Reuse, Rewear, Restyle

Le Chateau top (c/o) (similar)
Zara shorts (similar)
Le Chateau sandals (c/o) (similar)
Chanel handbag
Zara sunglasses (similar)
& Other Stories necklace
Muru Jewellery necklace (c/o)
Keltie Leanne Designs ring (c/o) (similar)
Mango earrings
Location: Thresher’s Building – Minneapolis, Minnesota

It’s not a secret that I rewear and restyle my clothes over and over for years. There was a time when I used to compile posts specifically dedicated to all the ways I’d reworn certain garments. But it’s also not news to anyone that I shop often and with enthusiasm. I know many of you have been watching my What I Bought This Week videos on Instagram Stories. Which means you know I am an unrepentant fast fashion addict. My love of Zara and Mango is both real and unrelenting.

There are a lot of reasons to be wary of fast fashion, particularly ethical ones. (We all remember that factory collapse tragedy in Bangladesh.) But the thing is, we all pick our battles and do our best to fight the ones we realistically can. For the most part, wearing only ethical clothes is a challenge I don’t feel up to. Fast fashion retailers sell garments at a price point that fits into my budget, and they offer the styles I want when I want them.

Buying mass produced garments at a low price doesn’t mean I consider my clothes disposable, although I know that some people perceive fast fashion garments to be exactly that – and that some brands do make them that way. The fact is, I rewear and restyle my fast fashion garments for just as long as my higher quality and/or more sustainably manufactured ones, a fact that I think this outfit illustrates pretty clearly.

My sweater and sandals go back to a NYFW collaboration with Le Chateau in 2016. I loved them then and I still love them now, so I pull both out again every summer. As for my shorts, they were a Zara find last year, but they look just as stylish this year – I already have plans to pack them in my suitcase for our trip to Athens. One of my necklaces came from & Other Stories, which is owned by H&M, while my earrings are from Mango. But I wouldn’t have bought either if I didn’t think they would remain timeless wardrobe classics for seasons to come. And my beloved Chanel bag? It’s new to me, but it lived a long (and pretty exciting!) life before we met.

When I was growing up, our local waste disposal service introduced the slogan, “Reduce, reuse, recycle.” The concepts, recycling in particular, were relatively new at the time, but I think it was the clever alliterative catchphrase that really made it all stick with me. My interest in environmental causes is, admittedly, not above average. I worry more about people than the planet, at least consciously. But subconsciously, I feel a kind of horror at the idea of being wasteful and cluttering the planet with an excess of things I don’t really need. I restyle all of my clothes repeatedly because I love them – but at the heart of the reason I only buy clothes I love is, I suspect, that worry about contributing to unnecessary waste.

And upon reflection, that’s pretty funny. Because if, on a regular day, someone suggested to me that having an excess of clothes is wasteful, I would invariably respond by saying, “If you love something, you can never have too much of it.”

Whatever your stand on fast fashion and how many articles of clothing it’s reasonable for one person to own, I think we can all agree on one simple thing; if you love the act of getting dressed, restyling outfits from clothes you already own is almost as much fun as shopping for new ones.

How do you restyle your wardrobe?

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