The fashion in resolutions!

Further to my remarks about people swimming on New Year’s Day, here is a link to a whole lot of photos of people in various parts of the world doing just that.

I read somewhere today that Melania Trump spent $4,000 on a dress which she wore to see in the New Year. Once again I am astounded that anyone could spend so much on one item of clothing. Regardless of the immorality doing so, what must the dress be made of to cost so much? Spun gold?Besides, the dress in question was, in my opinion, nothing to write home about and did nothing to flatter her. And she is a lady who, whatever her faults might be, does manage to scrub up nicely and look quite elegant. Credit where it’s due!

Fashion writer Lucy Mangan reckons that most of us have in the wardrobe huge amounts of clothes that we never wear. By “us” she means women. Her theory is that we buy clothes for the woman we would like to be - slimmer, younger, more sophisticated, more of a party animal or whatever - rather than for the woman we really are.

The most frequent reason, she maintains, for clothes staying in the wardrobe is that we buy them small in the hope of slimming into them. I have to confess to once snapping up a bargain skirt in a sale, a skirt that almost but not quite fitted. It took several years for me to give up on it and send it to a charity shop. Clothes have to fit when I buy them nowadays.

When I retired from full time work, I sent off to good homes - mostly charity shops - the various smart suits I often wore, especially for college Open Evenings and Parents’ Evenings. I was quite ruthless. Now the time has come to go through the wardrobe once more and send away stuff that I know in my heart of hearts, despite the nostalgia, I will almost certainly never wear again.

Lucy Mangan implies that women are the main culprits in this. However, I think men are almost as bad although for different reasons. They may buy new clothes or have new clothes bought for them but still they have a tendency to wear the same small collection of stuff they feel comfortable in. It makes life easier. Of course, I can only speak for men of a certain age. Younger men may well hoard clothes for completely different reasons.

Maybe we all need to make sorting our wardrobes our main New Year’s Resolution. Because now is the time when everyone starts talking resolutions. Several people I know plan to go Vegan for January. Why only January? If you truly believe in that lifestyle, why not just become Vegan and not limit to a month and then binge on dairy products and meat? Because that, or course, is what many do when they get into “dry January” - no alcohol throughout January and then you can go out and get drunk much more cheaply in February! One item I have seen recommends drinking nothing but water throughout the month of January. Not just no alcohol, but no tea, coffee, hot chocolate, fruit juice, fizzy pop, smoothies. Just water! Perhaps a little extreme!

My resolution, I think, is going to be moderation in all things!