In the month of November I made a moderate effort to go on a "clothing diet." (What is this? And if you google "clothing diet" you will fine much more.) Try as I might, I only got down to seven pieces of clothing for public wearing (e.g. school, church, and other places where I think I need to dress like a grown-up) and while I made an effort to contain what I wore "off hours," I did not count those items. I did not count shoes or boots, stockings, long underwear, ordinary underwear, nightgown, jewelry, outer wear (i.e. warm coats, hats, gloves), or scarves. (NB: the scarf category in my wardrobe is very full.)
The outcome: it was not difficult. I was not bored with my attire. I was reminded of traveling with a single suitcase and the freedom that comes from having only a few choices to make. No one commented on the lack of variation in my clothing so I don't know if anyone noticed. The discipline did help me decide not to buy some new things, but in the final week I could not resist an on-sale jacket, a classic design in my colors, that could be the eighth piece or might replace one of the original seven. The principle challenge was being warm enough as the season changed from a warm fall to the cold of winter. In the summer, six pieces is simple; in the winter, it requires careful selection.
Just as my experiment is more-or-less coming to an end this sobering passage in Frederick Douglass' Narrative rather put my game into historical and moral perspective. "Their [the slaves] yearly clothing consisted of two coarse linen shirts, one jacket, one pair of trousers for winter, made of coarse negro cloth, one pair of stockings, and one pair of shoes; the whole of which could not have cost more than seven dollars." The passages continues to describe what was given to children and notes "When these failed them, they went naked until the next allowance day." (Dover edition, p .6)
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