clothing swap 101

I had my wardrobe hissy fit a few months back and failed to follow up. I'm like that. I'm too practical to wallow or dwell. I moved right on. My wardrobe is still lacking. But I'm OK.

In that post I failed to mention my primary means of acquiring clothing. And it bears mentioning.

Every so often, I'd say every six months or so, I get together with my girlfriends and we trade clothes.

It occurred to me that we might be unique in this practice. Do women all over do this? Because they should. It rocks.

This is how it goes.

One of us decides that it's time for a girls night/clothing swap and we alert the group. There are about ten of us and while we, of course, come in all shapes and sizes, we pretty much all 'fit' each other. We gather at the appointed spot with our bags of stuff that we have culled from our closet and the fun begins. We dump it in the middle of the room and then we all strip down and start trying on.

We are very honest with each other. "Yes, you're too old to show that much belly." "That is so NOT you." "Too tight, too loose, nice underwear!"

We pass around and put the right garments with the right person and even reserve things for the next time around.

We've been doing this for years and years. (9+) We laugh when the same pair of striped pants shows up time after time.

Do we all look the same? Not at all, but sort of a little, in the way that all us Colorado girls look the same...jeans, layered skirts, pseudo athletic tops and danskos...maybe we do. I smile when I put on my 'favorite jeans of the moment' because they were Kate's. My shirt was Tracy's. As I write, it's chilly and pouring down rain, but I'm cozy in Natalie's gray sweater.

Clearly, we aren't too attached to our clothes. We're not 'building' a wardrobe or 'aquiring pieces'. We're getting by and recycling and sharing the love.  

The ten of us, in various stages of undress, laughing and talking and squeezing into a silver prom gown just for shits and giggles, is a snapshot that I cherish. I'm lucky to have these dear friends.

When we're done, we pack up the leftovers and take them to the thrift store, and the cycle begins again.

We walk to the Himalayan, where we eat and talk and laugh some more, and have another little tradition that I'll share with you sometime.