The Stylist Suit #05: CARE
The 10 or 12 commandments of clothing care
Why do you love your clothes? Is it maybe because they represent a certain special moment in time? Maybe they had previously belonged to a loved one? Perhaps you found them unexpectedly and fell in love? Is it because of the way you feel when wearing them?
Ever since I was very young I’ve loved wearing clothes that had belonged to someone I loved or I had bought second hand. I was drawn to the memories, the personalities and stories they contained, and probably that was one of the influences for my choice of career, being fascinated at the richness of stories held in a piece of clothing, or maybe it was the other way round, when I understood the power of communication held in a garment. In my early twenties shopping felt like a treasure hunt, we had no money but we loved dressing up. A friend of mine introduced me to the concept of collecting, it wasn't related to designer clothes per se, but to special pieces we encountered in a charity shop, the bin or hanging from someone’s front gate, asking to be given a second chance. Another friend of mine used to raid the bags of donated clothes that were left at the doors of charity shops at night and gave me all the special things he found. He had great taste and I am a bit ashamed to say I was glad to keep them. Later, I inherited most of my grandmother’s coolest clothes, and ever since I was a teenager I have continuously raided my mum’s closet until I had kept for myself nearly everything she doesn’t wear anymore.
For years, I’ve visited flea markets, charity shops and second hand warehouses in search for that jewel nobody had noticed before and have found some really fantastic items: several pairs of cowboy boots that have walked the world with me, a number of antique kimonos, a hand embroidered cotton negligè that served as a dress, an angora cape in varying shades of blue, a Canadian jail overall in olive green, a peacock blue oversize trench with shoulder pads and innumerable pairs of men’s trousers… the list is big and I am shocked at how I’ve managed to keep so many clothes in my not so big house. The thing with these items is that they had to be treated with love and respect, otherwise they could break easily. Having said that, I also do buy many clothes that I don’t need, either second hand or new. I spend plenty of time shopping for obvious reasons, so I buy far more than I should.
Lately I have been thinking about our consumption habits, about how clothing is more often than not a way in which our minds get back at life, as in “I have to deal with X, but I’ll treat myself with Z”. In a society like ours where overconsumption is the norm, the clothes we buy are not related anymore to the physical need for cover, but to an emotional need for validation. We buy and buy, often convinced by our conscious reasoning, but often hiding from ourselves the real reasons we actually buy stuff, clothes in particular.
Right after the hardest lockdown months during the pandemic, one of the first shops to reopen in Madrid was the Primark flagship store. I was shocked to see massive queues of shoppers waiting for their turn to enter the store. I kept wondering what it is that one might need so much to queue in the street for hours after having spent three months sitting in our houses and in doubt of how long these intermittent lockdowns were yet going to last. Wouldn’t it be better going for a walk in the park? Leaving aside the fact that there might be something one really needs, I do believe that those queues were much more related to people’s need for entertainment and reward after such a hard time than about actually needing something.
Let me ask you, how many of your clothes do you really, really love? I am willing to bet that the ones that matter are the ones that fit within one of the categories mentioned at the beginning. The rest we don’t really care about, and more often than not, we’d be glad if we could just get rid of them, but getting rid of them is not a seamless act now with all the variables that we’re faced with. It could be argued that the quality of fashion recently is so poor that the clothes disintegrate after being worn a few times. This is true, but it is also true that when buying on impulse we don’t really buy with quality concerns at the centre of our purchase and we hardly ever consider the quality or materials, we focus on style, and yes, that pair of polyester soft trousers feel like cashmere and will be a lovely thing to wear (once), but they will be destroyed in no time.
There is also the matter of how little value we sometimes place on clothes that we buy on a whim, cheaply or not. As in, “It was 20€/$/£, if I only wear it twice it was more than worth it” or “I bought these on a terrible day, I don’t know what I was thinking” but cheap or unloved clothes doesn’t mean worthless: once in a landfill they’ll become a massive problem and moreover, have we ever thought about the person who made them? Do we think however cheap or unloved they might be today, they’re worthless for them?
Caring about our clothes doesn’t just mean wearing them with care, it means handling them with care, washing them less and learning ways to make sure they'll stay with me for many years. This includes the new stuff that I’ve also bought and isn’t always the best quality. Last year my beloved Walkers Appeal asked me to write a piece for their Journal, in which I looked at the many ways in which we can take good care of our loved clothes. When you care about something, you really want this thing to last, and you want to be able to enjoy how you feel while wearing it. So I thought that this week, Instead of thinking about what I would buy, I might tell you about how I care for what I already bought. I’ve lightly edited it and copied it here for you:
THE 10 OR 12 COMMANDMENTS OF CLOTHING CARE
1. Symbols explained: Follow the instructions on the care label. The problem is, these symbols are akin to an Egyptian hieroglyph, so here is a very comprehensive guide courtesy of the Readers Digest.
2. Air your clothes out: Washing less will help protect your clothes, natural fibers like cotton stand regular washing better than linens or wool. The tear and wear that comes with washing can degrade the thickness of your clothes’ fibers, so spacing the washing times is a great ally to keep them looking beautiful for longer. Simply hang them outside for a few hours, and they’ll come back refreshed and free of smells.
3. 30ºC is your magic number: Set the washing machine temperature at 30ºC. If warmer you could damage the material and risk shrinkages or color transferring; if colder (and on a shorter cycle) your clothes could end up with soap stains from undiluted detergent.
If your clothes are very dirty, you could go for 40º but only if they’re Cotton or Tencel (Technically you can do it also with Wool, but it’s risky, so we wouldn’t recommend it).
4. Less detergent is more: Use as much as half of what the soap label states. Remember: you don’t want soap rings or stains in your clothes. Use quality, gentle, enzyme-free detergent for best results on delicate items made of Wool or Linen.
5. Tumble dry is a no-no: Unless you are in a really tight situation with drying times, we strongly recommend you do avoid the tumble dryer as each cycle will gradually damage the fibers in your clothes. Keep it in mind: the best tumble dry frequency for your clothes is as little as none.
6. Zip up: This might sound silly, but there’s no damage in reminding you. Close all zippers and fasteners before washing to prevent snagging and rough stretching during the washing cycle.
7. Delicate pieces in a bag: Use a mesh bag to wash those pieces that you really really don’t want to be damaged or that are long and might knot around the rest of the laundry, it will avoid snagging or stretching if caught hugging tightly other clothes.
8. Divide and conquer: Another basic one. Wash similar colors together to prevent color fading or transferring issues. If this is not possible, there are color transferring block tissue for sale in supermarkets, you could use one of those if you’re in an emergency and have to do a mixed wash.
9. Flat is better: Of course, this will depend on your available space, but flat drying is better for Wool and Tencel. If you’re not able to do so, gently spin these fabrics to have them release as much moisture as possible, then hang them from a part of the garment that won’t stretch. Note: when spinning Wool, reduce it to a minimum speed.
10. Soak wool first: If you’re washing Wool in the washing machine, soak it in cold water thoroughly before you add it to your laundry. This will protect your garment.
(A couple of extra tips)
11. Store your clothes as far away as you can from dust (use dust bags), natural light, and damp environments. This will enlarge the lifespan of your favorite ones and keep them looking as new for years to come.
12. Using a lint brush before storing your jackets and suits will keep them spotless. Unless you have a steely touch, the use of fabric shavers to remove pills should be very sparse, since the fibers in your clothes can end up damaged.
That’s all from me this week, misfitts! TEll me about your favourite piece of clothing. What makes it so special? How do you care for it?
Happy weekend!
Love,
Patty