Sentiment

Last Tuesday I did something I have needed to do for a long time, have a good sort out of my wardrobe. I'm as guilty as the next girl when it comes to buying clothes, shoes, bags and other assorted accessories as I love having new things to wear. In the past I have bought items in the sales with the intention of wearing it for a certain occasion but I change my mind and it remains with the tag on in the wardrobe hoping for an outing another time. Of course there are other purchases I make with the intention of losing weight to fit into it and again, it doesn't happen. I tend to impulse buy at times without thinking if the item actually suits me and will I ever wear it and what with, I have a see it and have to have it mentality I really need to shake off.

Not only do I have lots of items that have never been worn in public I also have a substantial collection of clothes I rarely if ever wear these days. Somehow I don't have it in me to be ruthless when it comes to getting rid of them and with them, a piece of my past. I am quite sentimental over clothes, probably because of the memories they hold and happy times they represent. Examples of this include the vintage cornflower blue shirt I lived in when I was 15, sported deep purple hair and spent Saturday afternoons wandering around Cardiff dreaming of being with the poet I loved and the black Monsoon skirt embellished with emerald green sequins I wore on my twentieth birthday, a night of burst tyres and seafront cigar smoking at 4 a.m. Something in me keeps holding on despite the need to use the space they currently hang in.

The afternoon wasn't wasted though; I have a whole pile of clothes complete with tags that will be making their way onto eBay very soon. I know I will have to part with things I don't wear one day, maybe at the next clear out I will find the courage to let go to them and to some of the memories woven into them.