After my surgery last year and I struggled with regaining the majority of my memories, I noticed I had a lot of things…like a whole hell of a lot of things.
During the time leading up to the surgery (the discovery mid-August to the actual surgery late October), I had gone on a bit of a shopping spree. Apparently being stressed out prompted a lot of shopping to control the actual feeling of being freaked out.
Now, I’ve been sorting through my entire wardrobe just to get rid of the majority of it. Everything is overflowing. I have a few new rules in place right now to manage the chaos.
If it doesn’t have a home, it doesn’t stay.
If you don’t use it or you don’t love it, it goes.
Have fewer, but better things.
So now I’m going through my closet to donate as much as I can so that I can have a manageable closet. I set myself on a mission this summer. I had to wear everything in my summer wardrobe at least once this summer or it goes. By this weekend, I decided there were a few things I was just never going to wear, so it got tossed.
Because I have a lot of designer and couture items, I don’t want to be bothered with selling anything or recouping the costs (because frankly, I don’t need the money). Instead, I’m just going to donate everything and let the proceeds go to benefit UNICEF.
Fashion Project will help with that.
You pick what charity you want the proceeds of the sale of your items to go to, they’ll send you a box with informational cards and two envelopes to send your donations in.
The bags are pretty big so if you have a sizable donation, you can easily fill up both bags. All you do is drop them off at a USPS location and then Fashion Project will put the items up on their site for sale. They’ll send you a tax receipt when all is said and done.
Deciding what to get rid of wasn’t so hard for me this time, because a) I can’t wear heels anymore, and b) this isn’t like before where I needed to hold on to every single couture item I earned.
Everything can easily be replaced.
So what did I end up donating?
A lot of shoes! Many of them I didn’t even know I owned. I kept all of my Bally heels because they’re all super comfortable. I got rid of my Jimmy Choo, Stella McCartney and Badgley Mischka shoes to start.
I kept the Celine and the Valentino, got rid of the Christian Dior (except for one jacket). I got rid of a Fendi bag. I almost didn’t donate it, because I had to ask myself if I needed to replace it with another Fendi until I realized I owned another Fendi already (one that I apparently use a lot during the hockey season…oh, how we forget so easily).
I got rid of a lot of Ann Taylor and J Crew, which they seem to sell a lot of at Fashion Project.
What’s interesting about this whole sorting and getting rid of my couture items is that I discovered a lot of items hidden away that I didn’t even know I owned. I found two pairs of Prada shoes! I tried them both on because I thought maybe the reason why they were hidden away was because they hurt my feet. I tried them on…they fit like a glove. They were just forgotten, but now found.
I found a pair of Miu Miu shoes I hadn’t even worn yet and rediscovered why I loved this brand so much.
This process of going through and looking at all of my couture and designer items really helped me to focus on what I had, what I loved and wanted to keep, and the stuff that I should be wearing. If it didn’t fit into my lifestyle or if they hurt, they were donated.
A major factor that played into deciding what would go dealt with the new lifestyle. I’ve changed a lot since my surgery, all the way down to my style. Why keep the stuff that is no longer me?
For the non-couture and non-designer stuff, that is all being donated to the Veterans of America. Although, a few accessories are being shipped up to a friend in Massachusetts. She can wear those 4″ heels, because I sure can’t anymore. {The joys of getting old}
Oh, and if you notice in the picture, the green NHL Awards dress from a few years back is being donated. I wore that dress the last time Martin Brodeur was nominated for the Vezina Trophy. I think it got 2 wears total.
So if you’re looking for ways to give back, and you have a lot of designer duds, consider donating them to Fashion Project to raise money for your favorite charity.
You can even shop their site. I bought a Gucci satchel from them a few months back. A friend of mine is practically living in her Cole Haan bag she picked up from them.
Zac Posen donated a bunch of bags to the site for charity last month. Lord & Taylor has paired up with them as well. The list of retailers and designers teaming up with Fashion Project is growing. This is the place where fashionistas go to give back and to shop.
