The 90-day dress challenge is over.
As of Wednesday, the black dress I began wearing three months ago was folded on a shelf and placed in my closet for posterity.
In one way, I will miss it.
Simplifying my clothing choice down to the one staple actually made dressing more fun. With my base item set, all I needed to do was accessorize, which allowed me to express myself – although sometimes all I was expressing was, “These crazy leggings match this crazy scarf.”
But wearing the dress was almost unbearable by the final days. The dress was inches shorter than when I began and had pilled so badly, especially on the inside, it became not only uncomfortable, it bordered on embarrassing.
Originally I had thought when the weather got warmer I could forgo leggings for bare legs. But by the time finer weather rolled in, leggings were a necessity, lest I have a wardrobe malfunction of the buttocks variety.
The black sheath dress was brand new the first day of the challenge and was best during the first two weeks. After four washes, it was worse for wear.
That gave me pause. When you buy something and put it in the closet, the assumption is surely that it will last more than four washes, isn’t it?
From now on, I hope to choose items of natural fabrics that last, not throw-away, people-made synthetics. But sadly, dressing ethically is costly, and other factors come in to play such as is it better to buy a natural-synthetic blend locally than to ship something in that is pure? Or is a synthetic, recycled item from a Squamish thrift store the better choice? None of this is easy, and I won’t always get it right. But I want to try.
It is only slight hyperbole to say the challenge has changed my life. I can’t imagine ever again purchasing clothing, or even getting dressed, without thinking about these issues.
I plan to take one month to allow myself time to wear the summer dresses I already own and to wear something new I previously purchased to my twin sons’ high school graduation. Afterward, I am going to start Project 333 (Google it if interested) and whittle down my wardrobe to 33 ideally ethically made, locally sold items I can mix and match, and then donate the rest of my clothing. Goodbye dress, hello new life.
