An expert teaches us how to get dressed with a clear conscience.
The confidence boost of leaving the house in your favorite outfit can’t be overstated. But too often, we chase that feeling by making purchases — buying more clothes, more shoes, and more accessories that eventually end up piled in the dark corners of our closets.
That habit isn’t good for wardrobe management. More importantly, the waste it causes isn’t good for the Earth, either. But here’s a little secret: Being truly stylish means developing an eye for maximizing what you already own in ways that make your go-to pieces feel new and fresh each time you wear them.
How, exactly, do you pull that off? Allow Tiffanie Darke to explain. In her new book, What to Wear and Why: Your Guilt-Free Guide to Sustainable Fashion (out Sept. 3), she shares practical advice for how we as consumers can make a difference in the environmental impact of the fashion industry. In the excerpt below, she outlines a step-by-step process for reinventing the tried-and-true favorites in your wardrobe and surprising even yourself with the results.
When it comes to sustainable fashion, there are no simple answers.
Buy recycled and then remember all the transport, chemicals, and energy that go into the recycling process. Buy organic cotton and then remember all the water it takes to grow a plant this way. Buy vegan leather because no cows die in the process, but think of all the plastics required to make the substitute leather perform. Buy quality clothes that last, and you will bust your budget — some of the time.
The truth is, consuming anything takes from the planet. Cutting back on your wardrobe purchases limits your choices when it comes to shopping, but I refuse to believe it limits your sense of self-identity and creativity. I think the world opens up to you once you release yourself from the grip of brands, fashion editorials, and influencers telling you what to wear and how.
Not buying anything new for a while opens up a whole new creative world where you can make, repair, alter, swap, and rent. Ignoring the trends — unless you fall in love with something because you think it really defines you, in which case, go for it! — and identifying your own style will be an emancipating breakthrough. If you want to try to cut your purchases, bear in mind these hacks below.
Luxury now is not a fancy handbag or a private jet or a bottle of champagne. I think it is moving through the world in as frictionless a way as possible. Treading lightly and carefully, developing a clear conscience. If you want to be more conscious with your wardrobe, you can do no better than buy less, choose it well, and wear it for longer. Buying less is about freeing yourself from the tentacles of mass consumerism’s marketing machines. We have all we need; we really do. Each year there is a case for a few new things, and when you reduce the number of those things, their value to you will exponentially increase.
Choose well
Knowledge is power. Learn to ask the right questions, check websites, and read labels. Know what a label is really telling you and understand what a price tag is indicating. Think about where each piece came from, who made it, how well-traveled it is. Think of the design, marketing, craftsmanship, and fabric that have gone into each piece and then begin to layer on top of that how you might wear it — or, if it is pre-loved, how those have worn it before you.
Framing clothes in this way makes them treasures, and we can start to think about them like we do the contents of our jewelry boxes: timeless pieces of inherent emotional value and beauty.
Wear it for longer
Reheeling a shoe, taking in a dress, shortening a hem, fixing a zipper, sewing on a button — all these acts of nurture and care are deeply satisfying, whether you do them personally or ask someone else to.
Clothes are our friends, to be cared for and guarded for as much a part of our lives as we can manage. And trends? They’re dead. I am only just realizing this now, after 30 years of being in fashion. The speed of social media cycles now means that TikTok and the like can cycle through multiple trends in a single day. We’ve got absolutely no chance of keeping up — it’s far too dizzying.
Daniel Lee, the creative director at Burberry, has pointed out the same: “I think we’ve moved on from the period in fashion where it was led by, say, a silhouette or an aesthetic or a stylistic sense of putting things together,” he told The Business of Fashion last year. “What people respond to is a singular object. My role is really to distill the essence of the brand into that object.”
Leave trends aside and focus on something that communicates inherent beauty to you. This is wonderfully emancipating, as now we no longer need to worry about being “in fashion.” Think about you — what suits you, makes you happy, feels comfortable. Style is evolution; it is progress. Listen to it, test it, enjoy it, play with it.
After much consideration, I’m beginning to see what’s right for me. My focus now is building up a wardrobe of “faithfuls,” tried and tested pieces that I know suit me, I feel comfortable in, and I can rely on to make a good impression. I might need a new coat, or to replace a black turtleneck, or to buy a new swimsuit, but those purchases aside, buying something new feels like a treat. It is a luxury.
Follow the 80/20 rule
Eighty percent of our wardrobe should be essentials, and the rest should be personality-led. I love this: You need those crazy coats and gowns that get everyone talking when you walk in the room, but you don’t need them all the time, or you would soon turn into Iris Apfel or the Widow Twankey. Taking all this together, this approach means I am building a much, much better wardrobe.
Do a wardrobe audit
Everything starts here. Until you do a proper clear-out, I’ll bet you can’t see the woods for the trees. You need to get in there, pull everything out, and take a long, hard look.
Start by planning a date night — possibly an entire day — with your wardrobe, where you make yourself a delicious drink and set aside a few hours to really get to know each other. Have some conversations, don’t be afraid to ask hard questions, and make sure you crack a few jokes. This is fun!
Then think about what works and what doesn’t. Why does it work? What are you missing? Can anything be given a second life with repair or alteration? Are there some brilliant pieces that don’t work for you that you could swap with a friend? What could be taken to a charity shop after cleaning and repair?
Now think about how you can organize what you’ve got. Try an open clothes rack or sort your most hardworking pieces to the front, and each week switch two less-worn pieces in to encourage you to style them in different ways. Colors? If you have figured out what colors suit you, congratulations! Now break the rules. If everyone is used to seeing you in a muted palette of beige and black, wow them one day with purple or yellow. Patterns and prints? Be brave and clash them together. You just need one color or motif to run through both patterns to help tie them together.
Shop your wardrobe
Now that you’ve done your sorting and thrifting, there are treasures to be found! I suggest only adding five new things each year, or one thing per season — and keeping four pre-loved ones. Rent. Swap. Borrow. Choose some pieces for alteration.
And if you haven’t noticed, you’re now on your journey to address the big questions: to understand where clothes come from and where they go, and to discover how we can still enjoy fashion without ruining ourselves and the planet.
Tiffanie Darke has spent her career in fashion as an editor, journalist, author, creative director, brand strategist, campaigner, and most recently, shopkeeper. She has worked for the Daily Telegraph, the Express, and Sunday Times Style and was editor in chief of Harrods. She is an alumna of the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and a member of the Oxford University Climate Action Network. She works with more than seventy fashion brands on sustainability and is based in London.
This adapted excerpt was reprinted with permission from What to Wear and Why, to be published Sept. 3, 2024.
