Quarterly Report on Buying Clothes, 2023

On wardrobe planning, budgeting, and why it's so difficult to talk about money

Apr 09, 2023

The first quarter of 2023 is behind us, snow has finally melted in southern Finland, and I’m no longer complaining about having to wear winter boots! It seems that spring is finally here, and I decided to go back on a No Buy. I need to, because I find myself constantly wanting to buy clothes and shoes. And by constantly I mean all times. All the time. Every of the time. My mind is playing tricks on me though, because what I really want is to live in my clothes and to feel more settled in what I already have. The pull of the new just feels so intoxicating, even when I own more lovely clothes than I could possibly get decent wear out of.

A No Buy April is my solution to feel more grounded in the clothes I have already bought this year, so I wanted to take inventory of what I’ve bought so far in 2023, and how my buying has reflected the wardrobe plan I drafted for myself at the end of 2022.

This is a screenshot of my A Closet app “wardrobe” for my 2023 purchases. I also have an additional Excel sheet to keep tabs on the things that I buy and how much I spend.

My wardrobe goals for this year were:

To analyze my existing wardrobe seasonally
To invest in WOFs (that’s Tibi-speak for “without fails”, or wardrobe staples)
To lean into my style words: Gentleman, Peacock, Thinker (but to keep reins on the Peacock as that’s where my had-to-haves party and multiply)
To buy fewer pieces than in 2022 (<42 pieces)
To stay on budget (this is my first time budgeting – more on that later)

My seasonal wardrobe analysis revealed that I’m in a good place when it comes to the in-between seasons. Spring and fall are my favorite seasons to get dressed and I have a lot of great pieces to choose from. My summer clothing selection is proportionally too large, considering that I live in a country where summer lasts literally three months. Basically this just means that I shouldn’t buy any more summer clothes. My winter wardrobe, however, felt tired and unpolished. I deduced that most of my WOFs reside in the Gentleman side of my personal style, so I figured that it would be a good place to start.

My winter wardrobe was in dire need of some effortless and sharp Gentleman pieces and I found an amazing wool and cashmere men’s blazer from the Danish brand Sand at the thrift store early on, and I also bought a pair of 1980s heavily pleated men’s wool and polyester blend trousers on the same day. One day later I hit the jackpot at the thrift store when I came across a beautiful, long, navy vintage Anne Klein wool gabardine coat. I had just watched the Lemaire show for autumn/winter 2023 and this coat has that same timeless, effortless vibe. It’s a real treasure.

My husband got me a pair of Dries Van Noten Podium trousers in a heavy wool and polyester blend as a birthday present in February, and I’ve worn them non-stop since I got them. In March I stumbled on a stunning, structureless men’s Corneliani wool and cashmere blazer that I couldn’t leave behind. The day that I decided to go on a No Buy for April I grabbed a lovely blueish-gray, collarless, double breasted Cerruti blazer from my shop’s storage. I had had the blazer in the shop for three whole years and no one wanted to buy it. It’s their loss, my gain! The blazer has a more of a feminine cut that feels fresh to me.

Some of the things I’ve bought and worn this year. On the left, Corneliani cashmere blazer. In the middle, Yohji Yamamoto cut out blazer. On the right, Dries Van Noten Podium trousers in wool mix, the Yohji cut out blazer and vintage Pertti Palmroth mock-croc shoes.

I was determined to not purchase any more obvious Peacock items this year, but I caved when I found an amazing bright yellow piece of shearling that could be worn as a scarf or a detachable collar on top of a jacket at the thrift store. I will also group the Yves Klein blue Issey Miyake Cauliflower top under showy, completely unnecessary, unplanned, but oh-so-lovely Peacock pieces.

I wanted to explore the Thinker this year, because that is the least developed aspect of my personal style. I splurged on a beautiful, black Yohji Yamamoto Gentleman-meets-Thinker cut-out blazer that I found on Vestiaire Collective just before my birthday. I’m undecided whether it’s a Had-to-Have or a Without Fail. I’ve worn it a handful of times so far, but it’s not something I reach for every day. Time will tell if it was a smart purchase or not. I also bought a black Rick Owens drkshdw cotton tunic at a flea market. It’s a very moody, understated layering piece that I’ve mostly been wearing with jeans, but I see myself styling it with skirts as well. The black wool muslin skirt that I decided to keep from my shop’s inventory early this year might work, I think.

It’s been somewhat quiet on the accessories front: alongside the aforementioned yellow shearling thing, I picked up a 1970s eel handbag in March. I’ve bought two pairs of shoes so far: I finally found the pair of perfect woven lace-up flats that I have looked for, literally, years. I also bought a pair of insulated winter shoes that have a lovely patent mock-croc texture. They’re vintage Pertti Palmroth, a well-known Finnish shoe designer.

The wild card purchase of the first quarter of the year has been, without doubt, a pair of Nepalese drop-crotch trousers that I intend to wear a lot in the summer. I am convinced that I can make them look cool and modern.

Bubbling under: A two-piece gray, light summer suit that I initially bought for my shop but I am tempted to keep. I haven’t made the final decision on this one yet. I’m still debating the fit of the trousers.

Here’s what my numbers look like so far:

Pieces, total: 16
Planned purchases: 5
Impulse purchases: 11
Pieces I regret buying: 0

Pieces bought new: 0
Pieces bought second hand: 16

Tops: 2
Bottoms: 5
Dresses: 0
Coats/jackets/blazers: 5
Accessories: 2
Shoes: 2

On the left, vintage Anne Klein wool gabardine coat. In the middle, vintage Cerruti blazer with Dries Van Noten trousers and vintage Pertti Palmroth shoes. On the right, Issey Miyake Cauliflower top.

Now, some words about budgeting. I debated for a long time whether I was going to talk about money here. It’s an uncomfortable topic: we come from different backgrounds, we face different financial realities and we live different lives. I feel, though, that we could really use the conversation. We need to talk about what type of money building a good, working wardrobe requires, and we also need to discuss income inequality and what that means when people with different types of income level love and buy clothes. We live in a capitalist, class-based world, and in that world, money matters.

I sometimes get the sense that a lot of women, no matter if they are wealthy or not, feel bad about spending money on clothes. I often hear my customers say things like “I really shouldn’t buy anything”, “I’m trying to think of a way to justify this purchase”, and, what always kills me, “If I buy this I will have to hide it from my partner”. They might feel ashamed whether they spend a lot of money on clothes or if they don’t have enough money to spend. After all, clothes aren’t exactly investments, and spending money on them can seem wasteful. Like anyone who loves clothes and fashion will tell you though, feeling like yourself in your clothes can be amazing. Feeling good in your own personal style is like speaking a new language. The clothes that we choose to wear translate our personality, our values and our interests to others around us. We all spend money on clothes, so why is it so difficult? Why don’t we talk about it?

There’s a section in one of my favorite style-related books, Women in Clothes (2014), called ‘Economics of Style’. In it, sixteen women talk about money and clothes. Not one of them mentions having money to spend on clothes. Instead, snippets like “I’m not rich and I don't have expensive taste”, “I think I’d dress better if I had money” and “From a young age, I was aware of the luxuries in other households” abound. Who knows, maybe wealthy women didn’t want to discuss money with the editors of the book. Maybe the money narrative had no meaning to them, or maybe it just made them feel uncomfortable. I sometimes see wealthier, stylish women on Instagram asked if they have a clothing budget, and the answer tends to just be “no”, followed by something along the lines of “I work hard so I spend a lot”. I have always found that narrative a little odd. Poor people work hard, too, but sadly hard work doesn’t always equal a lot of money. In fact, it rarely does. I understand, though, why money is a difficult topic. I spend more money on clothes than an average Finn (in 2021 an average Finn spent 700 EUR on clothes and 120 EUR on shoes) and I feel defensive about it, even though I work in vintage clothing retail, and I love style and fashion. I have all the excuses to spend money on clothes, but I am still uncomfortable with the topic.

I’m just guessing here, but in some weird way it might be a little bit easier to talk about spending money on clothes when you don’t actually have all that much, or when you are simply not able to buy very expensive things. You often see thrifters boast about their amazing thrift store finds (Only 5 euros! Got this for 50 cents!), but you never hear someone say out loud that they feel great about having spent three thousand dollars on a new handbag. The former is great luck and money well spent, the latter would just be in bad taste. Where there’s money to be spent, there’s always judgment on the other side.

I considered writing about budgeting in terms of percentage of income, but in the end it became too challenging to discuss individual items and their worth. It also occurred to me that whether we talk about dollars and euros or percentages of income, the uncomfortable truth is that some people have more money than others. Some can easily afford that handbag that costs thousands, others will buy their purses at thrift stores for pennies. Discussing percentages isn’t going to make that go away. In some ways it almost highlights it. What we try to hide can end up controlling us. In the end, I just want to talk about my budget and my purchases. That’s what this is about. (If you are interested in the percentage of income approach and budgeting, financial planner Pete Dunn a.k.a. Pete the Planner recommends using 5% of your monthly income on clothing.)

I am a small vintage clothing business owner. I don’t make a lot of money, but I don’t feel poor either, even though according to statistics I easily fall within the poorest quarter of Finns. I can make ends meet by planning, and I can choose to buy nice things if I’m thrifty in other areas of my life. My clothing budget for this year is 1,200 EUR, which is about half of what I spent in 2022.

To those readers who buy new high-end fashion, 1,200 might sound like very little, and to my thrifter friends it might feel like an awful lot (although if you thrift very actively, you probably spend more than you realize). But there it is: 1,200 EUR is my personal goal for the year and it reflects my lifestyle where I often compromise on other spending in order to buy nice clothes.

Because it is human nature to compare ourselves to others, I recognize that you will feel tempted to compare your spending to mine. Comparing how much you spend money on clothes to how much I spend serves no purpose though. If you make a lot of money, you shouldn’t feel bad about spending it on clothes. If you are poor, you shouldn’t feel bad about having to be thrifty. The goal should always be to buy with purpose, no matter how much or how little money you’re spending on clothes.

So far this year I’ve spent 412,10 EUR on clothes. That’s a little bit more than I thought. The most expensive item, the black Yohji Yamamoto cutout jacket that I bought for myself as a birthday present, cost me 220 EUR. On the flipside though, I’ve sold a bunch of things from my wardrobe (things I can’t fit into anymore, or things I just don’t wear enough) and I have made 984 EUR from reselling so far. That’s a pretty good balance!

I still have some wardrobe gaps that need filling, and things that I’m looking for somewhat inactively as the year progresses.

My wardrobe gaps are all shoes:

tall winter boots for snowy, cold conditions (a stylish pair is really not easy to come by)
a pair of black lace-up derbies
sleek, comfortable flat sandals for summer (not a necessity, but I’d like a lighter, more streamlined alternative to Birkenstocks)

Things I don't necessarily need but have a hankering for:

a linen suit for summer (the gray light suit I’m considering of keeping is a contender)
a long, warm wool coat with a belt (like the Anne Klein, but a lot warmer and with a belt)
a new pair of sneakers; I’m considering Adidas Gazelles

That’s where I am right now. No Buy April (maybe also No Buy May, we’ll see) comes at a good time for me. I’ve bought more items than I thought I had this year (that’s almost always the case when I thrift actively), and if I were to keep up with this pace of buying, I’d end up with 60 items by the end of the year. That’s way too many, so I’ll have to slow down. I knew that cutting my last year’s spending by more than half was very ambitious, but what can I say? I like to challenge myself, and my spending last year was borderline reckless. I don’t even quite know how it happened. I bought too many things that cost somewhere in the 100-175 euro range, which didn’t seem that bad at the time, but the purchases accumulated quickly.

I know that I am only three months into the year, but I feel like I can already see some benefits of having an overall clothing budget. I have felt less guilty buying things as the money I have spent is specifically allocated for clothes. It’s definitely been easier to say no to spontaneous splurging, and I have a better understanding of the types of things that I can or cannot afford. Do I sometimes wish that I could just buy whatever the hell I want – yes. I am not a robot. But just like I believe in tackling mindless buying, I have faith that analyzing my spending is good for me in the long run. There’s a strange ease to decision making when you have to function within established parameters.

Now, over to you. How’s your 2023 going? Have you bought a lot or a little? Do you have a clothing budget?

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