Make do and mend

The key to making the most of a forever wardrobe

If there’s one thing I’ve been guilty of pre my no buy 365 wardrobe challenge (we’re currently on day 141) its buying more stuff, vs enjoying the stuff I already own. Guilty as charged. When my shoes would start to wear down at the soles, instead of taking them to the cobbler, I would buy another pair. If trouser hems needed altering, they’d remain hanging up in my wardrobe unworn for months, to the point where i’d forget about them and buy another pair of trousers.

This is not behavior i’m proud of, but i’m giving myself some grace for the fact this no buy challenge has helped me a) acknowledge this pattern and b) do something about it. A forever wardrobe will only remain a forever wardrobe if it is looked after, and it’s surprised me just how much pride i’ve actually taken in giving my pieces a new lease of life since my no buy.

Shopping your wardrobe is one thing, but when the pieces you love (which have seen a lot of love and use) are returned to you looking shiny and new again, it literally feels like you have a brand new item again. Like shopping, without shopping. Granted caring for high quality items isn’t cheap, but it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than buying replacements every time an item needs repairing.

Make do was a theme I could get behind when I started my no buy 365 day wardrobe challenge, but the mending part I hadn’t thought much about until I realized I could no longer just buy a replacement. But the magic is truly in the mending. I’ve lived in my neighborhood for over 3 years now (officially the longest i’ve ever lived anywhere) and until this challenge I had never looked up where to take items that needed mending. Mending things had stayed a one day notion, shoved into a plastic container above my wardrobe. Out of sight, out of mind I guess.

But this challenge shines a light on the things you don’t wear as much as the things you do reach for, and it leads you to ask…why don’t I wear that anymore? Why am I not reaching for said item? Naturally, there are pieces we outgrow both physically and emotionally, there are pieces we fall out of love with, and there are those pieces where we have something else similar that we reach for instead. But it became apparent very quickly that certain items were currently in a state where they could not be worn, and that answered the ‘why’ part but also motivated me to change it promptly.

After looking through tons of yelp reviews I was thrilled to find an incredible cobbler (on my local high street) who’s shop was so small and at the very end of the street so i’m ashamed to say i’d never noticed it before. I also found an incredible family owned jeweler who did repairs a ten minute drive from where I live.

Shoe repairs

Hermes Oran sandals after some TLC

The first pairs of shoes I took in were my Hermes Oran Sandals in black and tan. The cobbler showed me all the different finishes we could do on the sole, and made recommendations that would protect the shoe as well as reducing the time between the next resoling. Before getting them resoled the smooth leather soles became very slippery when wet, so I had them replaced with a top and bottom rubber sole with a very discreet texture to protect the leather sole underneath, and give me some much needed grip. I will be doing this for all my fancy shoes going forward, because this detail alone was such a game changer. He also built the heel back up again where I had worn it down diagonally. I was nervous taking such a pricey pair of shoes somewhere i’d never been before, but they put my mind at rest, and when I picked them up a week later, it was like Christmas! I felt somewhat emotional seeing them look new again, and the excitement I felt at knowing i’d be able to wear them again was giddying.

Jewelry repairs and polishing

I made a LTK post here with similar bracelets (and some exact) to the ones I own. *contains affiliate links

Next up were some real gold bracelets I needed repairing. Dave got me a voucher for The Real Real for my birthday (gifts are allowed as part of my no buy, and this was my first gift so far) and with it I bought my dream bracelet, one that’s been on my wishlist for years (at an incredible price I might add), but I wanted to double check the safety latch was secure, which is what prompted the original visit. A second bracelet that i’d had for years had broken recently (one of the links had a gap in it) and I had a third bracelet that had started to fall off when I wore it, which I presumed was to do with the clasp coming undone. He secured my dream bracelet’s safety latch for free in seconds, and charged me $20 to repair the broken link in the second bracelet and $25 to change the clasp on the third to a more secure lobster clasp, also in 14K gold. I could not believe how affordable this was. As well as the incredible service (done with in two hours of me arriving and on a Saturday), he polished all my bracelets for free, and gave me some great advice on how to care for them going forward. I love knowing they have had some TLC, and that they are all now reunited on my wrist.

Alterations

Vest - Linen Trousers - FlipFlops

Ok so this one feels like i'm cheating a little bit, as technically this one wasn’t done by seamstress or a tailor, it was done by the loving hands of my mum. My mum is a genius when it comes to making her own clothes. As someone who made all her dinner dresses during the 80’s (think lots of velvet with silk sashes, and big puffy sleeves a la Napoleon Dynamite) there was always yards of fabric, chalk sticks and endless Vogue patterns lying around when I was a child. She taught me and my sister at a young age how to sow, both basic hand sown running stitches and how to use a sowing machine (the one’s with a pedal). I have fond memories of me and my sister making jean bags, using my dads old Levis that ended up with welding holes in. We’d cover them in badges and iron on patches from Claires Accessories. We really thought we were the shit wearing them to the local roller disco.

I had a pair of linen Dissh trousers that I loved from day one but were way to long for me, and had been meaning to hem, but of course I just never got around to it. While I no longer have a sowing machine, and it’s fair to say it’s been a long time since I sewed anything other than a button, my mum kindly helped me take the trousers up and hem them. Again, it felt like Christmas. New trousers? Nope, but they felt new to me, and I felt excited to plug in all the ways i’d wear them on my Indyx app.

Make do and mend is now at the forefront of my forever wardrobe philosophy, and it has honestly given me a new found appreciation for the items in my wardrobe, and awareness of how hard they can work for me if I look after them.

Thanks for reading

Harry x