Year of No Rubbish Purchases - Month 2

Not only is this year about not buying rubbish, it is also about buying things of quality which last and last.  So this post is about money.  Avert your eyes if you have to.

Step 1, I bought Pepper the cat a tray for his food and water bowl to replace the Ikea one I had.  Given I have to look at it every day I thought something pretty would be easier on the eye.   Do you like it? It's French and it makes me think of Missoni a bit.  Or Paul Smith.  

Step 2, I took the plunge and did something I have only ever done for my wedding. I had a piece of clothing tailored for me. And what better than a black pencil skirt?  As a lawyer, one's professional life is paved with black skirts.   I cannot count how many I have bought over the last 20 years.  Now, I want one which lasts more than a year or two.  

So these fantastic people came and sized me and produced a beautiful, classic, wonderfully fitting black skirt.   Barring massive weight gain or loss, I hope it will last many many years.  And it cost only a little bit more than a skirt from a shop.  

The fabric is by Dormeuil which was established by three French brothers of the same name in 1842. They hit on the idea of importing English fabric to France.  Jules Dormeuil had a truly global vision it seems.  He opened their first store in New York in 1880.  When the company celebrated 150 years in business in 1992 the lights of the Eiffel Tower were dimmed in their honour. 

Dormeuil manufactures amazing soft wool. They also say that they invented the 'Pashmina'.  They were and are the fabric of choice for many Savile Row tailors, and I can see why.  The fabric breathes and at the end of the day, any creases just fall out.  

They made some cracking ads in the 1970s.  Are you offended by this ad? I love it.   And her sunnies.  And his red shirt and tie combo.  And the light planes and Aston Martin in the background.   

And what about this one?   That's a snake on his lapel.  

I was going pretty well this month until the global economy interfered.  Here's the thing, when I was backpacking around Europe in the 1990's the exchange rate of the Aussie dollar was pretty forlorn.  I could get 1 British pound for 3 AUD.  And the US currency was not much better (1 AUD would buy US 0.60 cents).   This made travelling very expensive, and is one of the reasons I put off travelling to the US for so long.    Of course it also made travelling fun and challenging but many Australians can remember the power of the mighty US$ in Eastern Europe and what it could buy.   And how many Australian dollars we had to exchange to get that currency.

Today, things are different.  Over the weekend the Australian dollar hit parity with the US.   Now I know that this is bad for the farmers and other exporters.  And perhaps for local retailers because the stronger dollar has meant a huge boost in online overseas sales, and I have been one of the statistics.  An added bonus is the reversed seasons.  Shop online in the UK and US and you can pick up their summer season's clothes on sale just as we are going into summer ourselves.  

(Side note:  quality clothes in Australia are expensive. I do actually try to support Australian designers and manufacturing especially original good quality designers like Scanlon & Theodore.    Whilst I am a bit sad that the Internet is maybe making it harder for them to be competitive, I think there will always be room for great High street retailers.  But at the end of the day a top is a top, and $450 is too much Lisa Ho.  And don't start me on denim.  Why would I pay $400 for a pair of J Brand jeans from the shop up the road when I can buy the same jeans for half the price online?)  

I bought these summer sandals from Revolve (on sale and very cheap):

And this necklace (not sure where I will wear it) from J Crew (on sale and very cheap):

I used a shipper for the J Crew stuff.  They were pretty reliable and quick but their shipping charges are almost Cath Kidston-esque.

And I end on this note - compare prices always.  This beautiful J Crew shearling trimmed jacket:

Is  $380 AUD on the J Crew website (converted from 378) and $415 on Net a Porter (converted from 255 UK pounds).  The difference is simply that between the two currencies. 

Do you shop online? Surely I am not the only one?  

Tweet

Year of No Rubbish Purchases - Month 1

I have been sorely tempted this month, by a pouty Angelina Jolie on the cover of Vanity Fair, by a super soft caramel wrap scarf thing at Husk, by the abundance of ballet flats for spring which are on sale in every shoe store and by my desperate need for more storage baskets.

But I have refrained and remain reasonably true to my aim.

This month I have invested in:

This APC t-shirt.  I am very particular about my stripes and when I find stripes in the right width and spacing I find it hard to be disciplined.  And a stripey top is a long term classic, and therefore fits my criteria.

To demonstrate.  These stripes are wrong: 

(Sienna Miller)

These are unflattering:

(Claudia Schiffer)

But these are perfect.  Funny isn't it?

(Olivia Palermo)

Secondly I bought this plastic container which is for storing cut up onion in the fridge. It stops the onion infusing everything else with an oniony smell. I have wanted one of these for years and came across it in a shop. Of course I could always use any old plastic container but there is something so very satisfying about putting an item into a facsimile of itself.

There is an important carve out to this exercise: children's clothes.   I had to buy some of these otherwise my son would be running around with a bare tummy and ankles showing.

Hence, the purchase of these (sorry for small image) from here.   If you can't wear peacock blue skinny cords when you are 7 years old then when can you?  She has barely taken them off since she got them. 

Epilogue:  I had an incident which required the purchase of a Vanity Fair, which I regret. What happened was this: I had an early morning client meeting in the eastern end of the city and I dropped my son off at creche with half an hour to get there. I rang my husband for his view about the best way to get to my destination from Chapel Street.  We agreed Punt Road.  Bad idea. Punt Road was a car park. I inched forward, minute by minute, the appointed time for my meeting getting closer and closer. I emailed my client to let them know I would be a little late.  I patiently sat in the gridlock. I could feel myself getting slightly panicky.  I finally got into the city and instead of driving around looking for a good value car park as planned I parked at the $70 a day one.  I parked the car and grabbed my briefcase only to realise it was completely empty.  I had left all my documents at home on the kitchen bench. Not only that, but I had no paper to write on and no pen to write with.   In all my working life that has never happened to me.   I ran to the nearest newsagent, grabbed a pad and a pen, opened my wallet to pay the $5.50 and realised I had no money. At all.  No coins, no notes.  I then remembered I had let my daughter take her pocket money from my wallet that morning. I gave the purse lipped lady my card to pay by EFTPOS and she said 'sorry $10 minimum'. I said (pleadingly) 'I am having a really bad morning' and she said (unflinchingly) '$10 minimum'. So I grabbed the thing which was closest to me, which happened to be a Vanity Fair (the one with the Twilight girls on the cover).  I then went to my meeting, puffed, hot and a little bit peeved. 

Tweet

Megan Park cushions are now just a short walk away.....

I love making my own cushions.  I truly do.   

But to be homest, what I like even more is ogling and then buying other beautiful cushions.  And the very best are coming to my local shopping strip, thanks to Megan Park, Melbourne based textile and fashion designer, whose work takes inspiration from embroidery in Delhi, antique markets in France and the London design scene. 

Her new shop in High Street, Armadale, designed by Suzie Stanford, another excellent and talented Melbourne person about whom I wrote here, opens this week.

There will be cushions galore, delicately embroidered, one of a kind, little stuffed pieces of beauty. 

These cushions are just the thing for this kind of interior:

And I expect that there will also be beautiful clothes for me to gaze upon longingly:

This dress seems to me to be directly descended from this Turkish crewelwork wrap Megan created in 2003:

This is from Vogue Australian January 2010: 

And here is a glimpse of her Melbourne home as featured in Home Beautiful last year:

Target this is most definitely not.  But these are pieces to save up for, treasure and love.  I have many times made the mistake of buying cheap cushions. I know people say that is okay because then you can change the look of a room but I don't agree.  

Whilst I have nothing against a perfect tea towel cushion,  I think cushions shouldn't be throwaway and poor quality.    They age and date badly, go lumpy in no time and look like rubbish within 6 months.  Now, I am coming around to the thought that they should last and last and be treated like an investment.    What do you think?  I know this is hardly world hunger on the importance scale, but it is very interesting how people choose to spend their hard earned money. 

So now I get to the important part. 


My plan for the next year is to only spend money on things which are high quality and reasonably timeless and which I will use or return to again and again.  No Ikea.   No Target.  No Sportsgirl.  No nylon-y underwear.  No cheap knitted tops from Witchery.  No Howard's Storage World.  No cheap chardonnay.   No OK or Hello or Grazia.   No braindead chick flicks.   No cheap plastic play cars for the children.  No Party Animals (if you don't know what these are consider yourself blessed).   (Actually I may make an exception for storage because I keep needing so much of it).    This will be my year of no rubbish purchases.    Depending on how my discipline holds up it will stretch out for a lifetime, or compress into 6 months.    Only time will tell. 




(Images (1) to (4) from Megan Park (5) Not sure sorry (6) EmbroiderersGuild (7) Vogue Australia (8) Home Beautiful)

Tweet