A Clotheshorse Tries to Minimize

I've always been obsessed with clothes and shoes. My mother called me Amelda Marcus from an early age due to the ridiculous amount of footwear in my closet. I've come to realize that clothing is my status symbol. Some people want a fancy car or a house with a three car garage, but my daydreams are all Sex And The City and Jimmy Choo shoes. In all fairness, my practical side is heavy handed with the fashion diva in my head so it's not like I am spending absurd amounts of money on these things.

When I started minimizing, I also started analyzing what is truly important in life. And I am slowly coming around to the realization that my infatuation with clothing has something to do with my vision of myself. Clothing is a means for me to feel like I can be whoever I am dressing to be.

Work Powerhouse: Blazer, button up, scarf, and perfect manicure. 

Hostess with the Mostest: Sundress, heels, cute apron while serving up something delicious.

Photographer: Black on black on black. 

A power outfit sometimes gives me confidence that I might not of had on my own. Am I simply playing dress up like I did when I was a girl? Is this obsession just another tier of my unhealthy struggle with perfectionism? What happens if I remove this element from my life? Does something more important come into focus?

As I was asking myself important questions about how I measured my own worth, Dom had me read this book.  Among other things, I learned about the 333 Project. In this minimalism exercise, you choose 33 items to wear over 3 months. You box everything else up in your closet. Repeat this on a seasonal basis.

The idea kept niggling at me and wouldn't leave me alone. It was particularly powerful one night as I reflected on my photo shoots from the previous week where I documented the lives of Rwandan mothers and realized how grateful I should be for all I have. In that moment, I felt that I wanted to focus more intently on the truly important things in my life instead of being caught up in my own frivolity. It was time to put my money where my mouth was.

As I pulled things from my closet, I was surprised how much resistance I felt. I was nervous. Dare I say afraid? I found myself in front of my closet having a series of mental arguments with myself with an angel on one shoulder and the devil wears Prada on the other.

Clothes do not the woman make. 

But everyone is used to seeing you dressed nicely. What will people think?

It's not like you won't be dressed nicely. You'll wear nice things, just less of them.

You'll look stupid. 

No one will even notice----why do you think they would?

You can do anything for three months.

Why are you even putting yourself through this?

What's the big deal? Are you so shallow that you cannot do without a few articles of clothing?

Push, pull, push, pull.

I eventually  overcame all the voices in my head, but I still feel a bit uneasy about the project. Enter this blog post for the sheer sake of accountability.

Project 333
I narrowed my closet to 33 items of clothing and footwear. This did not include additional accessories. I minimized my accessories to 10 earrings, 1 ring, 2 bracelets, and 9 necklaces (all the true minimalists out there will find this atrocious but consider this my baby steps in the right direction). This also does not include my workout clothes, underthings, or a small selection of 12 items that I wear only on photo shoots out to the field as my shoot clothing gets pretty beat up in the long term.

I am not sure what I expect to come out of this exercise. I figure I will either be surprised by what you can do with very little and be sold on the idea in the long term or completely hate the entire process. I hope that this continues my journey of really focusing on the things that matter in life regardless of how it turns out. Our lives are so short, and we have so much more than most people in the world. I hope we all take the time to enjoy it.