Clothes Make the Woman

The economy doesn’t appear to be getting any better any time soon. We’ve all cut back. Life’s simple luxuries, such as my daily Starbucks fix and weekly hair appointments, have given way to free office coffee and stretching that hair appointment out another week. 

The same applies for clothing.  No matter the circumstance you must continue to look the part at work.

Below, a roundup of ways to purchase and care for your wardrobe during the recession. Three words: Streamline, Maintain, and “Lay it Away”

Streamline Your Wardrobe and Stop Buying Clothes You Never Wear: Get Rich Slowly staff writer April Dykman clues us in on how to save money by better managing our wardrobes:

A couple of years ago, I had a Great Closet Clean-Out. My clothing racks and drawers were overflowing at the time, and some of it still had price tags. Hoping to accomplish that European knack for owning less and looking better, I donated, consigned, and gave away about 75 percent of my wardrobe. Today it’s 100 times more functional.

These are the best tips I picked up while going through the process, gleaned from fashion gurus, designers, and style bloggers. These tips are applicable to women and men, whether you’re a high-power attorney or a stay-at-home parent.

Keep Reading.

Maintain Your Existing Wardrobe:Valerie Stivers provides simple, yet effective, tips on protecting your wardrobe from stains, dimples, and the like. A couple of her Real Simple tips?

Dimples: “In museums we use padded hangers,” says Deborah Bede, a Bradford, New Hampshire, textile conservator who restored the cotton wings of an airplane the Wright brothers flew at Kitty Hawk. A soft, wide hanger gives a garment more support.

Mildew: Mold spores need certain conditions to grow: warmth, dampness, and a food source. Before storing a garment, wash it to remove any soilage (the food source) and let it dry completely. If your storage area is humid, keep a bundle of kids’ sidewalk chalk near the clothes to absorb moisture.

Read more tips.

Layaway Makes a Comeback: DeNeen L. Brown, writing in the Washington Post Style Section, humorously reminds us about “back in the day” layaway and how it’s making a comeback:

Sometime in the ’90s when the economy was rolling, layaway lost its prominence. People started buying on plastic, damning the warnings that credit could lead them down a slippery slope. Now with tough times, layaway has made a comeback. Kind of like a comic book hero, leaping from the dark shadows of hard times to give people a little hope: that they can still get what they want even if they don’t have the money now.

At the Kmart in Greenbelt on Tuesday morning, with radio personality Steve Harvey there to promote layaway, people shopped amid the lingering damp smell of linoleum floors recently mopped with disinfectant. When their carts were full, they lined up at the layaway counter, back near the restrooms, washing machines and dishwashers. Past the Little Debbie Snack Center. Past the microwave pasta cooker. Around the corner from the folding guest bed with the steel frame.

Past the sidewalk sale and the woman who has diabetic feet and the little girl in a pink coat sitting in a shopping cart, trying to behave while sucking her fingers. The sign at the layaway counter says all you need is a minimum $10 payment or 10 percent of the purchase, whichever is greater. That’s all you need, and the store will hold your “wants” for 8 weeks, allowing you to pay a little bit at a time. “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet,” as the saying has it.

 

 

More Services