Hello readers!
I'm sorry to tell you that though I will write an outfit post in the next few days, I have decided to stop Fast Fashion-Free Friday posts. I realized that when I built 100% fast-fashion free outfits, that would make me also build a ton of outfits that didn't include ethical pieces at all, and there was a segregation between the ethical and non-ethical pieces in my closet, instead of the two meshing together. So, I will still make at least a weekly post (probably during the weekend) featuring at least one piece from my wardrobe, and show outfits built around that piece. I will of course still only promote ethical pieces, and share their source, while not sharing the sources of the unethical pieces unless asked.
Also, while I'm on the topic of ethical vs. unethical fashion, I wanted to share a story about my lessons learned from trying to buy ethically, with the story of the daisy dress.
I started thinking about making an ethical fashion blog for at least a year before I actually published it. I actually thought about sharing capsule wardrobes on my then-hypothetical fashion blog, too. In my head, I wanted to have 100% ethical capsule wardrobe to share with readers, so I went extreme, and started selling/donating a big chunk of my clothes that were probably made unethically, to get the money to replace them with ethical clothes. However, I even started selling/donating pieces I really liked and wore often for the sole reason that they were likely unethical. One of those pieces included a beautiful airy cotton dress that was covered with tiny painted daisies, and had flowy sleeves. Each time I wore it, I felt like a fairy in a meadow, and felt that it was impossible not to be happy. When I was cleaning out my closet, I decided to sell it because: A. It didn't have pockets (yeah that's a pretty legitimate reason) and B. I didn't know whether or not it was made ethically.
I realized I missed the dress dearly about a week ago. As I'm graduating college in a couple of months, and have a few trips with friends planned post-graduation, but things are honestly quite stressful now, I made some packing lists in my head as a study break and to feel motivated. It's nice to have a fun trip to look forward to after a lot of hard work, after all. However, I felt much more sad than I thought I would be when I imagined my future summers without the daisy dress. It was probably one of the prettiest dresses I had in my closet, but more importantly, it was one of the most comfortable ones.
As I reflected on my experience, I thought about how I wanted to buy ethically and promote ethical fashion because I'm happier knowing that the clothes I buy were made by someone working in safe conditions and who is paid a fair wage. I also wanted to introduce the capsule wardrobe concept, since part of buying ethically is to buy only what we really want and love in order to minimize the clothes that go to landfills. However, building capsule wardrobes and buying ethically was supposed to be a happy and fun experience as a whole. I did feel happier giving away/selling a big chunk of my clothes to turn towards building ethical capsule wardrobes instead, but there were definitely pieces I felt sad parting with, and I don't think the experience should be sad for me, or for anyone.
So though I don't know wear the daisy dress is now, since I sold it at a secondhand shop, it is hopefully making another person happy. I'm sharing this story because if any of you readers want to shop ethically, I think it should be more about moving forward, rather than purging pieces from our closet that make us happy. I have definitely been committed to buying ethically when I can, but there are pieces in my closet that were probably not made ethically, but I'm still keeping because, unfortunately the damage was done when I bought the pieces. I financially supported an organization/brand/company that likely doesn't care about how or where or by whom the clothes are made. Though that's sad, I already bought the clothes, so if I love the pieces, I decided to keep them but think more about where it came from.
I hope this story shows you that it's not a good idea to part with the clothes already in our closet that make us happy, even if they may be from unethical sources. However, I hope that if you're reading this blog, you feel more committed to buying ethically in the future, and to moving forward. I hope that buying ethically and building capsule wardrobes instead of mindlessly shopping will make you happy.
Thank you if you finished reading this very long post.
Best wishes,
A Metal Pansy
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