Wardrobe tracking

Well, hello there, last trimester of 2019! Let’s see what I’ve been wearing so far… in case you are new to this, in 2018 I switched from doing seasonal capsules to having all my garments available throughout the year and just tracking every time I wear something outside home.

You can learn all about the underlying logic in the previous quarterly posts:

The outset post on January 2018, including a link to a Google spreadsheet you can use too,
here the 2018 January-March update,
here the 2018 January-June update,
here the 2018 January-September update,
here the 2018 January-December recap.
Then 2019 started, and here is January-March post,
and here the January-June 2019 update.

So here you have my wardrobe champions and laggards of 2019 so far by garment category.

*

Layers

Most worn: Street One jacket (acquired in 2005, worn in 2019 so far: 52 / wears counted in total: 143).

Runner-ups: Swap Zara cardigan (2018, 40/98) and red flea sweater (2015, 34/182).

Most worn in the same period in 2018: My mom’s gray cardigan (2012-2019, 219 wears counted)

Not worn or worn the least: Velvet floral bolero (2011, 2/10) and the Lithuanian wool sweater (2015, 2/32). These two are ongoing complicated cases… the little bolero needs an occasion and a whole coordinated set while the Lithuanian sweater needs proper winter.

*

Dresses

Most worn: Hah, still my mom’s MnS black linen dress (2013, 23/93). I really do not understand how this one gets to be the most worn but the spreadsheet doesn’t lie. This kind of unsuspected wardrobe champions is why I love wardrobe tracking.

Runner-ups: Swap Zara Mucha lyocell dress (2019, 22/22) and my mom’s dark blue silk dress (2016, 20/85).

Most worn in the same period in 2018: my mom’s dark blue silk dress (31)

Not worn or worn the least: my floral dress (2019, 5/5) and my mom’s Max Mara weekend dress (2019, 5/5). Both are recent acquisitions that are still finding their true place in my wardrobe.

*

Tops

Most worn: My mom’s lace undershirt (2012, 39/106).

Runner-ups: Humana Zara ruffle top (2018, 28/40) and Kristīne’s MnS blue kaftan (2018, 25/58).

Most worn in the same period in 2018: The demon t-shirt (2014-2018, 95)

Not worn or worn the least: My mom’s green bird top (2018, 0/1). Let’s see how it will go this winter…

*

Bottoms

Most worn: ZIB orange flower leggings (2018, 35/35). Yep, dark leggings is a staple in my wardrobe…

Runner-ups: My mom’s white jeans (2018, 34/34) and ZIB blue flower leggings (2018, 26/26).

Most worn in the same period in 2018: My mom’s rayon shorts (2016-2019, 119)

Not worn or worn the least: ZIB splash leggings (2015, 3/4). A pair of very comfy leggings that lives in Rīga and rarely goes outside.

*

Footwear

Most worn: Veja Wata Pierre (2018, 107/228).

Runner-ups: the birks (2017, 75/256) and Veja Taua Nautico (2019, 53/53).

Most worn in the same period in 2018: the birks (107). After a total of 256 wears throughout three summers they finally went out this week.

Not worn or worn the least: Toni Pons espadrilles (2018, 1/11) and the mountain boots my dad got as a hand-me-down fro ma client (2019, 1/1). Espadrilles are for when my KonMari consultancy requires a change of footwear… and the boots are on trial since July…

*

Adornments

Most worn: the sunhat (2019, 41/41). Yeah, I finally got a (swap) sunhat and it is great, both to shade myself and to hide sweaty summer hair!

Runner-ups: Little Bit Bijoux necklace (2019, 27/27), ban.do headband (2011?, 22/101), and bird and flowers headband (2012, 22/94).

Most worn in the same period in 2018: the red wooden necklace (26).

Not worn or worn the least: ‘Pearl’ necklace (?, 3/72). I like the idea of wearing a necklace but most of them choke me…

*

2019 wardrobe conclusions so far? Well, it’s always in flux… there are old and recent acquisitions among my champions. And laggards are mostly pieces of limited use or comfort. Makes sense. Some of them still surprise me. And that keeps giving sense to this spreadsheet project.

Part of this is also about living with my own ambivalence. Notice that I don’t automatically discard the ‘laggards’ or make an active campaign to wear them. My 2014-2017 capsule wardrobe self could have done such… Nope, I drink my tea and observe, this is just an additional piece of information, not the final judgement.

Do you practice any kind of wardrobe tracking? Have you ever noticed (or been pointed out) incongruences between your perceptions about the frequency of wear and the reality? Can you easily name your wardrobe champions?

2019 is halfway through, and here comes the previous 3-month update on my big spreadsheet. If you are new to this, between 2014 and 2017 I was doing season capsules of stashing away the ‘unseasonal’ items and doing the whole ritual of ‘seasonal change’ every couple of months while tracking the number of wears in. And then it felt like too much fuss… So I started tracking the number of wears without doing the ‘now you go away’ ritual…

My primary goals with this exercise is (1) to stop relying on perceptions along the lines of ‘I wear this all the time’ as I have realized that those are not to be trusted, and (2) to remind myself and all of you that the mystical #30wears are so easy-peasy to achieve. Not only you should wear your garments as many times throughout their life span, you should wear them at least as many times every year you own them. I know, I know, there are items that do not got there, but you should be at least aware of which ones are those and why. Informed decision making ftw! Also, the satisfaction of going over #100wears is the sweetest…

Here is the outset post on January 2018 explaining the change and including a link to an example Google Sheet,
here the 2018 January-March update,
here the 2018 January-June update,
here the 2018 January-September update,
here the 2018 January-December recap.
Then 2019 started, and here is January-March post.

We are three months into 2019, and here comes the next update by categories with the acquisition year and number of wears in parenthesis coupled with the total wears recorded since 2016 (older items might have had many more non-accounted wears but there are no perfect datasets)! If you think that this is for weirdos quantitative sociologists only, Marina is an example how less spreadsheat-inclined normal people might get value out of this exercise too…

*

Layers

Most worn: Street One jacket (2005, 44/135).

Runner-ups: Red flea sweater (2015, 34/182), Hummel Madeleine jacket (2009, 31/150) and Zara swap cardigan (2018, 31/89).

Most worn in the same period in 2018: Julie’s pink cardigan (2017-2019, 45).

Not worn: my mom’s Primark cardigan, still (2018, 0/3). I picked it up when we organized her wardrobe in December, wore it a couple of times around Christmas and then left in Rīga. I’m confident that its time will come as light fast fashion cardigans get worn to bits here.

*

Dresses

Most worn: my mom’s MnS black dress (2013, 21/91). This is a funny one, as I don’t really treat this dress as something special, a wardrobe hero or treasure… but I really keep wearing it throughout the year and for six years already. This is the kind of findings I like having a spreadsheet for!

Runner-ups: my mom’s Violeta gingham dress (2019, 14/14) and my aunt’s ‘PhD dress’ (2014, 8/73).

Most worn in the same period in 2018: the second-hand kaftan (? – 2018, 16).

Wore the least: my floral dress (2019, 3/3). Makes sense, I just finished it…

*

Tops

Most worn: Kristīne’s MnS kaftan (2018, 24/57). Another unexpected wardrobe hero…

Runner-ups: Liisa black lace top (2016, 21/81) and my mom’s lace undershirt (2012, 19/86).

Most worn in the same period in 2018: the demon t-shirt (2014-2018, 40). That t-shirt became applique to my second yoga mat bag, though.

Not worn: my mom’s purple paisley top (2005, 0/22) and my mom’s green bird top (2018, 0/1). They both live in Rīga, so that’s why so few wears. The purple top is probably the best quality jersey I’ve ever seen: that thing is 15+ years old and looks mint. Also, serves both as lounge wear and a decent top if need be. The green bird thing is pure plastic, still very new to me, and might make sense to keep for my Rīga (winter) mini-capsule. Not for Barcelona weather, for sure.

*

Bottoms

Most worn: ZIB orange flower leggings (2019, 34/34).

Runner-ups: C’s HnM jeans (2019, 30/30) and ZIB blue flower leggings (2019, 26/26).

Most worn in the same period in 2018: ZIB black leaf leggings (2016-2018, 42). Yeah, well, leggings are very important in my wardrobe… clearly.

Not worn: my mom’s green pants (2018, 0/2). A promising pair, let’s give them some time…

*

Footwear

Most worn: Veja Wata Pierre (2018, 89/210).

Runner-ups: Veja Taua Nautico (2019, 34/34) and Veja Arcade (2017, 31/196). Yeah, I also think that Veja should have a ‘get the 10th pair for free’ deal with me. I might be the most loyal customer ever… I’ve bought 7 pairs in 4 years so far.

Most worn in the same period in 2018: the Arcopedico wedges (2017, 78), as I still had an office – and a footwear changing routine – then.

Worn the least: Nokian Hai wellies (2016, 1/9) and Toni Pons espadrilles (2018, 1/11). These two are painful. The wellies live in Rīga and wait for rain, but having worn them less than 10 times in 3 years makes me doubt the purchase. And espadrilles hurt because those are my KonMari shoes to protect clients’ homes… yes, my professional organizing practice has been pretty much abandoned in 2019 so far because of the final thesis spurt.

*

Adornments

Most worn: still the Little Bit Bijoux necklace (2019, 21/21). The prettiest golden snitch ever, and a gift from Giulia (and made by her cousin). Perfect!

Runner-ups: the Ban.do headband (2010?, 16/95) and the Little Honey Pies bird and flower headband (2012, 11/83).

Most worn in the same period in 2018: Jēkabs necklace (1995?-2019, 24). I gifted it away recently…

Worn the least: the ‘pearl’ necklace (2011?, 1/70). My relationship with adornments, especially necklaces, fluctuates a lot, ranging from consistent use to ‘they all choke me, f*ck it’, so let’s see where this will go…

*

And there you have it… tl;dr? My wardrobe is still in expansion since late 2018. It feels weird but correct, so I’m just observing. While I love the thrill of achieving spectacular numbers of (few) possessions and (a lot of) wears, I’m also learning to let go a bit of that urge to restrict and control. Let’s see what the Barcelona summer will bring…

Garments that live in my mom’s house in Rīga is a source of constant thought: it certainly makes more sense to travel without any clothing if I can have my mini-capsule there, but have I built it tight enough? I’ll spend a couple of weeks there in July and another few in September, hopefully there are insights ahead.

Have you ever tried any type of wardrobe tracking: turning the hangers, a paper list, a spreadsheet? How was that? And, if not, can you see any advantages and what is keeping you from not doing it? Please, get me right, I’m not saying that everybody has to track their wardrobes, but – being a person so fascinated by counting the wears – I would really like some feedback from out of my happy spreadsheet bubble. Take care!