Fashion on the Ration update: New boots

I started the Fashion on the Ration challenge for many reasons. I wanted to concentrate my mind on what’s in my wardrobe and how I go about acquiring clothing. I wanted to be happier in my clothes — more comfortable and better-dressed — and more focused and resourceful in my sewing and thrifting. I wanted to restrict the quantity of my purchases in order to make myself think hard about quality and sustainability. I also wanted to start applying my principles for living to my wardrobe so that it will eventually contain only garments I know to be useful or believe to be beautiful and wear regularly.

As Bruce Sterling says:

It’s not bad to own fine things that you like. What you need are things that you GENUINELY like. Things that you cherish, that enhance your existence in the world. The rest is dross… The items that you use incessantly, the items you employ every day, the normal, boring goods that don’t seem luxurious or romantic: these are the critical ones. They are truly central. The everyday object is the monarch of all objects…

It takes a while to get this through your head, because it’s the opposite of the legendry of shopping. However: the things that you use every day should be the best-designed things you can get. For instance, you cannot possibly spend too much money on a bed…

Expensive clothing is generally designed to make you look like an aristocrat who can afford couture. Unless you are a celebrity on professional display, forget this consumer theatricality. You should buy relatively-expensive clothing that is ergonomic, high-performance and sturdy.

Anything placed next to your skin for long periods is of high priority. Shoes are notorious sources of pain and stress and subjected to great mechanical wear. You really need to work on selecting these – yes, on “shopping for shoes.” You should spend more time on shoes than you do on cars, unless you’re in a car during pretty much every waking moment. In which case, God help you.

(The whole essay is worth a read if you have the time. My favorite line? “Someone may accuse you of ‘indulging yourself’ because you possess a chair that functions properly. This guy is a reactionary. He is useless to futurity.”)

Shoes are a challenge, mostly because I’m a woman and finding women’s shoes that are attractive, functional and good value for money is extremely difficult. I can’t take foot pain for granted as a fact of life. I don’t know how other women do. Foot pain from lousy shoes makes me angry, because uncomfortable shoes, like all bad design, are the consequence of choices made by somebody who either didn’t know how to design a good shoe and thus doesn’t deserve their job, or knew how to design a good shoe but deliberately chose not to. Uncomfortable shoes don’t just happen. They’re something somebody else does to you. With that in mind, I approach shoe purchases warily.

I love the tall black leather boot, but standard-size knee boots look like wellies on my skinny legs. Last week, however, I finally acknowledged that the lack of boots was a gaping hole in my wardrobe. I bit the bullet and made my first purchase out of my clothing ration for the year — a pair of knee-high black boots from Duo, in a narrow calf size.

So far, so good. I ended up walking an unexpected mile today (thanks, TFL!) in these boots and experienced no discomfort. The leather is okay quality for boots these days and is certainly acceptable for the price (£50 on sale). And these boots will jailbreak half a dozen pieces of clothing I own and like but have not been able to wear because I had no shoes to go with them. So I am pretty satisfied with my purchase. It was hard letting go of my first coupons, though.

Coupons spent: 5

Coupons left: 61