I try to trade in my clothes at places like Buffalo Exchange, Swap Boutique, and ThredUp so I can spend store credit, not cash, on my clothes. The best thing we can do is rewire ourselves to enjoy what we have and not succumb to buying stuff and getting tired of it when that dopamine hit wears off.

If you know me or have followed me on social media for some time then you know I love an excuse to costume. Why not? It’s fun to wear out of the ordinary attire, especially during carnival season. Since I haven’t blogged since 2017, I’m catching y’all up on past Mardi Gras looks. For the past three years we’ve attended Airwave’s carnival ball at Music Box Village. It’s a fun outdoor event with live performances and it’s a great excuse to get gussied up. We usually recycle costumes from previous carnival seasons for that. Come Fat Tuesday, however, we prefer to showcase entirely new costumes. I usually make a significant component of our costumes, be it a headless or embellishing a jacket by hand. Last year was particularly exciting; my niece was born just after 10 p.m. on Mardi Gras Day, so my brother and I were traipsing around the city eagerly awaiting the news of our new niece.

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One of the easiest ways to become a more conscious, eco-friendly shopper is buying your clothes secondhand. Most people who don’t like secondhand shopping don’t like the hunt, while secondhand aficionados thrive on the thrill of the find. I get both points of view. I worked at Buffalo Exchange for eight years; during that time I rarely hit up thrift stores. Picking through racks and racks of clothing on my day off was the last thing I wanted to do. Now I get excited again when I find that one gem among the racks of racks of filler items. These days there are tons of online options for buying secondhand, from apps like Depop and resale websites such as Poshmark and ThredUp. I still go to thrift stores on occasion but the bulk of my shopping is either online or at brick and mortar buy/sell/trade and consignment stores, where the staff has sorted through the clothing for you.

So, how do you navigate racks upon racks of secondhand clothing? These tips come in handy when shopping anywhere, but especially secondhand.

• Get specific. Don’t feel like you have to shop the entire store. If you’re just in need of a new dress, or a fancy blouse for a night out, put the blinders on and just look for those items. You can always go back to the store on another day when you have more time to shop for other items. That said…
• Be open minded. If you have the time and energy to shop all of the racks, you’ll definitely increase your chances of stumbling upon treasures you didn’t expect to find.
• Check the fabric content, especially if you live in a hot, humid climate like New Orleans. Synthetic fabrics like polyester can often mimic the look and feel of cotton but they don’t breathe the same. Polyester is also terrible for the environment. Did you know that polyester = plastic? Did you also know that polyester sheds micro plastics when you wash it, which goes straight into our water ways and oceans? Consider buying a Guppyfriend from Patagonia to catch those errant fibers.
• Look at the washing instructions. I rarely, if ever, buy dry clean only clothing. If I do, I buy things that can be hand washed, such as cashmere. I know I’m not going to put forth the money and effort to bring my clothes to the cleaners. That said, you might feel differently about having your clothes dry cleaned; check the care label regardless so you don’t get stuck with an item you can’t or aren’t willing to clean properly.
• Is that white t-shirt really white? Florescent store lighting can make it tricky to tell if that pristine white t-shirt has yellow armpits. An easy way to check is by taking another part of the t-shirt (such as the bottom hem) and hold it next to the armpits. If the whites don’t match up, pass on the shirt.
• Just because something is cheap doesn’t mean you need to buy it.
• Try everything on to make sure it fits.
• Envision yourself actually wearing an item (be honest). Will you wear that jumpsuit to work? On the weekends? A fancy date night? If you can’t see yourself wearing it, consider passing on it.
• Look for labels. I prefer to buy mid-level to higher end brands (anything from Madewell to Alexander Wang) that I know will last and will keep some of their resale value. I do buy the occasional fast fashion piece s long as it is in excellent condition. And when in doubt, google the brand. Stores sometimes overprice (or underprice) clothing, so don’t go off the price tag alone to determine quality.
• Most buy/sell/trade and consignment stores have a more selective vetting process, which makes shopping consignment vs. thrift stores more expensive. You’re paying for someone to sort through the junk for you, so keep that in mind.

We’ve all opened our closet doors (or sifted through a pile of clothing on our bedroom floor) and lamented that we have too many clothes or not enough to wear– sometimes in the same breath. I loathe this feeling and I know that you do too, which is why I’m sharing some tips for shopping smarter this year. Before I even pluck an item off the rack in a store, I go through a quick mental checklist.

• Do I already own a similar item?
• Can I easily incorporate this into my existing wardrobe, or will I have to buy other pieces to go with it?
• Will this need alterations? If so, can I justify the price and time spent to make those alterations?
• Does this actually fit and flatter my body? (If not, you’re probably not going to wear it.)
• For people with boobs, does this button-down shirt gap at the girls?
• Does this piece require special undergarments? If so, do I already own them? (Ex. strapless bra)
• Is this shirt/skirt/jumpsuit conducive to my lifestyle?
• Does this shirt/skirt/jumpsuit make me happy? Will I be excited to see it in my closet?
• Do I WANT this or do I NEED this? Learn to tell the difference.
• Does this fill in a gap in my wardrobe? (Ex. LBD, dark denim, etc…)
• If the item is trendy, how many wears will I get out of it before the trend dies?
• Is the quality good enough to withstand X amount of wears?
• Is the fabric conducive to my environment? (Ex. wool, linen, acrylic)

I know, I know. This list is a lot to consider BUT the point is training yourself to become a more conscious shopper.

I’ll give you an example: I’m loving the suit trend at the moment. We’re starting to see celebrities wear them a lot on the red carpet and more casual settings. I’ve wanted a suit for years but I’ve never been able to justify spending money on one; I don’t have a job that dictates the need for one. Suits also tend to either be too conservative for my taste or downright dowdy. A suit didn’t seem like something I could thrift, either. I have broad shoulders, so older suits with shoulder pads would make me look like a linebacker. I’m also petite and short-waisted, so many jackets are too long in the torso. I can easily hem a pair of pants on my own, but a trip to a seamstress to take in a jacket can be rather costly. So when I found this Zara suit on sale for under $55 I didn’t hesitate to purchase it. I usually don’t condone shopping fast fashion but this fit me right off the rack. It’s polyester, which I hate for a variety of reasons, but at least the fabric content is 50% recycled materials, which is better for the environment. For the price, I think this was a great buy. I definitely won’t be able to wear it when the weather warms up but, for now, I’ve got a put together look that I can style in a variety of ways and I think the cut is classic. I can pull this out next fall/winter and the suit will still be fashionable.