The Fashion Trap - Or 10 great ways to relieve yourself from acute wardrobe congestion

Ok, so it took me a while (30 yrs?) to figure out, that I was actually NOT this avantgardistic fashion-forward trendsetter who surprisingly always had a sense for what people would want to wear next, but rather incredibly and creepily influenced (brainwashed?) by fashion magazines. YES! I was not aware.

And YES, I do like shopping and despite my everyday morning wardrobe crisis, I might have too many dresses, jeans, skirts, suits, shirts, costumes, maxi-dresses, .. (oh my) in my closet. But It was only a while ago that I noticed the strong effect fashion magazines had on my buying pattern.
Not only did I notice a connection between the immediate urge to treat myself to an adhoc shopping spree, whenever visually consuming the glossy, short-lived indulgence of my usual fashion magazine, but more scarily so, did I find myself almost remotely controlled, marching through stores, on a mission to find the most absurd "en-mode" pieces which I, lured by the promise of unlimited attractivity, youth and the perfect (commercial) life when seeing my "mirror-slimmed"self in the fitting room, absolutely NEEDED to buy.
Not seldom did these items share the common qualities of
- not fitting with anything I have in my wardrobe
- not making me look anything other than ridiculous and age-conflicted
- neither office nor socially wearable
- welcomed by my husband with an expression of sheer horror ("What?? You want to wear THIS (white 7/8th trousers with Jungle print below the knee.. I know.) at the conference???)
- and once back at home and in REALITY left with a feeling of wonder, how I EVER could have thought I NEEDED this..
- once in the closet never got out any further than in front of my bedroom mirror. And back. And out.

And there we are. Fashion victims, suffocating under lots and lots of useless pieces, feeling the guilt of over-consumption, inable to see through the dense forest of clothes.

What now? Time to de-clutter!

Here are my Top 10 Tips to relieve yourself from wardrobe congestion (In no particular order):

1. Donate clothes to charity collections! Do good, feel good! :-)
2. Bring them to H&M to recycle them! Yes you heard correctly! The environmentally conscious Fashion Giant from Scandinavia is the first Retailer that will reward you for bringing old or unwanted clothes from any Brand into their stores.
3. Share the love with your sister, cousin, niece.. Maybe your 10 year younger cousin might in fact look fabulous in it! :-)
4. Sell clothes to 2nd Hand Resellers/Vintage stores, either at your local thrift store OR at hot "new kids on the block" like Threadflip! (LOVE!) They even have a "concierge service: where all you need to do is throw all items into a box and send them off and Threadflip will take care of the rest.
5. Invite your friends for a good old clothes swap session! Everyone brings 10 items, turn up that 60ies BossaNova and prepare some homemade Petits Four (Easy with Puff Pastry!) & Hugo's (Must Try!!!) and everyone is happy! :-)
6. If you don't have friends with too many clothes or don't want to invite them, swap clothes online at sites like StyleSwap.
7. Start a non-profit clothes sale at your company, school, university, etc! Maybe your company might even match the profits for charity. Fun team building exercise as well!
8. Sell at a local Fleamarket!
9. If they are torn, done, overly worn just throw them away. YOU CAN DO IT! (But recycle!)
10. Last but not least you could always buy a sewing machine, check out some "How To sew"Videos, tear some beautiful textiles apart and create something new! :-) Creative outlet, people! 

That's it! Easy.

Let the games begin encore une fois.. But they don't call it Retail therapy for nothing.