Clothes!

[seebs]

How much clothing do people need?

My wife and I are both messy house people. As a result, we tend to have a big Pile Of Laundry. Which means we run out of clothes, so we buy some. I have a very large drawer full of my socks. I only wear one kind of sock, so any two socks in the drawer are "a pair". I would guess I have a hundred socks. I almost never even wear socks during the summer, and even in winter, I only wear them to go out. I probably never use more than ten pair before I do laundry.

But... I'm staring at a towering stack of banker's boxes. Actually, it got too high, and now I'm staring at two stacks, both nearly as tall of me, full entirely of clothes that I believe belong to my wife. Is this starting to be a bit much?

I'm theorizing that we could probably be happy owning a tiny fraction of these clothes. My plan is to toss (or turn into "scraps", which live in her fabric collection) everything with holes in it, and give everything that doesn't fit either bodies or current style of dress to charity. This would free up a LOT of space.

But... I'd like some moral support here. Am I right in guessing that, past about ten pairs of jeans, that's "enough"? How many dresses should a woman need, given that she has about two she'll wear out clubbing, and never wears dresses under other circumstances?

[LadyShea]

I am right there with you. We went to remodel our closet as part of our project:"ask over market price when we go to sell this place"...you know, add shelving and new racks and such, and as I was hauling clothes out I realized I had stuff I hadn't worn in years. For the most part I wear black, tan, and/or white shirts, blouses and pants and/or jeans on a daily basis and have both work and casual wardrobes in these basics. I wash and rewash this small wardrobe because it's all I wear.

I took all my club clothes (haven't been clubbing in over 4 years) and am putting together a "lot" to sell on eBay, all the old T-shirts, pants that don't fit, dresses from when I worked at the jewelery store (um, 6 years ago?) went to Goodwill. I have half a clost now is all, I think I kept a couple of my nicer suits for possible future business attire, and two cocktail dresses for anniversary dinners and such.

It feels really good, throw it all away seebs!


By the way, any Betsey Johnson fans want to make an offer on my fantabulous "little black dress" before I try to eBay it?

[viscousmemories]

I've always been kinda weird about clothes. We were very poor when I was a kid, so I had mostly (if not entirely) hand-me-down and goodwill clothing, and not much of it. I tried to dress as inconspicuously as possible, theorizing that I would look less pathetic if people thought I didn't care how I dressed instead of realizing that I have no money or fashion sense.

I remained poor (and dressed accordingly) into my 20's. My wardrobe consisted of maybe a couple pairs of jeans, one pair of shoes, a bunch of t-shirts, and in the winter a coat, hat and gloves. I had to start wearing slacks and polo shirts when I got into computer networking, and then shirt and tie and a couple jobs. Still, I bought the bare minimum necessary to get by and stuck with solid colored, inconspicuous clothing. Still trying to hide from the fact that I have no fashion sense despite the fact that I could've afforded to dress better.

Today I have about 55 decent shirts, 50 of which were a gift from my boss last time he cleaned his closet. I have a few pairs of shoes, a few sweaters, and a lot of t-shirts. I typically wear one of two pairs of jeans or the pair of shorts I have, and a t-shirt. In other words I probably have a lot fewer clothes than most people, but I wear even fewer still.

I feel guilty about having more clothes than I wear, not unlike how I feel guilty about being white, eating meat, having a roof over my head, leaving the water running, not recycling enough, not doing any charity work and every other thing I do or don't do that I feel like I should because there are people who would if they could or can't because I don't. Or something like that. :(

[pescifish]

I have enough clothes such that I don't need to do laundry for three weeks. That's much more clothes than I "need" for any other purpose, but it works for me because I don't want to be doing laundry every few days like I would have to with a more reasonable amount. I generally do a general toss out of unused stuff once or twice a year (toss out = give to charity or other people).

[lisarea]

Seebs, my brother.

Same thing here. I'm not really into clothes myself. I wear uniforms, basically. Jeans and plain t-shirts, sweaters in the winter, with a couple of skirts and dresses in the summertime. I don't like thinking about clothes or coming up with cute little outfits or anything. I basically wear whatever I have that's clean, fits, and is appropriate for the weather.

But my dislike of clothes shopping results in a couple of things:

1. I hate to throw anything away, because I might need it someday, and won't want to replace it.

2. People give me their old clothes.

So I have piles and piles of clothes that don't fit, don't fit into my 'uniform,' or are just so trashed and/or bizarre there's no way I'd wear them out of the house. I mean, my son gives me his old saggy hip-hop pants when they get holes in them. So I have jeans that are, conservatively, half a foot too big around the waist, have graffiti-style logos on the back pockets, and HUGE holes in the knees. Or worse, the ass. I did throw a lot of those away making room for my young gentleman friend, so I only have a couple pair now, instead of the tens I had before. But I still have a Linkin Park t-shirt, a Family Values tour shirt, and a Bush inauguration shirt, among others. I have giant mens' socks with holes in them, piles and piles of old boxers and boxer briefs, from a variety of sources, some of which I can't even place. I have a jewelled bustier, a French maid costume (OK. That was the dog's), and at least one tutu. Shit. I have SIZE TWO jeans. I haven't worn size TWO in. Uh. Let's just say a while. I have clothes with dozens of tiny burn holes in them that my brother gave me when he was doing arc welding. I found a pair of those Joey Buttafuoco pants in the bedroom the other day. I even stole the ODB's nasty old scratchy lawyerin' socks, with holes in them, but I think I finally got mad at them and threw them away.

What do I wear? Maybe 5 or 10% of what I own. I really only wear two pairs of jeans regularly (not counting my painting jeans), and alternate between about ten shirts, tops. Add a couple of dresses and skirts and socks for the winter, plus underwear, and that's it. (OK. Wait. I do have an assload of sweaters, which I forgot about for a sec because it's HOT right now. I have--I think it was 60ish last I counted--cashmere sweaters, but I really like cashmere sweaters.)

I do need to keep around a couple of interview suits and 'casual business' clothes, in the event of a job or something, but maybe I don't need to keep all of that stuff.

Hell, I have a couple dozen pairs of shoes I bought that ended up hurting my feet before I made the switch to almost full-time Birkenstocks. I own shoes that have made my feet BLEED. BLEED. And I kept them. KEPT THEM.

Anyway, I want to be in your clothes throwing away club, you guys. I feel like an idiot with all these clothes around the house. It's stupid. The only purpose they serve is to cause me to lose the clothes I do wear so I have to go buy new ones.

I'm really going to do it. Really.

[Goliath]

Wow..I thought I had a large wardrobe! I have about 8-10 pairs of khakis/cargo pants (the only kind of pants that I can wear...I don't like jeans, dress pants wear out too quickly, and I look profoundly stupid and ugly in shorts), 2 pair of "comfy pants" (ie loose fitting cotton pants that I only wear while at home), about 30 t-shirts, and quite a few pair of socks and underwear. I also have about 8 dress shirts, of which I only wear 2 (and those I wear very seldomly...I usually despise dressing up), a suit jacket, and two pair of dress pants.

Oh yeah, shoes.. With the exception of dress shoes, I only wear one pair of shoes at a time.

On a related note, I have temporarily forgotten that ebay exists (I usually have to forget that ebay exists to avoid being homeless and starving to death) in order to place a bid on a leather trench coat... :cool:

[seebs]

I actually wear almost all jeans and t-shirts in summer, and jeans and button-up shirts in winter. Not exactly a uniform, but close to it.

Today, I sadly admitted that my favorite jeans, which are in various colors, are too small for me and will be for a long time... So I put the one with a hole in it in the "trash" bin, and the other pairs in the "donate" bin. *sigh*.

I'm sorting all our clothes into banker's boxes (you know, the 10x12x15 boxes that are supposed to hold either legal or letter sized files)... I have run out of boxes. I have nearly 20 boxes of clothes... I'm pre-sorting them. A couple of boxes are almost certainly all going to go to the trash. The rest are about fifty-fifty between things I'm pretty sure I can give away without Jesse hitting me, and things that I would suffer serious injury if I tried to dispose of them. I will later pressure her to take the clothes she keeps, and make another pass through getting rid of stuff she won't wear.

But... If I get this done, I will have about 40 square feet of my office space back. For historical reasons, my "office" is a room which used to be the master bedroom, only I took it over and moved my bed into the room that used to be the "clothes room".

[pescifish]

Oh yeah, shoes.. With the exception of dress shoes, I only wear one pair of shoes at a time.
Ok, I'm pretty sure I know what you mean by this but I confess that you've caused me a good giggle! Just how many pairs of dress shoes do you wear at a time? :wink:

[Goliath]

Ok, I'm pretty sure I know what you mean by this but I confess that you've caused me a good giggle! Just how many pairs of dress shoes do you wear at a time? :wink:

LOL...good point. I should've phrased that more carefully. Other than a pair of dress shoes, I only own one pair of shoes at a time (when my current pair is worn out, I replace 'em).

[Roland98]

I have too many clothes, because 1) my sister is a shopaholic, but only wears everything once or twice, gets bored of it, and gives it to me; and 2) I've oscillated sizes so much in the last 5 years with 2 kids in different seasons, I have the "fat clothes," the "kind of fat clothes," the "just a bit over my normal size clothes," and then regular clothes, which I actually have the fewest of as far as pants go (damn sister is a size smaller than me there, as she's 3 inches shorter, so I only get shirts and skirts from her).

Hey LadyShea, what size is that dress? I think you're smaller than me.

[freemonkey]

I tend to want to keep things, too. I'm not a big clothes person, though, because we like the room for other stuff, like books and critters and shit. Also, we took the closets out of our house. I wear mostly jeans, tanks & a shirt over that.

I think once something has gone out of fashion, its just not safe to have around.... I almost wore stirrup pants last summer :eek:

My neighbor has lost some weight, and keeps giving me the clothes that don't fit her anymore. Some problems: a) she's about 5'2", I'm 5'10"; b) proportionately, she's heavier than I am, so all her clothes are too big on me, too; c) she likes the K-Mart Collection, while I'm more Value Village chic.

So seebs, get rid of that stuff. If its in bankers boxes, piled seebs-high its probably a pain in the butt to get at, anyway. But keep those socks, one can never have too many of those.

p.s. its good to know I'm not the only slob around here!

[Adora]

But... I'd like some moral support here. Am I right in guessing that, past about ten pairs of jeans, that's "enough"?

Holy fucking shit!

*dies* I have 3, two of which I am now ashamed to wear in public and am considering turning into "house only" jeans and buying another pair or two. I was always raised to wear clothes until they fall apart, so I don't go clothes shopping much. Also, I have one of those impossible bodyshapes that doesn't suit 99% of clothes produced at an affordable price, so going clothes shopping is a horrible chore that I avoid at all costs.

I am really not a clothes person. If I had my way, we'd all live naked.

[Goliath]

Also, I have one of those impossible bodyshapes that doesn't suit 99% of clothes produced at an affordable price, so going clothes shopping is a horrible chore that I avoid at all costs.


Yep, I know what you mean. Every time I shop for clothing, I curse small people under my breath.


I am really not a clothes person. If I had my way, we'd all live naked.

Yeah, but then I'd constantly hear screams of "OH MY GOD!!! NOOOO!!! IT'S HORRIBLE!!! I DON'T THINK IT'S HUMAN!!!"

:P

[LadyShea]

Okay now I feel like I misrepresented myself a bit. I did, in fact, clean out one closet. I have not yet tackled the stored winter stuff....and....well....I collect vintage fur. I have three mink stoles, two wool calf length stroller coats with mink collars ala Audrey Hepburn (one black with ranch mink, one cream with blonde mink), and an enormous fox fur collar/scarf. I actually wear the black/ranch mink as my winter coat, but have no occasion to wear the rest...but I love them. So, I am a packrat too.

Hey LadyShea, what size is that dress? I think you're smaller than me.

It's a large, very stretchy with a sort of rouched waist so you can adjust the gathers to best suit you. I wore it at my largest, around a size 14. Are you busty? It has an adorable tie at the top leaving a sort of keyhole opening...which is great, unless you have big boobs. Cleavage through a keyhole looks rather like an ass crack. I only wore it once because I kept looking down and saying "I have an ass on my chest"

Here's Betsey herself wearing the dress, though you can only see the top
http://www.swinginchicks.com/betseyjohnsonhair.JPG

[pescifish]

I almost wore stirrup pants last summer :eek:
/me looks down at her pant legs neatly strapped into her shoes in presumed horror.

Well then, that's the end of the world isn't it?!

[Roland98]

It's a large, very stretchy with a sort of rouched waist so you can adjust the gathers to best suit you. I wore it at my largest, around a size 14. Are you busty? It has an adorable tie at the top leaving a sort of keyhole opening...which is great, unless you have big boobs. Cleavage through a keyhole looks rather like an ass crack. I only wore it once because I kept looking down and saying "I have an ass on my chest"

Here's Betsey herself wearing the dress, though you can only see the top
http://www.swinginchicks.com/betseyjohnsonhair.JPG

Ah, boo. It does look cute but I'm around an 8 now, so it would probably be too big. Unfortunately, the big boobs are not such an issue anymore. :sadeyes:

[Clutch Munny]

Every time I shop for clothing, I curse small people under my breath.

Fer pete's sake, who wears men's small and medium these days?

Of course, nothing against men (or women) who do wear these sizes. I just can't believe how (i) it's always a struggle to find the one or two XL left on a rack and (ii) for years now no retail outlet seems to have noticed the immediate run on L/XL sizes and the inevitable leftover bin of S/M sizes.

Here's a tip: Order more large fucking sizes!

This rant has been brought to you by the letter X and the number 38. Thank you for your attention.

[Goliath]

XL?!?! 38?!?!

As far as I'm concerned, you are a small person. :(

[xorbie]

Clothes... well I own three hats, all of which are Backward Hats(tm), three or four pair of jeans, three pairs of shorts, some cargos (I need more), some slacks, and far too many t-shirts. Four pairs of shoes even!

And about sizes... it is odd. I consider myself pretty small (5'10, about 145 lbs), and even I wear Mens Large.

[godfry n. glad]

Hmmmm.... I'm a twill trouser and teeshirt kinda guy. For years, I got by with two pairs each of olive and khaki trousers, alternating through the week and switching on the weekend to the other pair, laundering once each week. (Top priority: NO IRONING!)

My teeshirts were largely obtained during vacations...it got so that my co-workers would comment that I was "going to add to my wardrobe" if I were travelling out of town on vacation. Hey, it was true. Still is, for that matter. I usually live in teeshirts and khakis and if I wear one of my "dress shirts" (meaning it actually has a collar), my co-workers feel it necessary to compliment me and ask me what the occasion is....

Then, I started gaining weight. Over the years, I'd keep a collection of clothes just a little small....y'know, just in case I actually did manage to maintain a regular workout routined and lost weight (yeah...right). I only kept them until it was obvious my hope was delusional, then I'd participate in a men's clothing exchange and the extras would go to the homeless or Goodwill.

Well, a couple years back, after some health issues, I started losing weight. I'm now at that frustrating point where XXL teeshirts are only comfy if they've shrunk up too much and XL teeshirts are only comfy if they're a bit oversized for the usual XL (and believe me, consistancy in sizing is not a big issue for teeshirt manufacturers).

The problem with the trousers? What the hell _is_ it with the makers of men's trousers? It used to be that I could buy 28" inseams on men's trousers on almost any men's wear rack. Now, nobody seems to make anything shorter than 30". Since I don't sew (nor did my wife), I have to hire somebody to alter them. (When I rant about this to women, they usually look at me quizzically and ask, "You mean, there was a time you _didn't_ have to have them hemmed? Wow... You guys always get it easy." I've found that most women I know don't know what I'm talking about when I mention an inseam measurement.)

Shoes: I used to get by with one pair of shoes and wore them until I needed new ones. I, too, had the obligatory "dress shoes" (black oxfords that were stiff as boards), which I rarely wore. My problem was that I'd find a decent comfortable shoe and replace it with the same make each time. Then, the manufacturer, responding to the bitch goddess Fashion, would discontinue the line and I'd go through a couple of new styles looking for a decent replacement. With age my feet broadened and flattened and now need inserts, thus I've limited my shoe buying to one source, but they have comfy shoes of all types.... (by the by, I, of all the people I know, am the only one who cannot wear Birkenstocks - two days wear and my arches are in excruciating pain).

Socks: Three colors: Black, gray, and white. The white, when mistakenly washed with the black, become gray.

Shirts: I must have, oh, 150 teeshirts. All with locale logos on them. From Crater Lake to Samarqand. Shrinkage is the biggest problem. Then there's several long sleeved dress shirts, a pair of dress trousers (gray wool), a few sweatshirts, and the hat collection.

Then, there was my wife. She had an ongoing love affair with shoes, purses, and J. Jill (sale items only - jumpers, mostly). Her approach was "purge and purchase", with giveaways going to either friends who'd admired something that actually fit them or to one of the local battered women's shelters. Her shoe habit was so bad, and she was congentially unable to successfully lie, so she'd buy new shoes and hide them in the closet for a couple of months. Then, when I'd comment on her new shoes, she'd tell me she'd had them for quite a while and I just wasn't observant....heh, as if. Hey, it was her money.

She was the one responsible for the expansion of my collection of non-teeshirt tops and shoes. She'd buy them for me.

I would not want to recommend what you should tell your wife. My experience is that some women can become dangerously protective about clothing they haven't worn for years. (Differing from most men, who wear the same clothes for years, holes, loose threads, bald spots, stains and all. I think most of us have those favorite pieces of clothing that we practically have to hold services for when they reach the end of their decently usable lives.)

One kinda fun thing to do with all those clothes that are either off-size or just not something you wear any more, provided they're in decent shape: a clothing exchange. The first time I participated was with a group of fellow co-workers/friends who brought all their excess clothing to one home, piled the clothing on the floor in one room, pulled the curtains and then we all stripped to our skivvies and found the pile brought by somebody just off our own size and start trying on things we think we might like and wear. Afterwards, the excess went to a local homeless men's shelter.

Our ladies liked the idea so much, they implemented their own clothing exchange. A little beer, wine and/or weed makes it a fun event.

godfry

- By the way, Eddie Bauer now has 100% cotton long-sleeve men's shirts that do not need ironing. It's twue!

[godfry n. glad]

Fer pete's sake, who wears men's small and medium these days?

Women and boys? Even as a relatively normal pencil-necked geek, I could only occasionally squeeze into a medium. And that's been....too long.

godfry

[Adora]

Yep, I know what you mean. Every time I shop for clothing, I curse small people under my breath.

Oh, it's more than that. Though I'm a size 18 as a rule of thumb (it goes up and down with different clothes lines though) I've got a long upper-body, broad shoulders, a size 10 D-EE shoe, large bust (heh, me+button-up shirts= FUN!) and a smaller waist-to-hip ratio than the average gal, so no matter what pants I wear, or how many belts, they're always falling down. If I was a size 18 that had a body that vaguely resembled something normal and not a weirdly thrown-together freak of nature, I may be happier about clothes.

Also, to make me look any good, I need something that's got a fit in it around the waist, so I don't shop in the "bigger girls" sizes because, well, basically they're a bunch of shapeless tents. And I'm not that big.

[RedFox]

I have a set of clothes I wear for warm weather, one for cold weather and some for in between. There are also lots of clothes that I don't wear that I keep in my drawers and wardrobe such as outgrown stuff and button up shirts.
For summer, I have several t shirts and shirts, 2 jeans, 1 overalls and 3 skirts. For winter, I have some sweaters. I love turtlenecks, especially in autumn and early spring. I have a pair of white sneakers and when I look for new ones, I have to find a pair with as little color as possible because I like plain sneakers. I'd love to find plain t shirts with no designs, just solid colors. For socks, I like socks that go up to the ankle. I can't see how people can wear socks that don't cover the ankles because it looks too easy for things to get stuck between these socks and the feet. I go barefoot when I stay at home. I don't wear hats except for winter hats during winters because hats give me headaches. It's a good thing that I don't have that problem with winter hats.
I better go through my clothes sometimes so I can give away the outgrown stuff.

RedFox

[freemonkey]

* pescifish looks down at her pant legs neatly strapped into her shoes in presumed horror.

Well then, that's the end of the world isn't it?!

Fashion Nazis be damned!! :protest: :order:

[Adora]

Okay, I take it all back...

We should all live naked except for stretch denim. Really, when this stuff came into fashion a few years ago I rejoiced. Now I rejoice again after just buying the cutest pair of dark-stretch denim jeans with little butterflies on the legs.

[godfry n. glad]

I'd love to find plain t shirts with no designs, just solid colors.

Let's see....If you're a catalog buyer, try Land's End (an no, I haven't a clue about what they charge these days). Large selection of colors, IIRC. If you want to go directly to it so you can feel it first, and are in the US, go to Target. Good selection of no-logo teeshirts, nice colors, sometimes with cool single breastpocket, good quality shirt, well stitched. Cheap. They're not consistant about the colors available at any given time, though.

godfry

[seebs]

Let's see....If you're a catalog buyer, try Land's End (an no, I haven't a clue about what they charge these days). Large selection of colors, IIRC. If you want to go directly to it so you can feel it first, and are in the US, go to Target. Good selection of no-logo teeshirts, nice colors, sometimes with cool single breastpocket, good quality shirt, well stitched. Cheap. They're not consistant about the colors available at any given time, though.

godfry

No, but those are indeed among the best t-shirts anywhere, when they happen to have 'em. Sometimes they're out. I do like those shirts, though!

[pescifish]

Adora's stretch denim post reminded me of one my saddest clothes experiences.

Last year between Christmas and New Years I took a little vacation to Las Vegas and stayed in my favorite hotel (off the strip, large nearly-a-suite room, kitchenette, etc.). When I left, I thought I was so clever that I was able to make it down to my car in one trip since it was rainy cold and windy. Turns out I was so clever only because I left all of the clothes hanging in the closet: 5 pairs of pants (including a two pairs of stretch denim jeans -- one black and one blue denim), 4 shirts.

Since it had been holiday-vacation-vegas time, those shirts were some of my absolute favorites of all time. Even now, 7 months later I still mourn the loss of my ever shocking clown tunic (think cross between Gaugin and Georgia O'Keefe) and my millennium blouse (purchased for New Years 1999), black with swirly quasars and little 2000s and the word millennium spelled two different ways on it.

The hotel apparently found the clothes but their security department managed to lose them sometime between New Years and a few weeks later when I drove back to party for Jacey's birthday. While I do not blame the hotel for the loss of the clothes since I was the dunderhead who left them in the room. However, I was horrible pissed because they insisted they had the clothes waiting for me even up to 3 hours before I drove the 250 miles to get them. Needless to say, it is no longer my favorite hotel. :blah:

[Beth]

I have a clothing problem in my house. Occasionally it'll bog me down, but mainly it is my children's clothes. (They, like their mother, love fashion. We do not have a lot of money but I have always made a point to dress them in designer labels and trendy clothes,..I am an excellent shopper. I just bought over $800.00 worth of clothes for under a hundred bucks. I'm lucky, Florida is hot, we can wear spring and summer fashion nearly all year so we can get excellent sales prices at the end of summer on the only real practical clothes to wear here, anyway. When winter comes around, the warmer fall clothes purchased on clearance, plus a windbreaker normally will suffice. )

I was made fun of as a kid for not having nice clothes and in my teens, my aunt gave me her very expensive things and I learned an appreciation for classic, dressy things. I either wore grunge or went to the extreme and wore silk dresses and lace collars. As I've gotten older, I still have my grunge wardrobe which is worn only around the house, normally at bed, when people are less likely to pop over. I also have started wearing more casual stuff, normally a little sexy, not all frumpy like the grunge stuff, and I wear that out shopping or at home during the day. I then have two racks of formal clothes. I do wear these out, I'll don a pantsuit just to run up the store if I'm feeling especially depressed. dressing up is a mood lifter for me. But now that I do not attend church, there is not much sense in having them. Add to all this all my fat clothes and skinny clothes... Well, I have just put up two clothing racks in the laundry room to keep my clothes.

It is not likely I'll give them away or toss them out just to make room, although I am very generous and do often give away clothes when I think it would look nicer on someone else. Fashion is important to me, it is the one frivolous thing I allow myself to indulge in. I often find a sense of pleasure in wearing a three hundred dollar dress I know I bought for ten dollars or maybe thirty. I think it is nice to have something nice to wear to match any event and it is fun to try to mix and match pieces to create my own style.

I'm sure that my love for clothes is rooted in insecurity and I'll admit to it, but I don't care. I wear everything I purchase at some point and I know people with less practical and more expensive hobbies. .