First things first: rental is not without its carbon footprint. If you are interested in the carbon accounting for rental, I dig into this more in the post below:

However, the sharing economy for fashion does many things. Firstly, it inspires fashion companies to make better quality clothes. If I can rent my wardrobe to others, it makes me money. Low quality clothing will not survive renting - investing in good quality clothes that last longer is the simplest, quickest way we can turn the industry around and reduce carbon impact. The quick fix sugar rush of cheap, disposable fashion is what is clogging the rivers and path ways of the Global South and contributing to the over production that is choking our planet (and our wardrobes).

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Secondly, it means we can still enjoy inventiveness, creativity and the thrill of the new - all things that are at the heart of fashion. Following the Rule of Five campaign is all about making do with buying less, but you don’t have to limit yourself if you rent, swap, upcycle, and borrow. Parties, weddings, birthdays, special nights and days out - how many times have we splashed out on something for the occasion only for it to sit unworn for the rest of the year? My closet is stuffed with garments I hardly ever wear. They have sentimental value now, (a Rifat Ozbek coat dress from the 90s I bought for Ascot; an Alice Temperley fuschia floor length evening gown I bought for a best friend’s Indian wedding), which is why I haven’t sold them. But if I had the same occasions again now - I would rent.

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For those who have not yet popped your rental cherry - this is the year to do it. There is so much more inventory on offer now, and many of the more enlightened brands are offering rental too, (both Burberry and Ganni, you can even rent a tiara from Bond Street jeweller Garrard - should you fancy yourself a princess).

Be warned though, there are pitfalls. If you are renting for an occasion you won’t know until the monet your outfit arrives whether it is going to fit or look alright on you. If it’s an important occasion you could suddenly find yourself with nothing to wear - and a bill. Know your sizing for the brand you are renting from (or better still, get to know the style of some of the professional renters on peer to peer platforms like Hurr or By Rotation. They will post pictures of what the outfits look like on them which are more authentic than ecom pics from a brand website). The best way to rent is to choose a platform that has a physical shop - that way you can try your piece on beforehand. At the shop I co-run at Six Senses Ibiza we have a ‘Cinderella’ rail of fabulous occasion wear (including lots of outrageous cabaret costumes from the clubs) so you can try before you rent. The BBC featured it here. By Rotation has a store on Brook Street, Mayfair, and My WardrobeHQ have a concession in Harrods. In New York the most progressive rental platform, Nuuly, has a Manhattan store where you can subscribe to a monthly wardrobe - just pop down, try a few things on, pick what you want, and you can have new pieces every month.

So, what’s keeping you? Just the occasion? Well, let me see to that…

Yours,

Tiff

PS If you are a renter or you have rented, please do share your tips for everyone in the comments below. Such a helpful message board on these posts!

My other Substack, It’s Not Sustainable, digs more into the good things going on in the fashion industry, aswell as some of the scandals. please do subscibe if you havent already.

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You can read the science behind this here:

So where are we in 2026? In a sorry state. The squeeze of economic realities have had the fashion industry reaching for more and more desperate measures to get us to buy more, the ‘fashion’ for sustainability has become tiresome, this Substack platform, which began as a crucible for well thought out ideas has become a shopping powerhouse (thanks to new ‘frictionless’ tools that empower ‘influencers’ to monetise recommendations). Algorithms have become more efficient, attention spans and dopamine hits more powerful, and a world of polycrisis has had us reaching for happiness wherever we find it.

And yet - we have become wiser. We know now about digital manipulation, over consumption, the moral holes at the heart of the fashion industry. We may not all be acting on our knowledge, but plenty of us are - and our band is growing.

Still, in 2025, I failed. After two years of successfully sticking to a well thought out plan for limiting my wardrobe consumption (5 new things, 4 second hand each year, more rental, lots of upcycling, swapping, borrowing and smarter use of what I already have), in 2025, I went way over my limit.

Confession time! Last year I acquired:

1 pair of Rupert Sanderson denim sandals
1 pair of Chloe platform sandals
1 pair of Veja trainers (fashion not running)

1 Hunza G bikini
1 pair of Chelsea Piers pyjamas

A Me + Em haul of a leather blouson, jeans and silk shirt
1 new Reformation cashmere mini dress
1 Akyn dress
1 Akyn ‘Soil not Oil’ t shirt
1 pair of Hush leather trousers and a wool jumper

1 second hand Anna Mason dress
1 pair of Celine trousers and 1 polo shirt from Bay Garnett’s Smart Works vintage pop up at Bicester Village
1 pair of ELV Denim jeans (upcycled from vintage)

2 pieces of Not Basics (leggings and a leotard)
2 Finisterre x Amy Powney coats

I also added an Otiumberg diamond pavé ear cuff, three pairs of Heist tights and some lingerie to my wardrobe. For Rule of Five I do not count hosiery, underwear or jewellery, as I believe these items to be lifetime keepers in the case of jewellery, and health and safety in the case of underwear and hosiery. But still - new stuff.

This is way above my limit, but here’s the reasoning: there is a certain amount of attrition in clothing. Basics like t shirts and leggings wear out, active wear like sports bras need replacing. While there are some shoes that last forever, (good quality brogues and walking boots), summer sandals tend to be less robust. I’m also still a fashion fiend - I like to be relevant, feel fresh and new and sport identity. I also want to support those elements of the industry that are going the extra mile to do things better - namely Akyn, Finisterre and Chloe, and for Hush and Me+Em there may be a way to go in terms of fabrication and circularity, but their support of the important work the charity Smart Works does is absolutely vital.

I also made stupid mistakes in some of the five items I chose as building blocks of a long term wardrobe - the white shirt I bought from WNU is now stained and shrunken. White is not a good colour for a long term wardrobe. The Anna Mason dress is lovely but I have not worn it much, as it is quite light and formal. Interestingly, the less ‘sustainable’ items - the Uniqlo jumper, the Me + Em and Hush pieces, were the ones I wore the most. And my ELV Denim jeans I wore about 60% of the entire year. Hard recommend.

Is Rule of Five sustainable, I asked myself last year. If you listened to Rutger Bregman’s fantastic Reith lectures, you will have heard his call for moral revolution. To reject a society built on individualism and indulgence, and to craft a new way of being based on community and values. I listened to these lectures three times. Bregman is a self-styled moral historian, but he is an optimist and apolitical. He takes down elements of both the right and left, so I was surprised to hear him challenge the degrowth movement:

“A big part of the modern left, especially in Europe, has turned into the party of no. No to growth, no to building, no to ambition. Its new gospel is degrowth.

To be fair, the degrowth movement names something real. Our economies cannot go on like this, cutting down forests faster than they can regrow, emptying the seas of fish and flooding the atmosphere with carbon. The warning of degrowth is serious, but their answer is not. They are allergic to technology and suspicious of prosperity. They wave away stubborn facts of supply and demand… What they offer is not a practical programme for solving problems. But a deeply unpopular and quite elitist ideology of managed decline.”

I have some sympathy with this viewpoint. However, as followers of this campaign have shared, the Rule of Five helps break an addictive cycle of consumerism, one where we are manipulated into buying things we do not need, things which offer a short term hit versus a long term sense of satisfaction. Our consumerist society is part of the moral vacuum Bregman likes to describe: one of indulgence and hedonism. (Don’t get me wrong - I love a bit of indulgence and hedonism. But - balance).

Where Bregman is right is about ‘technology’ and ‘progress’. The over production by the luxury industry to feed global growth has led to the squeezing of profit margins and the exploitation of labour, (excellently reported by the the Financial Times here). In this report, the ferocious Italian prosecutor Paolo Storari, whose previous investigations into the mafia earned him police protection, is coming after Loro Piana, Dior, Gucci and Armani for labour abuse. Leading industry figures like Tod’s Diego della Valle have hit back, saying his efforts are destroying the reputation of ‘Made in Italy’ and by association an entire industry. The solution, of course, is not to squeeze subcontractors on profit margins, (something Brunello Cucinelli, a luxury industry success story, is vocal about). Doing so encourages labour abuse as there is no minimum wage in Italy. When Dior and Gucci are flying press and celebrities around the world to shore up their brand credibility, it is inexcusable for them to be paying workers only a few euros a day to make their products - as Storari has uncovered. The brands say they have no oversight of their subcontractors and cannot be held accountable. Bull: new technology is readily available for those brands to shore up their credibility. Likewise, the prosperity of brands that are building progressive business models based on circularity, managed production levels, transparency, restoration and regeneration is vital. Brands like Akyn, Another Tomorrow, Finisterre, NavyGrey, Herd and ELVDenim, need our support (please add other brands you think we should support in the comments below).

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Rule of Five is not about nothing, it is about less. Less and better. Choose wisely and carefully, take joy in the process, value your decisions and acquisitions, learn from your mistakes and support the brands, producers and craftspeople you believe in. By limiting yourself, you set a benchmark. It may not be sustainable to stick to it every year, but you can always come back to it. It’s like a diet - I don’t want to be eating broth and miso for 12 months of the year, but I do for January.

So while I may have fallen off the Rule of Five wagon last year, I’m back on it this year. Join me!

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If you want to know more about this, check out my other Substack, It’s Not Sustainable, here.

A quick reminder of the rules:

What’s Allowed

• Lingerie (but don’t go mad)

• Tights and socks (but don’t go mad)

• Renting

• Mending and altering

• Swapping

• Borrowing

• Dressmaking (extra points if you upcycle your own material)

• A small amount of second hand (but don’t go mad. I allow myself 4 items. There are always questions on this, see below for some answers)
  

What’s Not Allowed

• Buying more than 5 new things

• Gifts (they count I’m afraid)

• Shoes and accessories (they are part of your ‘five’. But this makes it extra specially hard so you may want to be flexible here)

The Seasons

It can be helpful to break the year into five seasons, allowing yourself one purchase per season. Try these:

• Winter: Jan 1st to March 7th

• Spring: March 8th to May 25th

• Summer: May 26th to August 16th

• Autumn: August 17th to October 31st

• Christmas: November 1st to December 31st

Subscribe to this newsletter and I will walk you through the process as the year unfolds. Better still, share it with a friend and go into it together.

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Let’s Get Started: Avoid the Sales

First up - rule number one - do not shop the sales. There’s a reason why all that stuff is on sale (it wasn’t needed in the first place) and the idea that you need ‘to stock up on cashmere’ or whatever, needs to be dispelled from your mind. Take control over what you want, not what the marketing directors and algorithms are telling you.

And so turn off all those emails, social media follows and relentless ads that are trying to sniff out if you ‘need’ to buy a new pair of pyjamas because they are 30% off. You don’t.

The Wardrobe Audit

Next up - take a long hard look at your existing wardrobe. It is about to become a different type of friend to you. A loyal one, full of secrets not yet recognised, buried treasure and long forgotten joy. A wardrobe audit is a way to get to know it a little better.

Read the post above for a deeper dive, but sorting out what you wear and don’t wear will identify your most popular pieces (and these will obviously change with the seasons) which will tell you a little about your style.

The purpose of a wardrobe audit right now is to tell you what you’re missing. You have only got 5 purchases this year, so make them count. They need to be beautiful, long lasting, needed and valued. They should grow with you, become old friends that you can parade out in a year, 5 years - even 10 years time. You probably already have a couple of pieces like that in your wardrobe - notice what they are and what it is about them that makes you value them so much.

It’s helpful to think about a capsule wardrobe and the pieces that form the foundations of your style - what are these? This year, I am going to rent every time I have a fancy occasion to go to. And so my purchases will actually be things I can wear every day. An easy comfortable day dress, that flatters my shape and helps me feel more feminine (I have definitely over invested in menswear recently). I need another shirt, but it’s not going to be white - too risky. I may go powder blue. (I once had one I loved but it shrunk in the wash. We all need to take Stella McCartney’s advice and wash our clothes less). I’ve gone back to my 23/24 lists and I can see I’m still missing some of the pieces I originally identified so they are prioritised for 2026. As ever, I am going to invest heavily and buy the best version I could find and afford:

My 2023/24 lists:

white shirt (bought - timed out after 2 years)
smart jacket (bought, from Margaret Howell, a keeper!)
comfy trouser (bought, second hand from Celine. LOVE).
playful knit (Still need)
everyday dress (Still need)
warm, smart coat (Time for something new)
good pair of day shoes (Bought for summer)
good pair of boots (Next autumn…)
warm knit (Bought)
midi skirt (Have plenty)

My 2026 list

New shirt (collarless, not white)
Playful knit (for cheer)
everyday dress (not too formal, comfort is key)
coat and boots (for second half of the year)

I don’t know yet what brands or exact styles the above will be, but the thrill is going to be looking for them, trying lots on, hunting down The One.

Importantly, do not feel fashion starved - look for repairs and alterations, breathing new life into what you already have. As the year rolls on, rent more, swap with friends, borrow, upcycle. You will feel deprivation (I famously licked the windows of Selfridges on Oxford Street one spring), but out of deprivation will come resourcefulness and creativity. Find yourself a good seamstress, and look to what you already have.

The Veterans

For those of us embarking on this challenge second, third or fourth year running, here’s my learnings. I now find buying good things, just a few of them, much, much easier. I have totally altered my value relationship with shopping. I no longer go into Zara, and when I do, just to see what’s going on, I’m quite repelled by the volume of stuff on display. I also flip the labels and check the fabrications: please try very hard not to buy anything too synthetic. it never goes away, and it may well be bad for your health.

This post below is from my other Substack, It’s Not Sustainable. You can sign up to that here.

It's Not Sustainable with Tiffanie Darke

How toxic is your sportswear?

Hello! I’m writing this week from Petrolina, a small city in the north east of Brazil. Greetings from Latin America where people move so much more slowly, the weather is like a warm blanket around your shoulders, and the sun shines joy into everyone’s souls almost every day. I love Brazil! I spent a year living here when I was younger and got very used …

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2 years ago · 45 likes · 20 comments · Tiffanie Darke

So here we are again - in it together! Please share how you found the campaign in a comment below if you have been here a while. If you are new - welcome! You will not regret it.

Looking forward to our 2026 ride,

Tiff x

Nieve Tierney thinks so. An art director with a roster of luxury behind her, from Maxmara to Harvey Nichols, she has pivoted her career into energy healing. And now she’s bringing it to fashion.

Nieve does not look like Mystic Meg in the slightest - instead she looks like someone who could give you very good styling advice. We are on Zoom, and her manner is soft and kind, as she explains to me that harnessing your energy can help you win at life. “If your energy is feeling scattered, if it's feeling depleted, if you're moving through a particular energy challenge, I will support with that.”

As someone who travels to Ibiza a lot, I know the world is divided into people who believe in energy healing, and those who think it’s nonsense. There are also those of us who sit in the middle and believe there may be things out there we can’t rationalise, or don’t yet know about. A chief believer in mysticism was Coco Chanel, who loved her tarot cards, studied astrology, held great respect for the number five (obviously), and frequently wove these symbols into her collections.

Nieve has grown into this. Whilst working in fashion, she began to sense other people’s energy around her, and could see ways to harness and leverage it - her own and theirs. She began to practise it, found she was intuitively good at it and is now a full time energy healer with a roster of private clients in New York, Paris, London and Dubai.

But let’s step back a little before I lose you all.

You’re all probably thinking What’s she bought this year, how’s this going to help me with my Rule of Five? Bear with me. If Rule of Five is all about helping us leverage what we already have, this could be a way of looking at your wardrobe with a new set of eyes.

What is energy? We all know people who can put us on downers. They carry negative energy with them and a short time in their presence can leave you feeling sucked dry. Equally there are those upbeat characters who raise everyone around them. Drains and radiators, I call them. That’s energy, according to Nieve. “We all hold this frequency, this vibration. Teaching how to better look after energy, how we can look at energy leaks, energy boundaries, optimizing it, is what I do.”

Inspired by Coco Chanel, Nieve has now written a book to “help people to consciously tune into this frequency that we all have, through the ritual of getting dressed. The book will share wisdom on colours, silhouettes and the textures of the materials you wear to change your frequency.” She suggests we use the book as a divination tool to answer a particular fashion dilemma - like what to wear for a particular event or a particular moment in your life.

Aside from being a really fun book club night, Nieve thinks it will also be a helpful way of circumventing the manipulative tools of consumerism. The fashion industry is a powerful manipulator, making us think of clothes in certain ways - what’s on trend, what’s relevant, what you ‘need’, but ultimately the success of how we wear something rests on how we feel wearing it. If a particular shirt makes you feel amazing - well, you probably look amazing in it too. We all have lucky jackets (or knickers), dependable LBDs, comfort jumpers, statement handbags and so on, that help us deal with situations in our lives - this book claims to go even further. A collection of 70 different archetypes, Nieve suggests you use it as a divination tool, like tarot cards: ask it a question, then open it at random to see where you land.

“There's a lot of psychology behind power dressing and the colours we wear,” she says. “If we wear red, we're going to feel powerful. There's a chemical change in our minds that takes place through colour. But the book goes deeper. What clothes are going to help me signal, not only to the world around me, but also to myself.”

Well, it’s one way to get more out of your wardrobe, so I agreed to give it a go.

And so we meet on Zoom, and Nieve wants to start with an energy clearing “to ground and anchor your energy ahead of the consultation.”

I’m quite staggered Nieve thinks she can do this over Zoom, so I just sit there while she looks away, tuning into my energy. This is the first time we have met and she knows nothing about me, but here’s the thing. She starts to make some observations about me that are insightful and relevant. I’m quite taken aback and I ask her how she’s doing it.

“We all hold a frequency,” she says, “and this frequency is connected to the moon above us, to the ground beneath us, and we're always doing this dance of energy with the world around us. And because every single thing is connected, I'm able to connect into your frequency just through the ripple of connections. I'm able to read what's going on with your energy field, where traumas may be stored. I'm able to ascertain the kind of self-talk that you might have, what's going on with your throat in terms of words you're saying to yourself, words that you're saying to others.”

She goes on to tell me my “BS radar is very high,” which is helpful in journalism and also why I’m trying hard to reject a lot of the quite personal and private things she (a complete stranger) is telling me about myself.

How could she possibly know?

“The most talented artists in the world have such a sensitive energy because they're able to see colours other people can't see. They're able to have visions of what the world can be. They're so sensitive to this world around them, they're able to create from that place of sensitivity when other people are looking at the world in black and white. Poets have it, artists have it, but also traders have it, their ability to know when to buy, when to sell. They have this ability to be in tune with the world at large.”

She then gave me an ‘energy clearing’ via a meditation, intending to “flush out heavy energies I can tell that you're holding around your hips and lower stomach area. These are often very old energies around those parts of your body. We have this highway of energy that courses through us marked by chakras.”

After 15 minutes with my eyes shut, I feel exhausted. Nieve laughs and says that’s quite normal as I’ve just been to the energy gym.

Now we are ready for our fashion oracle consultation, and apparently I need a question. “Some people might find they're always reaching for the same things and they just want to feel a new energy and wear something different, or there might be something coming up where they'd like some energetic support.”

I decide to tell her something I have noticed about myself in the last year or so - that I’ve stopped wearing dresses and skirts and seem to wear exclusively trousers. I also have stopped wearing anything tight, and the few pieces I have invested in recently have mostly been oversized.

“There's a sense of not wanting to be fully exposed,” reckons Nieve. But while I love this new uniform, I do miss my feminine self, I tell her. “I think the question we could ask is how to step into the most up to-date version of your femininity,” she suggests. “Revisiting what femininity means to you at this moment.”

The way to use the book is to flick through it from back to front, until I say stop. And we see what comes up.

“Stop,” I say.

”Whoa!” she says. “Okay. So, we landed on The Mistress, which is interesting because that's a very powerful divine feminine energy.

“The mistress suggests to allow red to symbolize your strength, your confidence, and the unapologetic expression of your desires. The mistress archetype embodies themes of femininity, power, and allure. Chanel's visionary designs and her unapologetic attitude exemplify this archetype. A woman who commands respect and admiration wherever she goes. Wear red boldly embodying the essence of a sovereign ruler of your destiny. Commanding respect and admiration wherever you tread. Wear your confidence like a cloak and let your intuition lead you.”

An affirmation comes with each archetype and mine is:

I don't chase, I attract.

“Use red as a symbol of your strength, confidence, and an unapologetic expression of your desires,” says Nieve, advising a red lip, a red nail, or even a full head to toe red look. “What's nice is you have this permission to slip into this aspect of yourself that is wanting to be heard. An aspect that's saying, I am strong, I am confident, I am powerful. You can just simply be, and turn up in spaces confidently and have things come to you.”

I’ve been thinking about this for the last week and discover that my wardrobe is basically beige, brown, navy, black - and red. I do actually love to wear red. So I start to wear red with intention. And I paint my toes red. And I put on a bit more make up, and I feel good. It has also helped me see new outfits amongst the clothes I already have, as I try and weave something red into each outfit - even if it’s just a ring, (and I have a ruby ring, and a vermilion Solange lips ring). Nieve’s right, it does change things.

”There's just so much guidance and wisdom that I tell my clients all the time that I've woven into the book. It helps you connect to yourself in a more nuanced way, but it will be bespoke to you because of the divination aspect of it. Just flick through it at random and trust the message.”

My dear Rule of Fivers, I never thought I would be issuing you this advice, but for £16.99 or $19.95, you might just start to see the way you dress differently.

You can buy the book here or you can book a session with Nieve here.

Let me know how you get on!

Tiff

I thought this was quite a workable approach, particularly since my wardrobe audit had revealed quite a lot of ‘wow’ and not many foundational basics. I realised it was this mix that was propelling me to buy so much stuff - because none of it was fit for everyday wear. It was a showy-offy fashion parade, and not a low impact wardrobe to save the planet. It needed constant replenishment and change over, like a magpie distracted by every starry thing that caught its eye. I might have invested in a pink floral Erdem coat, but I really can’t wear it every day without looking like an eccentric bag lady. If I really wanted to look like someone who’s got their shit together in the style stakes, I’d be better off with a navy Margaret Howell blazer, I (rightly) reasoned. You can wear that every day and you won’t ever hear anyone passing judgement - just look at Clare Thomson-Jonville, the latest Vogue editor. She relies on skinny jeans, blazer and vest for her daily, (I mean, weren’t we all doing that for a micro second in the 2010s?) and now Anna Wintour has plucked her from Instagram and given her French Vogue.

So Rule of Five Year One became about shoring up those high quality foundational basics. It started well, with an excellent white shirt, veered drastically off course with a now notorious pair of gold silk cargo pants, but a Maison Michel hat, a sensible Toteme layering pull, a second hand pale pink shirt, (very much office wear, but it was Gabriela Hearst) and a pair of flat black sandals began to tip the balance. I thought strategically about garments that could bring my more magpie pieces together, and last year a beige Mother of Pearl suit, a Margaret Howell blazer, (yep) and two knits (one navy from NavyGrey and a chunky beige polo from Herd) calmed the closet right down.

The result? Bored. I’ve spent months in a neutral palate of quiet clothes that have been extremely good for the lifestyle and the planet, but now I need some fashion excitement. 80/20? I’m thinking 60/40. Let’s see how this year goes because it may even end up 40/60. Pick your ratio, it’s yours to play with.

So this spring, as the year teases us with its push-me-pull-me weather, and the blossom begins to peek tantalisingly out of the trees, I am DONE with my winter clothes, DONE with sensible tailoring, DONE with quiet palates and DONE with quiet luxury. I want my luxury talking loud and proud. I want the the joy of a winning look-at-me dress swishing about my thighs again and I even find myself stalking Kate Moss-at-the-shows outfits.

(Side note: the shows were largely unremarkable in my view, with a few notable exceptions, after all the luxury industry has got so fat and heavy on its exponential growth it just can’t take risks anymore. All the big brands have fired their creative directors and are now floating rudderless through a non season. Nothing to see here).

So what to buy in March? March is very much a non fashion month. The industry tells us it’s the beginning of spring, but it hailed yesterday, so I’m not getting my legs out yet. I used to work with a fashion editor who insisted on buying her winter coat in July (“They’re all gone by September!”) but this is exactly the sort of toxic behaviour that got us into this mess.

So I went with a pair of jeans. This has been a long considered decision, (two years), and an investment from a brand that I have always admired and wanted to support. The brand is ELVDenim and is the brainchild of the stylist Anna Foster (i-D, Exit magazine, Lula). Anna didn’t understand why the denim industry was producing 4 billion pairs of jeans a year from virgin fibres, when denim is such a functional and long-lasting fabric.

Originally, denim hails from Nîmes, in France (‘de Nîmes’), where at the end of the 19th century a heavy cotton twill was outfitting workers. The American Levi Strauss was looking for such a fabric for frontier workers, workers who were on horseback all day and certainly not looking to carry a wardrobe round in their saddle bags. The rest is history. As recently as the 1980s we were being encouraged (thank you, Nick Kamen), to buy a pair of 501s for life - shrink them to fit in the bath and that was you done. It was only in the Noughties that the ‘jeans wardrobe’ became a thing, as J Brand perfected the art of the skinny (tragically mixing denim with Lycra so it could never be recycled), and pairs in white, grey, navy, stonewash and every other colour you can think of. A plethora of brands and revolving styles ensued, resulting in horrendous over consumption of a fabric that is seriously heavy on water and pesticides. Really, we should only own one pair of jeans. But how many pairs do you have?

Back to Anna. Buying up second hand jeans, she decided to rework them into modern, sophisticated styles that can be tailored to fit every ‘body’. Using two pairs and four seams, she began to synthesise her style: E.L.V. stands for East London Vintage, as all her collections are designed and produced in the British capital. As well as a circular solution for this fabric, she also prioritises reducing the transcontinental transport usually involved in jean production, and fair pay for workers.

Over the years the ELVDenim styles have proliferated (I went with the wide leg Freya in a dark denim), but are all, always made with vintage fabric. Anna now makes couture level capes and bomber jackets from off cuts, upcycles velvet and suede into patchworks, and has also turned her attention to discarded hotel bed sheets to make shirts. I have visited her in her studio a few times (anyone can go, and I highly recommend it as you should try jeans on to see which really suit you), and it’s a joy to see her stockpiles of denim, her seamstresses and creative team thriving on a restless energy to make this industry better.

The jeans are expensive - over £300, but that’s what it costs to make clothes like this. They will last at least ten years because ELVDenim will alter the length (should I shrink), the waistband (should I expand) and even switch out the panels (should I get bored of the colour wash), all as part of the service. They look great with trainers (and I have a few pairs I collected from Extra Butter in New York when I lived over there), and also a delicate pointy shoe, a stiletto heel and any old boot. I may regret getting them a little bit long as they are not going to work with a summer sandal, unless I invest in a wedge this year. But if that’s the case, I’ll take them up.

If you are a jeans person (and not everyone is), they are a brilliant low impact staple as you can make like a Vogue editor or use them for gardening. They should last a long time, they can be upcycled (I had an old pair of mine embroidered by Fanfare Label last year) and if you buy a fashion forward style and they go out of fashion, just stash them until that style comes back round again.

Either way, I’m sure you can tell I’m thrilled. I fantasised about buying these jeans for two years and now I have them. This is the joy of Rule of Five - the thrill of the chase. Anna helped me choose the right style for me, so they feel very individual, and they are tailored to fit. Vintage denim is much softer than new, so these two things combined make them the most comfortable pair of jeans I have ever owned. Even more comfortable than those 2005 J Brand skinnies.

How’s everyone doing on the five front?

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By the way, if you are in, or coming to London on March 29th I am holding a circular fashion fair at House of Koko, in Camden. Full details here:

It's Not Sustainable with Tiffanie Darke

The Good Fashion Fair

Dear lovely fashion people…

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a year ago · 5 likes · Tiffanie Darke

All this is good stuff - good because of course we have far too much stuff, as every Rule of 5 poll tells me. In last month’s poll, 49% of you said you were sick of your own over consumption, 25% said we were doing it to save the planet, and 13% to save money.

What is clear, is we are are drowning in stuff. I share my house with four people, and came home from a few days away last week to find stuff (clothes, mostly) piled up on stair treads, flung over sofas and chairs, spilling out of laundry baskets and exploding in heaps on bannisters. It’s so depressing. (OK, Mum went mad).

I spent yesterday with an enlightened brand Groundtruth who are trying to solve our plastic problem by recycling post consumer plastic waste into luggage. I’ll tell you more about this next week over on It’s Not Sustainable,

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but the facts Groundtruth shared, along with a scientist from the Zoological Society of London, are chilling. Only 9% of plastic ever made is recycled. Microplastics are everywhere from the Antarctic ice sheet to your mother’s breast milk. Rivers, seas and oceans are clogged with the stuff, and as the licenses for new oil and gas fields are opened up, plastic use is set to double in the next 10 years. The world cannot afford this.

Over 60% of clothing is made of plastic - synthetic fibres like Nylon, Lycra, Goretex, acrylic, polyester. Even your organic cotton t shirt has polyester in it - most likely the thread used to stitch the seams will be polyester because it is stronger and more durable. You don’t have to declare that on the label to claim a 100% cotton product. (Ask the brand - the good ones will tell you if their stitching thread is cotton. If it’s a volume brand you can forget it. They won’t even get back to you).

So with all this in mind, should we just buy nothing?

Firstly - obviously - that’s not sustainable. If we all did it, businesses would collapse, we would disappear into the hole in the middle of Kate Raworth’s economic doughnut. That aside, consumers can’t live on nothing forever. We could probably go a long time on what we currently have, but after a while things tend to wear out. Active wear is the first to go - last week one very dedicated follower admitted to me she was beginning to smell. “Buy replacement sports kit!” I told her immediately. No one wants health, wellness and general hygiene to suffer. Last year, my second year of Rule of Five, I did not include active wear in my final count. I bought new trainers, (AllBirds), new (plastic free) outerwear (Mover), and Community Clothing 100% cotton running gear, (stitched with cotton, no elastic in the waistbands, quite remarkable).

Ditto underwear, tight and socks. As long as we don’t binge on these items and just buy what we need, these are daily essentials and I don’t think they count in your five.

What Rule of Five teaches you is moderation. You still get 360 days of shopping fasting, but you learn to plot your five purchases cleverly and intentionally. The joy of shopping, as it should be done, is relearned. Here’s how:

• Firstly, identifying what you really need, and what you desire the most, and where those two things converge. If you like it, that’s not enough. You have to LOVE it. If you already have it (and you probably do, in some form), forget it.

• Secondly, spending time researching the best option. Trying lots on to ensure you make the best choice in the market is fun. My checklist is biodegradable fabric, (a must), good fit, does it suit me, is it an independent brand, do I know its supply chain and work force, is the money I am handing over going into a good system that promotes better working conditions and responsible manufacturing. This process has allowed me to discover so many new brands and designers who are making collections that are genuinely doing good in the world. This is a much more wholesome use of time than mindlessly scrolling Instagram, or default shopping on zara.com looking for a cheap knock off.

• Thirdly, a 14 day cooling off period always reveals the true answer to, do I really want this, or am I just being manipulated? (To understand more about the manipulative digital marketing techniques used on you every day, watch Netflix’s Buy Now, The Shopping Conspiracy).

• Fourthly, thinking very intentionally about your style and how it is evolving. One of the great joys of fashion is how it changes, and how we change. Dresses and heel heights I obsessed over five years ago have no interest for me now - I’m in my androgynous period, with an extremely well cut and oversized blazer, (Margaret Howell), tailored pants (Another Tomorrow; Mother of Pearl), and a new line in local knitwear that should see me to the end of days (Navygrey; Herd).

• Finally, experiencing the joy of acquiring something you have thought long and carefully about it. Treasuring that item now you have it, and forming a long term relationship with it. Knowing you will care for it, mend it, hang it, enjoy it for many years to come. Dreaming up the myriad ways you can wear it with items you already have. The ten new things I have bought in the last two years I adore, and are very meaningful to me.

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Alongside this I have learned the art of mending (or at least the people I can take my clothes and shoes to when they need mending), the creative fun of upcycling, building a habit of renting and borrowing for occasion wear, the salvation of charity shops, and the traps of online second hand sites (often what you buy doesn’t fit, but you can’t return second hand online).

Going cold turkey is very much part of the Rule of Five challenge, turning off the taps on over consumption is a must. But alongside that you can re-learn the skill of shopping and that way you will really hone your style.

Here is Lesley’s piece on how to be an intermittent fashion faster, abridged from The Times. Let me know how you’re getting on so far this year.

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No-buy 2025: What I learnt when I quit shopping

When I was a teenager, way back in the last century, the things that were “trending” had names like Levi’s 501s, ra-ra skirts and Rubik’s Cubes. Now, thanks to the internet, absolutely anything can be turned into a trend — a cost of living crisis or being a bit skint after a divorce.

I had a no-buy 2013, a no-buy 2020 (everyone joined in that year, as it turned out) and another shopping detox in 2022.

The first time I did it, new to single motherhood and unshared costs of living, I had to make some big budget cuts. I found it easier to close entire departments than trim from here and there — so my fashion budget disappeared. To enforce the rule properly, I allowed myself no grey areas or wiggle room — no jewellery, no tights, no lingerie, not even second-hand clothes were allowed. It was a strict, year-long crash diet. It was hard, particularly in the first couple of months — clothes have been an indulgence from the moment I got my first Saturday job at 15. It could be the convent-school girl in me, but I grew to love this limited asceticism after a while.

I saved money, of course, but there were many other benefits. I saved time as I spent fewer hours fashion scrolling — something I came to understand I did when bored or sad. I dropped a few pounds — getting into old clothes was a great incentive to spend more time at Fitness First. I think I even dressed better. I certainly got more compliments on my outfits. Raiding the back of the wardrobe I found “vintage” treasures that led me back to my own style, rather than following fashion, even unconsciously. I realised that what I like wearing (essentially: jeans of all shapes, shirts, pencil skirts and tailored trousers for work) is different from what I enjoy buying (party frocks, so very many of them, and jackets for some reason).

I was spending money on a version of me that did not really exist — or at least very rarely gets an outing. After the first no-buy year, I became a better, more considered clothes shopper. I bought less, and I bought better quality. Cutting back has not got in the way of my fashion joy — quite the opposite. I treasure what I’ve got and I am more sure of what I really like. I do slip into my old ways, so I’ve had three no-buy years now. I like the reset and I’ll probably do it again. I am an intermittent fashion faster for life.

I won’t pretend that I was thinking about the unsustainability of my clothes habit when I first did the detox, but I quickly became aware of the waste, finding blouses in drawers that I’d bought and forgotten about, still bearing the swing ticket, or discovering that I had more white T-shirts than anyone could ever need. This would never happen now

I definitely still buy high street, but it’s limited: I am a bit too familiar with H&M’s offerings, simply because there’s a store close to my home; and I like Cos and Uniqlo for the quality of their basics. But I now know that the clothes I keep coming back to are the well-made, non-“trend” ones I paid more for. I have skirts I can probably wear for ever — as long as I keep going to the gym.

I’d highly recommend a shopping detox, especially if it’s clothes. Most of us don’t need any more stuff. There’s enough of it already in existence, especially clothes. And if you’re past 40, there’s nothing in your wardrobe that won’t come back in style at some point. This is the third time in my life that kilts have been in. I’m still waiting for ra-ra skirts to come back, though.

For those doing this for the second - or even third year - I salute you veterans! What does it mean when you get deeper into the challenge? We will come to this later in the post.

First a question. Why Rule of Five in 2025?

This time of year there are a lot of new resolutions, including, I notice, lots of ‘nothing new’ challenges. Super admirable, but I like Rule of Five because it means you can still enjoy fashion, shopping and playing with style, it’s just practising moderation, (never easy to achieve, but always worth it).

This newsletter is a resource of tips, tricks and inspiration, better shopping directories and strategies. It’s all free, but the more you support, the more I can give. And by paying, you are also pledging your own commitment. Look on it as a downpayment on your intention! (And if you get to the end of the year and want your money back - you can have it.)

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If you need further inspiration, remember that fashion is the third most polluting industry on the planet. Emissions from this toxic industry are set to double by 2030, and our craven consumerism and irresponsible attitudes to waste are driving this. The Rule of Five is rooted in science: it’s the number the Hot or Cool Institute came up with when they worked out how fashion could achieve its 2030 1.5 warming targets, (see below).

As sustainability slips further down the agenda for fashion brands in this economic downturn, the need for us, as consumers, to practise better habits has never been greater.

If you want to know more about this, check out my other Substack, It’s Not Sustainable, here.

Right then: a quick reminder of the rules - any questions leave a comment below the post and I'll do my best to answer them.

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What’s Allowed

• Lingerie (but don’t go mad)

• Tights and socks (but don’t go mad)

• Renting

• Mending and altering

• Swapping

• Borrowing

• Dressmaking (extra points if you upcycle your own or deadstock material)

• A small amount of second hand (but don’t go mad. I allow myself 4 items. There are always questions on this, see below for some answers)

What’s Not Allowed

• Buying more than 5 new things

• Gifts (they count I’m afraid)

• Shoes and accessories (they are part of your ‘five’)

The Seasons

It can be helpful to break the year into five seasons, allowing yourself one purchase per season. Try these:

• Winter: Jan 1st to March 7th

• Spring: March 8th to May 25th

• Summer: May 26th to August 16th

• Autumn: August 17th to October 31st

• Christmas: November 1st to December 31st

Subscribe to this newsletter and I will walk you through the process as the year unfolds. Better still, share it with a friend and go into it together.

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Let’s Get Started: Avoid the Sales

First up - rule number one - do not shop the sales. There's a reason why all that stuff is on sale (it wasn't needed in the first place) and the idea that you need 'to stock up on cashmere' or whatever, needs to be dispelled from your mind. You need to take control over what you want, not what the marketing directors and algorithms are telling you.

And so turn off all those emails, social media follows and relentless ads that are trying to sniff out if you ‘need’ to buy a new pair of pyjamas because they are 30% off. You don't.

The Wardrobe Audit

Next up - take a long hard look at your existing wardrobe. It is about to become a different type of friend to you. A loyal one, full of secrets not yet recognised, buried treasure and long forgotten joy. A wardrobe audit is a way to get to know it a little better.

Read the post above for a deeper dive, but sorting out what you wear and don’t wear will identify your most popular pieces (and these will obviously change with the seasons) which will tell you a little about your style.

But the purpose of a wardrobe audit right now is to tell you what you're missing. You have only got 5 purchases this year, so you need to make them count. They need to be beautiful, long lasting, needed and valued. They should grow with you, become old friends that you can parade out in a year, 5 years - even 10 years time. You probably already have a couple of pieces like that in your wardrobe - notice what they are and what it is about them that makes you value them so much.

It's helpful to think about a capsule wardrobe and the pieces that form the foundations of your style - what are these? For me, I identified 10 easy pieces I could mix and match, invest in heavily and buy the best version I could find and afford:

• white shirt

• smart jacket

• comfy trouser

• playful knit

• everyday dress

• warm, smart coat

• good pair of day shoes

• good pair of boots

• warm knit

• midi skirt

In my first year of this challenge I invested in a white boyfriend shirt (still going strong, unmarked, hallelujah) and some fabulously comfy gold trousers; last year I bought an oversized wool blazer and two fabulous knits. This year I want a dress or a skirt. I don't know yet what style these will be, but the thrill is going to be looking for it, trying lots on, hunting down The One.

Next you are going to look for repairs and alterations, breathing new life into what you already have. Then as this year rolls on, you will rent more, swap with friends, borrow, upcycle. You will feel deprivation (I famously licked the windows of Selfridges on Oxford Street one spring), but out of deprivation will come resourcefulness and creativity. Find yourself a good seamstress, and look to what you already have.

The Veterans

For those of us embarking on this challenge second or third year running, here’s my learnings. Last year I found buying good things, just a few of them, much, much easier. I have totally altered my value relationship with shopping. I no longer feel the need to pop into Zara, and when I do, just to see what’s going on, I’m quite repelled by the volume of stuff on display. If that’s not enough, flip a label and look at the fabric content - it’s depressing.

However I did make allowances for active wear. Running, yoga, outdoor activities - all of these things are conducive to a healthy lifestyle and inevitably you will wear through your garments. Buy the very best you can, (and make sure they are non toxic, see below), but I did not count new sports bras, workout trainers and waterproof jackets in my five, (hand on heart they were not fashion choices).

This post below is from my other Substack, It’s Not Sustainable. You can sign up to that here.

It's Not Sustainable with Tiffanie Darke

How toxic is your sportswear?

Hello! I’m writing this week from Petrolina, a small city in the north east of Brazil. Greetings from Latin America where people move so much more slowly, the weather is like a warm blanket around your shoulders, and the sun shines joy into everyone’s souls almost every day. I love Brazil! I spent a year living here when I was younger and got very used …

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2 years ago · 44 likes · 20 comments · Tiffanie Darke

I think that is enough for now - spend your January avoiding the shops and avoiding the sales, auditing and researching your own wardrobe, and get cracking on some mending and alteration. You’ll be so surprised by what you can achieve!

Also please do tell me how you are getting on, it’s so helpful to be in this together. How did 2024 go for those here again?

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See you soon,

Tiff

If you get into this, and start to see how you can make a difference with the clothes you wear and the choices you make, please do check out my book What to Wear and Why, you can order a copy of the book here.

Tracing the history of shopping back to a moment when as a society we switched from a ‘needs’ to a ‘wants’ model, shows how we have shifted from a balanced, sustainable society, into one that is drowning in stuff that never fully satisfies us, duped into addiction behaviours that force us to acquire more and more. It is nauseating stuff, and if you are looking for a panacea for today’s Black Friday rush, settling down in front of this documentary is the answer.

Rule of 5 is a free resource for those looking for ways to cut their shopping habits. You can show your commitment by subscribing. No special Black Friday deals I’m afraid, just good old fair pricing for a fair product.

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There are some interesting historic threads to dig into here (not all in the documentary). Some believe prohibition in America triggered the change, as business spotted people needed a replacement hedonistic release in the absence of alcohol, (a chap called Samuel Strauss wrote an essay about what he identified as ‘consumptionism” in 1924, according to The Enoughness). World Wars 1 and 2 showed how factories could be geared up to produce mass supplies, places like Ford motor factories started to build munitions, and the potential of the production line kicked in. Edward Bernays, the nephew of Sigmund Freud, was also a foundational figure - using his uncle's psychological analysis he identified that we are all driven by our insecurities and could employ that to drive business. So he sold cigarettes to women as symbols of empowerment, and convinced America that only disposable cups were sanitary - he was the godfather of what we now call PR, even writing a book about it in 1929 which he titled ‘Propaganda’. By the 1960s consumerism was in full swing. Companies like Listerine (which back then made floor bleach), launched an ad campaign to convince housewives their friends were complaining behind their backs that their breath was bad. Advertising was inventing problems for people so they would spend on the solutions.

Then came Jeff Bezos. Could he persuade people to use the newly born internet for shopping? He started with books and music - and, well, you know where it went. The documentary features whistle blowers from Amazon who built the ‘one click’ product, designed to allow you to shop anywhere, anytime, anyhow in the most frictionless way possible. The film is filled with terrifying videos from shoppers who have 'hauled' on Prime overnight and flooded their doorstep with a mountain of boxes the next day. We've all done it to some extent - the Sunday night glass of wine and a quick cruise on Net a Porter… and, oops.

It's consumer electronics and fashion that come off the worst in this documentary. Consumer electronics because of planned obsolescence - products that are specifically designed to stop functioning within a few years so you have to buy new ones. Apple ear buds are the worst apparently - deliberately designed to time out after 18 months with no possible way to replace the battery. Just imagine how many of these little plastic worms there are in the world right now. And how many more are coming.

And of course - fashion. Fashion has planned obsolescence built into its system. Trends that come and go with alarming frequency. Newness drops that operate on our insecurities, driving women to keep up and stay relevant and feel good, by buying something new to wear. Over 60% of this clothing is made from plastic - polyester - and of course we see it now piling up in landfills, lakes and rivers, choking us and burying us. This is brought to life in the film with AI generated montages, but it’s frightening because we know it's also real. The clothes may not be heaped up on our nice Global North side walks yet, but they are in Ghana, Nairobi, Uganda, and Mumbai.

We are trapped in an insidious, vicious cycle of over consumption. As the documentary has it, business is just programmed to ‘sell more, waste more control more.’ Absurd excess has become our new normal and we have become so far removed from the beginning and end life of our clothes that we don’t even see it - instead we congratulate and admire each other for keeping up with the styles. For wearing something new, for rocking a new season or full look. For wearing a different outfit every day.

When I launched this Rule of 5 campaign I did it for climate reasons, to try and curb the waste we are creating. But so many of you who joined the campaign expressed your reasons as being sick of over consumption. Society is making us ill, by stuffing us with things we don’t need. But we do have a choice. We just need to be smart, learn to spot when we are being manipulated, and return to the simple pleasure of shopping for something we genuinely need.

Happy no shopping Friday. Have you managed to resist?!

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You can read more on my other Substack It’s Not Sustainable, meanwhile if you fancy pledging to only buy 5 items in the next year, please dig into the archive, or tell me what you need in the comments.

It's Not Sustainable with Tiffanie Darke

Well done Kate Moss. Well done Zara.

Well done Kate Moss. Well done Zara. You had me at Glastonbury mini dress, never mind leopard print jacket. Speaking presonally, there is little more intoxicating than a polished revamp of the supermodel's favourite archival pieces, edited by long time collaborator Katy England, produced and marketed by high street behemoth Zara, and all just in time for Christmas. Standby for Saturday when the collection drops, and legions of fashion crazed shoppers find yet another trigger to acquire more indestructible pieces to add to our brimming wardrobes…

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2 years ago · 26 likes · 7 comments · Tiffanie Darke

The second year is no less hard. I haven’t had quite the same amount of time to explore parallel creativities, (although the jeans above were a highlight), and have found myself hovering over the click to buy button so many times. Mending, altering, renting - none of this is quite as easy to do (yet) as hitting the Shop Now button on Instagram. The ease with which we can buy things now, and the power marketeers have at their disposal to target us, doubles the challenge. Our economy is still based on growth, which means for fashion and clothing companies to be successful - they need to sell more stuff. And we need to buy it.

But Fivers, we’ve got this. if you are wavering, just remember the facts.

According to The Or Foundation, no one knows how many clothes are produced globally each year. Estimates range from 80 billion to 150 billion - that’s a reporting gap of 70 billion. Reason being, most companies refuse to publish the number of garments they produce: The Or Foundation’s recent #speakvolumes campaign asks brands to be transparent, so at least we can start to understand the scale of the task at hand. “Transparency on production volumes is essential to enable informed policies, honest and focussed dialogue and better collective decision making,” the Foundation say.

Here are some of the brands that do publish production numbers:

A lot, right? Too much. But before I cast stones, I though I should have a little count up. How many clothes do I have? How much is too much? How many times have I been through my over stuffed wardrobe and thought, I haven’t got anything to wear, but can barely make it to the back of the wardrobe because there’s so much ‘old’, ‘timed out’ stuff?

Well, today I’m wearing a particularly brilliant pair of man repeller (love that phrase ) elephant cords from YMC Create I had completely forgotten I owned. It was only by getting into my wardrobe at the weekend to do a proper count that I rediscovered them. There’s treasures in there, you just have to unearth them.

So, what was my total? Well I’m not going to lie, I’m going to admit the truth. After a lifetime of shopping and getting dressed, I have 144 items of clothing and 24 pairs of shoes in my wardrobe.

I am one of 8 billion people in the world. So that’s a lot of clothes. The Hot or Cool Institute who came up with the numbers five for this campaign, suggested ‘A Sufficiency Wardrobe’ of just 74 items. Mine is roughly double that.

Precisely, I own:

• 39 tops and jumpers

• 19 pairs of trousers and jeans

• 16 skirts

• 3 jumpsuits/dungarees

• 47 dresses

• 14 jackets

• 6 coats

• 24 pairs of boots, shoes, sandals and sneakers

And I haven’t included gym kit, pyjamas, lingerie or socks and tights.

It seems like a lot. Worse, most of it I really don’t wear, but those rarely worn pieces are so connected to memories and times of my life, I can’t bear to be parted. I have a daughter, so I justify keeping it all by thinking she might wear it one day (she already does), but maybe I could free up some space by donating a bit more. It’s difficult to ascertain what the average clothing count is, so please tell me your yours (don’t worry, the survey is anonymous):

In 2016 ClosetMaid conducted a survey claiming the average number of items in any wardrobe was 103. But in 2016 we didn’t have Shein, Boohoo and Pretty Little Thing - we had Asos and Topshop and Zara. Things have got worse since then.

How much is too much? In my book What to Wear and Why, I suggest a working wardrobe of ten super high quality, wear them all the time pieces. For me, that’s:

1. an oversized blazer

2. a warm, smart coat

3. a playful knit

4. a white shirt

5. a comfy trouser

6. an everday dress

7. a good pair of day shoes

8. a good pair of boots

9. a warm functional knit

10. one set of exceptional underwear for those days

This is where all my investments go these days. I also subscribe to the 80/20 rule - where 80% of my purchases are hard working everyday pieces, and 20% are fabulous and outrageous personality pieces. My ‘fives’ this year (including an allowance of four second hand pieces) have been a suit, an oversized blazer, a second hand everyday dress, a chunky navy blue knit, a pair of red trousers, a vintage crochet party skirt, a pair of black cowboy boots and some red Mary Janes.

The process of counting the clothes was a good opportunity for a wardrobe audit. I pulled out all the tired, broken clothes that couldn’t be upcycled or rehomed. I now have a pile which I need to take to a recycler. On top of that I have found another 9 items of high quality clothing I am donating to Smart Works.

Waste is a problem, and last week Europe’s Textile Recycling Sector issued a warning that the industry was facing “an unprecedented crisis”: since the spring, the price of sorted secondhand garments has been lower than the cost of processing them. Which means a lot of the recycling companies are about to go bankrupt. There are lots of reasons why the price has dropped and the costs have gone up (wars disrupting markets and shipping routes), but the blame was squarely placed on the rise of ultra-fast fashion.

The problem is broken down here by Sarah Kent in the Business of Fashion, but essentially, as she points out:

The challenge is that the infrastructure to recycle textiles globally is limited, while the volume of waste is growing and its quality deteriorating.

While much of the arguments about sustainability are gradually progressing - transparency on supply chains, better safeguarding for labour, biodegradable materials, circular business models - the big elephant in the room is production levels. Often it is cheaper for a brand to entirely remake a collection in 6 months time in the Global South, than store the over production in a Global North warehouse. Instead, it is classified as waste, and donated, burned or dumped.

This is why we are doing Rule of 5. because we have got to stop buying so much. And fashion has to stop making so much. Anything we buy should last us for years, or should find a new home, or at the very last resort, a textile recycling plant (so not fossil fuel derived materials or blended materials, which cannot recycle).

The system is broken. But we can put our foot down and tell it the way we want it to be. Courage, Fivers!

Tell me how you’re getting on this year…

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As everyone who reads this Substack knows, new is no longer the go-to option - there’s actually much more fun to be had reinventing what you’ve already got.

This newsletter is a resource of tips, tricks and inspiration, better shopping directories and strategies. It’s all free, but the more you support us, the more we can give. If you are not a paying subscriber but you are enjoying this journey, look on it as your commitment to the campaign!

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I found this out last year when, with the help of a clever seamstress, turned an old Prada silk dress into a much more functional peplum top, (and then converted a disastrously skinny Victoria Beckham skirt into sporty daywear).

City influencer Helena Morrissey vowed not to buy anything new for a year, but her heavy schedule of functions and outings still demanded a rich wardrobe of options. “I’ve upcycled several old-fashioned evening dresses by modernising the style,” she told me. One formal evening dress she felt drowned by, she turned into a rather fabulous jumpsuit, another rather shapeless gown was given fantastic new life with a halterneck and embroidered tie.

With her courage up, her most successful alteration was more intentional: she had bought a Gabriela Hearst silk evening gown “knowing it wasn’t quite right, but I had a design in my head inspired by Downton Abbey.” Helena used a dressmaker to remove the “bunny ear epaulettes” and replaced them with beaded flowers. “It’s been a winner ever since.” 

Converting high value occasion pieces can seem daunting. While a trip to the dry cleaner might suffice for a hemline, more ambitious projects require the help of a dressmaker. For this, Helena and many others turn to designer Lisa Redman, whose bespoke business has been hijacked by her talents for upcycling. “It was born out of my clients bringing back pieces for alteration because they had changed shape over the years,” explains Lisa, “and we just ended up getting more and more creative. The problem with occasionwear is that you can spend a lot of money on something, then only wear it once or twice.” Go to upcycles include altering the silhouette or upgrading the neckline, “perhaps adding a frilly shoulder,” or making a belt, clutch bag, moon band or oversized corsage from leftover fabric. One client brought her a treasured Lanvin dress with stains on the skirt - Lisa beaded over them with splashes of crystal and ivory pearls. “The result was absolutely stunning,” she says. 

Wedding gowns are another category ripe for conversion. Lisa recently upcycled one by making a lace collar for a cashmere coat from the train, and turning the rest of the dress into a simple shift with a contrasting Wedgewood blue lining. Other genius conversions include adding halter necks to strapless dresses, making big, floppy fabric flowers from excess hem fabric and switching out fasteners on a Miu Miu coat to big, velvet covered buttons. “I’d never advocate for doing something really risky,” Lisa cautions, “but you can do simple, quite effective things. Try adding an insert of grosgrain ribbon down the side of a garment for a sporty feel. Or try the same trick on a sleeve seam.” The secret is to keep it elevated by using high end silks and fabrics. 

But if you don’t want to resort to a dressmaker, plenty can be done with accessories. Tania McNab of jewellery website La Maison Couture swears by Catherine Osti’s statement cuffs. “They are available in many different fabrics and colours, and added to the cuff of a sweater or jacket make a fantastic upgrade,” she says. “Or I wear them on my wrists with a sleeveless dress, which changes the style entirely. Treat collars and cuffs like jewellery - I love to play around with them.”

Tania also recommends the lace and organza collars of Azima Musayeva, “which instantly lift a shift dress”.

“My other go-to is a brooch. Brooches are seeing a massive comeback, and the mere addition of a sculptural pin added to a lapel, cleavage or even attached to a belt can make a real statement. I once pinned pearls and a selection of sparkly earrings to the lapel of a dinner jacket.” For real drama, the fashion set look to Sonia Petroff. The brand’s recent revival of surrealist costume jewellery has been a hit with the summer crowd from Portofino to Ibiza. “When I think I might have worn the maxi dress one too many times - I just cinch one of Petroff’s jewellery belts round the waist,” says Tania.

Social media is of course teaming with ideas. The Re:Directory on Instagram has tonnes of great resources, try also Studioreloved, Save Your Wardrobe, and lived_in_repairs. Lydia Boulton is an influencer whose reels are endless sources of joy. Inspired by a Nur Kuraata design, she recently converted a vintage 50s strapless dress into an entirely different design, with some judicious cut outs and scrap silk roses. Her videos talk you through the step by step process. 

Meanwhile Maryam Elasawe is a good follow for students with balls and proms to go to. With a mission to “relove and renew” Maryam says, “How are we meant to go out and socialise if we’re always wearing the same clothes? That doesn’t make you feel amazing. So I renew all  my clothes every few months. One Self Portrait dress I wore to Ascot and then a charity ball, but by Christmas I wanted something different. I bought it for £300, so it was quite risky as it was expensive, but I was looking for infinite wear. I put the sleeves around the neckline to give it a bit of character - then remade it again six months later for a garden party. I made it shorter and added a new skinny shoulder strap. The possibilities are endless, especially if you buy something well made, as it won’t deteriorate over time.” If you want to start doing this for yourself, Elasawe recommends learning the art of unpicking: “it’s the most valuable skill a seamstress can have.”

And there’s my absolute go-to for these kind of reinventions - Save Your Wardrobe. They just reworked a dress for Georgia Stidwell: a 1980s vintage cocktail dress of her mum’s, that she wanted to get more wear out of. “I absolutely loved the dress, but it was bodycon, so I found it difficult to wear. I always loved the sleeves and the beaded detailing so that is what inspired me to upcycle it.” Just book a consultation with one of their makers, agree on the conversion, then they arrange collection and delivery. You don’t even need to leave the house. Genius!

When you consider that at least a third of our wardrobes go unworn, the potential for upcycling is waiting for you. “Once you’ve got the bug, it's limitless,” says Lydia. “There’s so much textile already in existence and all these resources can be given a new life.” Helena agrees: “It’s very satisfying turning something unloved into something wonderful. I would encourage anyone who has things hanging in their wardrobes they don’t wear to picture the possibilities.”

Whether you just want to turn fabric scraps into scrunchies, or matching moon bands, (so much less silly than a hat), or want to go for a full blown reinvention - I can guarantee this is so much more satisfying than trawling the internet for yet another dress. Try it and see!

If you are enjoying this campaign (and don’t worry, I know 5 is hard, but its a journey) think about sharing it with a friend. Good for the planet, good for our wallets, great for our imagination.

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How is everyone getting on? Any clever upcycles to share?

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PS Before you tuck in, here’s some inspiration on why we are all doing this. Last week was Copenhagan Fashion Week, where the sustainable fashion industry meet to discuss solutions. They did so this time in the wake of the latest news from the Apparel Impact Institute that industry emissions are set to rise 40% by 2030. They are meant to be shrinking! This is simply not good enough. The Copenhagan meet started 15 years ago, but as founder Eva Kruse remarked in desperation last week: “It wasn’t the idea that we would still be talking about the same things 15 years in. I’ll be brutally honest, I’m quite disappointed in all of us that we haven’t been able to push things forward.” Fashion companies are still measuring success by growth, spending only 1-2% of revenue on R&D, and the big behemoths of LVMH and Chanel are powering forward with unholy profits while small independent brands like Mara Hoffman, The Vampire’s Wife and Dion Lee are shuttering.

Buy less, but better. It’s what each of us can do.

Ella’s Rule of 5 – The Journey So Far

Items bought: 2 new, 2 preloved

Items walked away from that haunt my dreams: 1 (vintage grey check Saint Laurent blazer)

Items in my basket I keep going to: 3 (all Raey – RIP Matches)

People who’ve joined me on the challenge: 3

Debates I’ve had with myself/friends/colleagues about what ‘counts’: endless

I write this as the sun has come out properly for the first time, I am officially sick to death of all my winter clothes and four months into my Rule of 5 challenge. According to Tiffanie you are also allowed 4 pre-loved items, but I have chosen to make this 5 as I like the symmetry (not because it’s another thing, I promise).

What have I bought?

New

-    A sensational bright red sculpted blazer from Stella McCartney. This was a sale BARGAIN (down to £150 from £2000) and it was fate. Hear me out! Minutes before I had been speaking to a colleague about wanting a statement piece for some upcoming speaking engagements, something that would make me feel confident, ‘like some fabulous tailoring, maybe in red’. Low and behold I walked out and the universe dangled this blazer in front of me. I’ve worn it four times, friends have claimed it for big meetings and I have rented it out on HURR. It’s brought me big joy and I’m sharing it widely.

-    A beautiful dress from US label Doen. I’ve been looking for a ‘365 days of the year’ dress for over a year. One you can wear in summer or over tights in winter, with boots/sandals/trainers/heels … I had it in my Net a Porter basket for 6 weeks before taking the plunge.

My second hand finds:

-    A buttery soft black leather blazer that I brought back to life the moment I got home. I found it on a vintage tour of Williamsburg and I’m amazed I only came away with one thing. It’s a piece I’ve had my eye on for a while and this one is giving me serious Khaite vibes. I have enjoyed pairing it with leather trousers for a full suited look much to the delight of my husband who tells me I need to get back to The Matrix.

-    Striped cashmere cardigan: total impulse buy from my old fave, the preloved store Sign of the Times. I have a serious weakness for anything stripey which I inherited from my mother. The slightly cropped fit is perfect and it just looked so good with the jeans I was wearing at the time. In my defence I walked away at the time, couldn’t stop thinking about it and came back the next day praying nobody had snapped it up. I justified it by saying I would share it with my stripe obsessed mother (taking it down to only counting as 0.5 right?) but I have barely taken it off since. so not sure I can bear to be parted with it …

So what have I learnt?

Not being able to buy completely subverts the concept of retail therapy. Rather than dulling my feelings with fashion, I’ve had to sit with my thoughts and dissect why I’m feeling the way I do. I’ve realised I want to shop when I’m feeling stressed/insecure/down which is quite a lot recently. I’ve found myself resorting to other treats; my Waitrose bill is out of control, my kitchen table laden with flowers and my margaritas now contain Mezcal of ludicrous quality. I even sprung for the proper spicy salt on Amazon.

Outside of that, I’m really enjoying re-discovering items in my wardrobe and setting myself styling challenges based on items I haven’t worn in a while. I re-created a triple denim look from the most recent Chanel show. I’ve been renting. I’ve flipped all the hangers round in my wardrobe to help me visualise what I’m not wearing. Why didn’t I wear those things? Will I wear them again? I feel a big clear out coming…

What really counts anyway?

I recently shrank what I would call a wardrobe staple: a black cashmere jumper. If I replace this like for like (having donated the now child size item to a friend’s daughter) does that count? It’s now spring so I can park this dilemma for the autumn…

Does a suit count as one or two? Sometimes it’s sold as one and other times as separates, why should my total suffer from this inconsistency…

What about presents? If it’s a gift – does it count? My birthday is coming up and I have decided that it does not count. It would be most unfair to count something someone gives you that you didn’t ask for, so I’ve decided that birthday presents are freebies. [Erm, not strictly following the rules here Ella! - Ed]

Am I ‘over’ fashion?

At the beginning of the year I cleared my social media of fashion influencers/style bloggers/ OOTD accounts in a bid to reduce temptation. I no longer find myself mindlessly scrolling through fashion sites and have become much more discerning as to what I think is ‘worth it’. Something must be really special to catch my eye. I’ve become a bore to friends as I’m now more likely to respond with the dreaded ‘do you really need it’ rather than encouragement to something they have seen.

I’m looking forward to the warmer weather and re-discovering summer pieces stored away that I’m sure I’ve forgotten. I might wrap a few of them in tissue paper to give myself that true newness feeling!

Thank you so much Ella for sharing, and I love the tissue paper tip. And the hanger flipping too.

How are you all gettting on out there? Feeling the newness now we’ve switched seasons?

Tiff x

Over lunch with a colleague last week, she asked me how I was doing this year. “What’s your Q1 update?” she asked (she works in a corporate). Well the Q1 update is three new things already (help - it’s only just May) and two terrible second hand choices, one of which was sent back.

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Quickly: I bought a suit from Mother of Pearl for a return to the office, and as that was a jacket and trousers that counts as two items. I also went against all my advice and walked in to my favourite clothes shop (Diverse in Tufnell Park, London - it’s local, independent and extremely well curated for my taste) and fell for the sale rail. A £900 Margaret Howell blazer was reduced to £200. That was still a lot of money but when you aren’t buying something from Zara every 5 minutes, it was just about affordable. This blazer is wool, oversized and makes me look amazing. I can hide in it, whatever my shape, and it’s cut so cool it works with everything. I don’t regret it and I reckon I will wear it till I die.

The suit from Mother of Pearl has been longed for for about 12 months.

I have always admired Mother of Pearl creative director (check out her film Fashion Reimagined, and her new Substack). She has thought very hard about her supply chain, her materials and her impact which means every piece in her collection is incredibly well considered. I always knew I wanted to spend one of my precious five with her. Amy doesn’t make many clothes, nor does she order many of those she does make, so if you want to be on the right side of that dump of fast fashion in the Atacama desert, anything you buy from Mother of Pearl helps you get there. It’s a vote for the kind of fashion future we want. I should also add Amy has a very distinct aesthetic, and her pearl studded knits, shirts and coats are aspirational fashion code. I thought I would buy one of those - the pearl being a style semaphore for cool sustainability - but Amy asked me to try this suit for a shoot. I wouldn’t normally have considered it but I loved the way I looked in it. I went home and thought about it for two weeks (golden 14 day rule of consideration) and realised it was exactly what I wanted. Every time I have worn it, I’ve had compliments. It’s another ace buy.

So with a black blazer and a neutral trouser suit, I can see what’s going on here. I’ve been very conservative because I know my clothes need to last me. I can’t afford to buy something I won’t wear often (ahem, the vintage see through crochet skirt from March I haven’t worn yet. Even though, as the vintage dealer kindly pointed out to me in an instagram DM, it’s pretty similar to the one Victoria Beckham has just designed for Mango).

Now: back to Less. This also happens to be the title of a new book from Patrick Grant, the Savile Row tailor, founder of Community Clothing and judge of BBC TV’s Great British Sewing Bee. Like Amy, Grant has put much time and thought into creating a fashion business that serves its workers and respects its materials, so while he makes expensive bespoke suits for gentlemen who can afford them, he also makes very accessible t shirts, socks, chinos, jackets and everything else you might need at his factory in Lancashire. This is his Community Clothing line, where he can control every stitch - meaning his new line of plastic free sportswear is just that, and his claim to be British Made couldn’t be truer.

In Less: Stop Buying So Much Rubbish: How Having Fewer, Better Things Can Make Us Happier, Grant argues our case. He knows fashion makes too many clothes and it’s making us all ill. He traces our relationship with clothes from pre industrial times to the present day and argues what everyone on this Substack knows to be true: we need to buy less and buy better. Buy the best you can afford (and if you are not buying quite so much, you will be able to afford a little more). Grant mourns the time when we used to care a lot about our clothes, pointing out that today the average person has nearly five times as many clothes as they did 50 years ago. He points out we are living in the age of ‘Want’, a hyper consumerist market where the more you buy the more you crave.

“We can choose not to engage with any of it if we wish to. If all these clothes did make people happier and it did improve their lives, then I would accept that. But what we increasingly find is that the pleasure you get is incredibly fleeting and those who disengage from it are better for it. They are not constantly anxious with keeping up with what now can’t be kept up with,” he told The Times this weekend.

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All this is very timely, as a new 45 minute documentary film from Patagonia says we are living in the Shitthropocene. It’s a riff on the Anthropocene, the Age of Man, and centres around the fact that we are currently consuming 62 million tons of clothes a year, with a projection of 102 million tonnes by 2030.

Of late, I had been grimacing to friends who ask me how my Rule of Five is going. Of course I feel regretful I can’t have unfettered access to fashion and splurge to my heart’s content. A designer last week expressed incredulity at the idea of Less: “But I get so much joy from fashion!” she said to me. And I wholeheartedly agree. What Rule of Five does is show you how that joy can be made all the sweeter if we save for it, think about it, treasure it. If we get creative with mending, altering, swapping, renting and borrowing. I’m still riding high on my own wardrobe: on average we only wear 30% of our wardrobes, but in the last 18 months I reckon I’ve upped to that to about 60-70% of mine. I have loved and am still loving digging out old pieces and styling them in new ways, giving them new life by putting then with my hand full of new things.

It illustrates the need for all of us to have good foundational wardrobes, so please do think about every piece in yours. Every time you buy something think how useful it will really be. In Grant’s book he recounts how clothes were once so precious that they were itemised in wills. Clothes were handed down through generations because they were precious and valued.

I think my Margaret Howell blazer will make it that far. I’ll leave it to my daughter if she promises not to lose any more of my shoes.

Now - I need to hear your Q1 updates! What have you bought, what have you discovered, and are you enjoying your fashion diet? Please tell me in the comments below!

Tiffanie x

Sharp eyed readers would have noticed that in my email yesterday I promised details of next weekend’s Sustainable Fashion Fair - and then omitted to share them. Oops! Well, here they are, and if you are in London next weekend, come and see us. It’s going to be an amazing showcase of circular fashion, I’m going to be there with some of the people I admire most in the fashion world: journalists, influencers and preloved queens. Together we will be hosting circles and talks on what we can do to shop and dress more responsibly - whilst still having lots of fun.

Save Your Wardrobe will be there, with a visible mending station. Their very clever Japanese embroidery artists will be on hand to fix any rips, holes or stains you might have on loved items, so bring them along. There will also be a sneaker cleaning station, so bring your scuffed up white plimsolls for some TLC - or any trainers you think might benefit from some attention.

Also there will be Smart Works with their legendary fashion sale. Lots of amazing brands contribute to Smart Works, and what isn’t appropriate for office wear for Smart Works clients gets put into their fundraising sales. Brands like Victoria Beckham, Burberry, Rixo, Kitri, Needle and Thread and many more are brilliant partners.

Cercle, one of my favourie rental brands, are coming with a selection of their most gorgeous vintage pieces, available to rent or buy, and crucially their stylists will be on hand to offer advice about occasion wear dressing. If you’ve got a packed calendar of events building up this summer, this is your one stop solution.

For more preloved and vintage we have one of my favourite shops, the legendary Sign of the Times, coming up from Chelsea, and joining them will be Peekaboo, who have a great offering of vintage fashion pieces.

Finally the talented Isabella Tan is coming with her fabric painting skills. She can paint on denim, cotton or any natural fabric, so if you have a jacket that needs a lift, or a pair of jeans that you’d like to breathe new life into - bring them along.

Tickets are £15, but for that you get drinks and to hang out in the swanky members club House of Koko, (in the newly restored Koko, Camden. It’s probably the most state of the art music venue in Europe). We have a bar, some vinyl listening rooms and plenty of space for changing so bring a friend and come have a lovely day hanging out with us.

If you are following Rule of Five we can share our pain and our successes, also I can give you all my tips from last year.

I love this community, and meeting you in person will bring me great joy next Saturday. Places are limited so I am saving them for the wonderful people who pay to subscribe to this campaign. Details below the paywall below.

If you fancy coming and aren’t a paying subscriber, you can up grade for just £5 a month.

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I am in month 3 of the the second year of the Rule of Five campaign, and am so delighted by the effect it is having on people. I get messages all the time from women who feel emancipated with the permission to buy less. (Just last night: “Given me such a framework”; “buying my first item of the year when I get paid next week and genuinely excited by the prospect”; “made me think completely differently about fashion”). The frenzy fashion likes to whip us into makes us buy into ill thought out trends or unflattering styles (horseshoe jeans? I mean good luck with that…). Our desire to fit in and keep up has left us feeling ‘less than’ and yet we know that when we get it right, the confidence means everything.

Finding your style is not as easy as it sounds, but it’s definitely fun trying. Feeling ‘bien dans ma peau’ as the French would say. For some cool girl French chick this is an oversized blazer, a pointy boot, messy hair and yesterday’s kohl. She’s looked good like this for decades and still does. Or it’s the loose fit pyjama and layered jewellery of an Ibiza bohemienne. She never changes. Or the shorts, mid calf sock and trainer from a downtown New Yorker, cool in the 80s, 90s - and still now. Who are you? What do you love wearing? What looks great on you? When you see a trend or a piece you’ve just GOTTA have, ask yourself if it really works with who you are. Ultimately most trends are cyclical, build your wardrobe wisely (and to suit you) and those pieces you retired a few years ago will come back.

My golden rule of a two week cooling off period always reveals where the real desire lies. I’ve also learned not to buy online because you cannot be certain of quality and fit. You do not build meaningful relationships with garments through a screen. You need to touch, feel, try on. (I bought two pieces from a second hand online site last year one of which I have yet to wear. When you are only buying four things second hand a year, that is credit squandered!).

I’ve also thought a lot more about my own personal style. It has led me to reformulating a lot of the clothes I already own, tailoring jackets, shortening hems, transforming dresses into tops and skirts. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable process! I have also darned sweaters, embroidered over rips, learned how to remove stains and home dye. A pair of jeans I bought in 2020 had become a little tiring, as I was wearing them all the time. The style is Mom jeans which is fine, if a little boring. So I sent them off to Fanfare The Label earlier this year and they came back with this brilliant rope embroidery. I’ve worn them almost non stop since I got them back (with a smart Jil Sander jacket the denim looks very luxey, they also work with a Breton top and a red lip).

For those of you following this campaign for the first time, I hope you have pinpointed something lovely to buy, and are anticipating or enjoying your first purchase of the year. It feels so good when you save up for it, right? (Don’t worry if you have overshot and bought too much already - this is just like a diet. Get back on the wagon and try again). This time last year I got myself a white shirt that I researched exhaustively before finding the perfect one. As I write this I’m wearing September’s second hand Toteme polo neck, which has had so much use as a layering tool under dresses, shirts, knits and jackets.

But having built my wardrobe cleverly with the good quality essentials - fabulous pair of navy trousers, oversized jacket (or two), white shirt, loafers, camel coat etc - I realised this isn’t entirely who I am. I am this girl, but I’m also the one that wears gold cargo pants, a purple and pink pyjama suit, a chiffon green puff sleeve top, an embroidered Alice Temperley house coat. So when I went charity shop shopping with Emily London, I loved the Charles Tyrwhitt menswear shirt we found in British Heart Foundation, but what I actually went back to buy was a black crochet skirt.

Shopping vintage, you have to be careful not to fall into eccentric mode. A lot of those charity shop shoppers can look a little ‘bin end’ or ‘mad bag lady’. Elegance must be practised at all times - reduction is everything. As Coco Chanel used to say ‘Always take one thing off before you leave the house’. Here’s the skirt. I got it from SK Vintage in Kentish Town:

Owner Sarah had it on a mannequin in the window in January, and I used to drive past it all the time, wondering. Then she changed the window display, but the skirt wouldn’t leave my head. When would I possibly wear a see through skirt? Would it look good with a slip underneath it? Or could my legs take it?

The weeks went by, but I still thought of it. It’s an outrageous piece, hardly an every day item. I passed someone on the street wearing a white shirt, blazer and a black tulle skirt (very Molly Goddard) and I was sold. I went back to the shop. If it was still there, I was going to try it on, visions of dance floors, date nights and hot summer days in my head. It was still there.

We talked a bit last year about the 80/20 guide. How 80% of your clothes need to be hard working, practical basics, and 20% personality pieces. File this skirt under gold cargo pants. What I discovered with the gold pants was that they brought the joy. And fashion is about joy. Maybe this skirt is about sex - or attraction? I’ve no idea when I’m going to wear it - best find a party to go to. Is it a styling challenge? Too right. OWas it a waste of my precious clothes allowance? nly time will tell!

How are you doing? What have you bought? How does it feel to be almost a quarter of the way through your challenge?!

Talk to me!

Tiff x

What I did not attempt - and a few of you have asked about this - is dressmaking. Or shortmaking, or shirtmaking. I have never made something I would want to wear myself, but then I have never tried. Enter Wasted Threads. I’ll let them introduce themselves below, but these girls are on a mission to get us sewing again. Could we do it? I asked them to share some tips, plus a simple pattern to get us started. Or at least inspired…

PS As to the question, ‘Is this allowed on Rule of Five?’ my answer is this: as long as the material is upcycled or deadstock (and you can find some fabulous fragments on eBay etc), none of it counts as part of your precious five. Hurrah!

From Wasted Threads..

“There’s never been a better time to get into sewing. From the thousands of Sewing TikTok-ers to Balenciaga adding upcycled pieces to their SS24 collection, making and mending is back in a big way.

‘Dressmaking’ (or the art of making dresses) encapsulates most forms of making clothing. Some consider the term ‘dressmaker’ gender specific, so the term Sewist is also popular, the valued skills involved nudging it towards ‘scientist’ or even ‘artist’. 

We’re Susan and Rose from Wasted Threads and we’ve spent our careers in the fashion industry as designers for well-known high-street and luxury brands. We love the artistry of clothes and design, fashion, the planet and the people on it. We see sew-your-own fashion as a way of wearing cool, beautiful, unique fashion pieces, within the Rule of 5.

We design fashion to sew and upcycle at home instead of being made in a factory.  We create PDF patterns for fashion pieces that suggest how you can upcycle, say, an old shirt, a scarf, jeans, or other textiles, saving them from landfill and preventing waste. We love highlighting catwalk trends, and providing detailed making instructions, professional tips, and techniques. 

Becoming a sewist is not as hard as it seems, we promise. By the end of this we’ll have you raring to chop up your old clothes to make exciting new, beautiful garments that you can be proud of - whether you’re a complete beginner or a seasoned sewist.

Once upon a time, everyone knew someone who made their own clothes. How did sewing a button back on a blouse become so intimidating? Because it’s become easier and cheaper to pick up brand-new clothes than a needle and thread. But with a little practice you can make runway-inspired designs at home, or even create your own thing in your own size and style. You don’t need to be a member of the press or retail buyer to see a Paris runway show anymore - it’s live streamed - and with a little inspiration, effort, and imagination, the sewist in you might say ‘hey, I could make that’.

Sewing is a mindful affair, and a full brain workout. It’s the process of creation. You get a huge sense of achievement turning nothing into something, or even something old into something new. We think it’s better to use upcycled materials, that way you help limit fashion waste. It’s often said that dressmakers have two hobbies: sewing & collecting fabrics. If you’re a newbie, copy the seasoned sewists and start the obligatory fabric stash to keep all your prized textile finds, off-cuts, and upcycle ideas ready for the next project.

Along with Balenciaga, there are other designers waving the flag, (a recycled one of course); we like Conner Ives and Chopova Lowena for inspiration. 

But, if you’re thinking, “you lost me at sewing a button back on,” know that it’s truly amazing what can be achieved with very little skill and just a needle and thread, with a bit of help and guidance, (which we’re about to provide). The sewing machine can come later. Enthusiasm and patience are the main requirements needed to get started - you can really start sewing anywhere.

Before you start sewing

A first step for every level is to do a wardrobe trawl. Look for clothes you don’t wear, don’t fit, or that are worn or broken. The goal is to get excited about all the creative potential. That dress: love the colour, hate the fit? Could it be a pair of cargo trousers? Could those denims become a Victoria Beckham inspired skirt? Can you turn those old shirts into a cute top?

A tip for your trawl: sort your items into fabric groups, by fabric types. Keeping similar weight and fibre types together will mean that the fabrics can be used together, as they have comparable characteristics. Think flowing silks compared to heavy-weight denim. If used in the same garment the properties of the fabrics can fight each other, and the outcome could be messy. Keeping same-weight fabrics together also makes it easier to recycle fibres down the line. If you want to get super creative, you’ll also want to sort your items into matching and contrasting colours that you feel look exciting, ready for future designs.

In terms of equipment you only really need a needle and thread, scissors, a tape measure, tailor’s chalk, (a pencil will do) and a piece of fabric. If you don’t want to risk cutting into clothes yet, start with an old tablecloth or sheet. Avoid stretchy fabrics to begin with and instead choose woven (bed sheet-like) fabrics which are more stable and easier to sew. If you’re unsure, do the pull test. Hold the fabric in two hands between your thumbs and index fingers and pull it taut. Stretchy fabrics will pull out like a knitted sweater, whereas rigid woven fabrics tend to not move.

How do you sew your first stitch?

Trace a few straight ruler lines with tailor’s chalk (or pencil) onto the fabric. You’ll want to start with the most basic (and important) hand stitches - the running stitch and the backstitch. Thread your needle, knot the thread ends and start to stitch along one of the lines.

Follow this video for a demo:

Your aim is to achieve small, neat continuous stitches. Then, once you feel good about that, move on to backstitch which you can master easily and use for most seam finishes. Hand stitching is the ultimate sewist’s skill, and why Paris couturiers and Savile Row tailors are held in high esteem for the finesse of their work. Not to be underestimated.

If you have a sewing machine, use a similar exercise. First time out: small, neat, continuous stitches. Remember, you’re the one in control with your foot on the pedal. (NB: you’re not driving a Ferrari). Try out twists and turns and get to know your machine. Oh, and very important: keep your hands away from the needle.

Make something that you want to wear as soon as possible.

This is the best way to learn: you’ll gain confidence, so start small with an accessory or a small item. If you make a mistake, you can always unpick and re-stitch, (a Stitch Ripper is a great investment).

It’s important to be realistic for the first few goes at dressmaking, but you’ll be surprised at what even a beginner can make. There are loads of YouTube videos and PDF patterns out there for beginners to help you along. Our Running Shorts pattern is a great place to start if you’re a beginner (subscribers can access the pattern for free below). We encourage using the pattern over and over again, since each pattern can be made in several versions, and different fabrics totally change the look and how you wear the garment. For example, we made our Sienna skirt from damask curtains, saved, unpicked (we said a Stitch-Ripper was useful), washed and upcycled - the pattern also looked cool made from checked scarves for a completely different look. 

This resurgence in sewing, sparked by forward-thinking designers and the growing upcycling movement, is an open invitation for everyone to play a crucial role in shaping a more sustainable fashion future.

Don’t forget to watch our videos for beginners stitching tips and send us your upcycled projects on instagram @wastedthreadsofficial. We're buzzing with excitement to see how you bring your sewing projects to life!

For those who are paying subscribers to this campaign, there’s a gift below: a code for you to access the Running Short pattern on the Wasted Threads website for free, (rrp £10). If you are not a paying subscriber but you are enjoying this journey, look on it as your commitment to the campaign!

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I’m also changing. My body is changing, my life is changing. I’m not stepping out in miniskirts these days (for now) and I’m also beginning to realise slightly baggy clothes look better than tight ones. In some places.

Last year I found the 80/20 rule helpful: 80% of my wardrobe should comprise useful, basic classics, 20% personality pieces. This is helpful. I also have my list of wardrobe essential building blocks:

White shirt (Boyfriend cut, cotton)
Smart jacket (oversized blazer for me)
Comfy trouser (high waisted, fitted for me)
One playful knit; One plain, warm knit
Everyday dress

Warm, smart coat

Good pair of day shoes, good pair of boots

One set of exceptional underwear for those days (okay, two sets)

The full force of my unresolved style quest came home to me when I went charity shop shopping with the thrifter Emily London. Charity shops are mostly not well curated or merchandised, it’s a random bunch of stuff that requires you to hunt. I’ll share Emily’s excellent advice about how to do this in another post, but you’ve got to know what you’re looking for. You can’t browse, waiting to be inspired. You might walk home with an Irish tweed cape (which I nearly did, see bottom).

Then I came across Charlotte Dallison, a vintage style queen, and her book “How To Be Fabulous”. It’s packed full of excellent advice (pick up a copy here), and Charlotte has kindly allowed me to share her chapter on finding your style. It includes a very useful journalling exercise, which I urge you all to try.

Over to Charlotte.

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Finding Your Authentic Style, by Charlotte Dallison

Authenticity isn’t always easy. We are constantly assailed by alluring images of other people’s style. Every day we are bombarded by imagery that captures the clothes of celebrities, acquaintances and influencers alike. This pulls us away from our authentic, stylish selves – from who we really are and what we really want to wear.

So: let’s tune out the confusing din of mainstream fashion media. Being fabulous is all about defining and living your own authentic style. Let me show you how it’s done.

Your fashion mantra

Find your precise personal style formula that describes your individual aesthetic. Consider where you’re coming from; what your style motivations are; and what style truly reflects your taste.

Below are some journalling prompts to help you define your personal style. It makes a difference to actually write your responses down. We often get stuck in our ways with our clothes, and seeing your answers in writing will give you a clearer vision of your own authentic style.

The answers might not flow immediately, but take your time and press on – by the end of this exercise you will have found your fashion mantra.

Fashion mantra journalling prompts

What three words would others use to describe your style?
Ask three trusted people who know you well to describe your style in three words. Promise them they can say whatever they want, that you’re in an investigative mode and that you want to hear their honest opinions. Don’t ask them to explain themselves. You might be surprised or flattered; you might even be a bit confronted! If you like what’s been said, write the words down. If you find that a word is not aligned with how you view yourself, or how you’d like to be viewed, try writing down the opposite of that word or choose a word that better expresses how you wish you were seen. All of what is said, whether you relate to the words or not, is very useful information.

Who are your top three style icons? Think laterally. Who do you style stalk? Go beyond the obvious trending actors, models and celebrities. Think of the obscure TV and film characters you’ve always adored; those wildly stylish musicians you’ve always wanted to swap jackets with; even your slick grandfather or your fashion-forward childhood babysitter. (One of the most stylish people I ever spotted was a random woman descending a bus in the middle of Rome, wearing knee-high leather boots, an all-navy ensemble and a red felt hat!) Write all of these people down, then hone the list to your top three.

What three words describe each of your icons’ style?
Now you know who your icons are, think of some words to describe them. Are they glamorous or grungy, understated or daring? If you can’t think of suitable words, search for articles on your chosen style icon and identify the keywords fashion journalists use to describe them.

What are the top three items your style icons wear? Your mission here is to find the through line. Take notice of any common threads, especially those that apply to all three of your icons. Perhaps it’s tailoring, lots of blue, classic cut jeans, oversized jumpers, floaty dresses, sky-high heels, big coats, cropped jackets, bikini tops to dinner. Whatever you see time and time again, on all of your icons, will become part of your mantra’s building blocks.

What kind of shopper are you? Do you love perusing obscure websites or the charm of the in-person boutique experience? Do you love both? There are no rules, it’s just about identifying your preference. If you’re stuck, write about your ideal shopping day to get some further clues.

What do you spend money on when it comes to fashion? Are you mad about sunglasses and wild for shoes, but scrimp on actual clothes? Or are you all about investment dresses, preferring to thrift your handbags? Identify what you value as a style investment.

What is your era? If you’re new to the world of vintage this might not be something you’ve considered before. To find your ideal era, think about the shapes you’re most drawn to, as well as the cultural references. Do you love strong silhouettes that lean a little to the 1940s or 1980s, when women wore suits? Or are you more into soft, flowing florals, à la the 1930s or 1970s? Does menswear tickle your fancy more than the womenswear? Write it all down.

Now comb through what you have written and underline the patterns you see. It might be that one of your style icons is Sophia Loren; that your favourite thing to splurge on is a wiggle dress bought from a boutique; and a recurring style keyword is ‘glamour’. Noticing the words that keep emerging should help you to narrow in on your definitive style.

Next take a few minutes to write out a sentence or two combining all these words to describe your style in a way that feels true to you. Comb through what you’ve underlined once more and pull out the key phrases or repeated statements to find the essence of them. You might need to consult a thesaurus, make a mind map or sleep on it to give yourself more time to ponder the precise words you’re after.

The final step is to whittle those sentences down to three keywords. Once you’ve found those words, you have your fashion mantra. Well done!

Your fashion mantra will fast become your personal style north star. Next time you’re surrounded by beautiful bargains and feeling confused about what to buy – or whether to buy at all – refer to your own very personal fashion mantra to guide you. Whenever you’re in doubt, ignore the internet, the shop assistant and any other voices babbling in your head about what you should wear and revert back to this true and trusted set of words. By sticking to your fashion mantra, you will find yourself focusing in on the clothes you actually want to wear, and honing a wardrobe that truly represents your authentic style.

Thanks Charlotte! Hopefully this will help you make decision about how to invest in your wardrobe and how to get dressed every day. It’s also worth noting (as Charlotte does too), that style evolves. Which is great, because it means we may get stuck in a rut - but we can also get out. FYI, I did this exercise and came up with: Glamorous Tailored Hippie. Maybe I do need that cape after all…

What’s yours?

Tiff

Done that? Then you’ll need this week’s post: how to mend, care for and upgrade any broken, timed out pieces. There’s some ten ideas to get you started below, but let this post just be the start.

Please share the Rule of 5 campaign if you are enjoying it, it’s easier - and more fun - if you do it with a friend. All posts are free to read, but if you feel like committing, then look on the subscription as a down payment on your future wardrobe!

Upgrade to Paid

Consider this: 82% of textiles that are considered waste could be cleaned, repaired and resold again. And this: Globally, customers miss out on up to $460 billion each year by throwing away clothes that they could continue to wear. What happens when you put some love into something, (sorry for stating the obvious) is that that thing starts to become more valuable to you. You’re invested in it. You saw past the drawbacks and focussed on what was right. Like in a good relationship, you didn’t dump them at the first sign of trouble.

If you’ve put aside some things to mend or alter, you’re not alone. Cool mending services are springing up everywhere and the biggest fashion brag right now is not your Phoebe Philo MUM necklace, but what you’ve had mended. Whether it’s a leather patch on a moth-eaten scarf, Sashiko embroidery on a stained white shirt, (it’s a thing) or upcycling old jeans into brand new ones, the new seamstress services are next level creative - and some of them fully digitised.

This is a lovely example. When her pet rabbit attacked her silk Prada dress, tiktok influencer Andrea Cheong refused to give up on it. For her “biggest designer garment makeover”, she called in Save Your Wardrobe, the app spearheading the repair trend (hard recommend to UK and EU Rule of Fivers.

Anyone recommend something similar in the States or Australia?). Using an overlock stitch, interfacing panels and Andrea’s measurements, Save Your Wardrobe turned the ravaged dress into a skirt - even moving the Prada label down to the waistband to retain its designer integrity. “I’ve not only got a new piece of clothing, but now it’s actually customised to my size!” she realised.

Save Your Wardrobe is one of a new generation of digital services making it easy: check out also SOJO, (dubbed the ‘Deliveroo of tailoring’), or The Seam, (which undertakes all Net-a-Porter’s tailoring) who can connect you with all sorts of specialists in your area, from leather cleaners to shoe restorers. Or try popping into a good vintage store nearby: ask them who they use locally, (vintage sellers tend to be plugged in to the best network).

Then you need to decide what you want. Two routes to take - invisible mending, where you restore you garment to its former glory, or you could try (for real kudos) some of the increasingly popular visible mending techniques, such as sewing on patches, or heavy threaded Japanese mending such as Sashiko. After all, if you’re having it mended - why hide it? Surfwear brand Finisterre, who offer a Lived, Loved Repair service, say their customers like to patch up a jacket that’s fallen in a campfire with different coloured material - the repair becomes a badge of honour on a jacket that has travelled so many adventures with them.

Another option is to do it yourself. I’m going to give darning a go this weekend as I have so many moth holes in my knitwear, I might as well learn myself. The Fixing Fashion Academy on Patreon offers video workshops in everything from needle felting to edge mending.

Watch out for in store services too: brands like Mulberry, Barbour, Uniqlo, Toast and Veja all have mending stations. Quite apart from its anti-fast fashion status, mending is not just about ‘making do’, “It’s about giving a beautiful new journey to something that's already had a story,” says ELV Denim founder Anna Foster. As menders like to say: loved clothes last longer. 

1. Moth eaten knitwear

It’s that time of year. In a cold snap, our beloved knits come out of the drawer - and we find them decimated by moths. Depending on the hole, seamstresses can invisibly darn the damage, but why not have knitwear designer Alex Gore Browne embroider over a heart, a planet and stars, your initials or something from your own imagination? Alex loves the process so much, she now dedicates herself to upcycling a rather than designing something new. She offers bespoke embroidery to cover up holes, and will even customise necklines and sleeves with different coloured thread or ribbons. “It comes down to a love of stitching,” she says. “It’s a real joy of to reunite a customer with her much loved sweater. We offer the service on any jumper, not just our own - if your sweater needs some TLC, we will jazz it up!” 

2. Ripped jeans

ELV denim is offering a service where you can transform two pairs of your existing jeans (damaged or undamaged) into a new pair. Take your jeans along to the ELV studio in Walthamstow (or post them) where you can also choose from ELV’s huge library of vintage denim. The team there will design a completely new pair - fitted to you bespoke or in their own excellent straight leg or flare styles.

3. Stained white shirt?

Embroider over it. Tiktok Influencer Rosie Brain advocates silk appliqué and embroidery services to cover stains. Her custom made patches are a sell out at markets, and can be sewn on to everything from handbags to jeans. Try embroidery on stained white denim too - ELV recommends white on white embroidery as “it gives a beautiful texture”.

4. Dirty or broken trainers

Professional cleaning or even painting over stains on your trainers is possible with Save Your Wardrobe or in store at any Veja cobbler. The biggest issue with worn out trainers is the inside of the heel, as customers often buy shoes in the wrong sizes, say Veja: an easy mend for their cobblers.

5. Badly fitting garments

We change size but our clothes don’t - until now. SOJO can upgrade or alter dresses, tops and trousers to fit, while Save Your Wardrobe have people who can turn blankets into cardigans, jumpers or even a twinset. Tatty charity shop coat? Why not get a new lining, or upgrade the sleeve lengths. Save Your Wardrobe even turned a trench coat into a jacket and skirt. Left over fabric can be turned into hair ties or scrunchies. Book a video appointment to brainstorm your options.

7. Scratched leather?

Specialists can polish and repair. Find a local one via The Seam, or check out SOJO’s partnership with alternative leather brand Nanushka: a limited edition collection of previously damaged garments all creatively repaired by SOJO, where Sashiko mending, patchworks and refreshed contrast panels all feature.

8. Frayed hem or cuff

Learn how to cover it up with a contrasting buttonhole stitch, one of the many tutorials offered on Fixing Fashion, a membership platform on Patreon and Discord. Annie Phillips and Nerissa Pratt’s Instagram mending classes are also worth a watch.

9. Heal your jacket, heal yourself

Katie Young (who makes uniforms for everyone from Buckingham Palace to Soho House) offers Sacred Sewing Circles that promise to connect you to your inner goddess. All whilst transforming a denim jacket.

10. Broken sleeping bag, or old blanket?

It was a long festival season, right? No matter, rental company Tentshare are offering a service for your broken sleeping bag - making it into a duvet coat. In fact, why not turn an old blanket into a coat?

Ok, maybe these last are a bit out there, but all you need is a bit of imagination, courage and some skills. You’ll enjoy the journey - I promise.

So, hope that’s a start, I’m sure you will have even more inventive ideas. Good luck with finding a good seamstress, or even learning yourself. Let me know of any successes you’ve had in the comments below - I loved the coats that became chic waistcoat gilets that were shared after the last post. Not to mention the DIY white t-shirt!

The other newsletter in this Substack family is It’s Not Sustainable where I write every week on fashion. Last year we looked at the purpose, mission and values behind companies like Veja, examined the climate impact of Phoebe Philo’s new brand and saw what happened when Asos crashed a climate summit. I also confess all my dirty laundry from the time I was a fashion editor in Rupert Murdoch’s world.

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See you soon and good luck with the challenge,

Tiff

Welcome on board for 2024! Rule of 5 is a radical fashion diet for some, and a walk in the park for others - it just depends on your relationship with shopping. Me? I found it quite hard. I’m glad I persevered, in the end it brought me joy. That, and the relief I was living more responsibly. It takes determination like any diet, but beware - it does get tricky around summer vacation or any length of time in a different climate. But, as I wrote in The Guardian this week:

I had more fun with fashion this past year than ever before, as I turned to rental, alteration, swapping, borrowing and mending. I shopped my own wardrobe and found many unworn treasures (according to Wrap (Waste and Resources Action Programme) we only wear 20-30% of our wardrobes), meanwhile I was forced to consider my own personal style rather than one prescribed to me by catwalks or Instagram. Maybe the bow thing is not for me, and Tomato Girl summer worked better on TikTok.

So - 9 days in, hopefully you haven’t fallen off the wagon yet (stay away from the sales, they are dangerous!). If you do, don’t panic, just reset. Do you want to end the year having bought 5, 7, 10, 20 or 30 things? Buying less than last year is progress. Reducing to 5 will bring you the good stuff - if you use moments of need to resort to new, circular fashion strategies such as relining a forgotten jacket, taking up a discarded pair of trousers, reimagining a dress, renting an outrageously coloured overcoat for February when the world seems so dull, planning a swapping party, mending a much loved pair of shoes - you will start to really treasure your wardrobe and define your style. Because it will be the style you chose for yourself, rather than one prescribed to you by algorithms.

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You will also mend your relationship with shopping if you slow it all down. No more panic buying, impulse purchasing, trend victim behaviour. Work out what you need and then spend time tracking it down. You may be able to afford to spend a little more because if you do this right, each of your 5 things should last you several years. If you are like me and others, Rule of 5 may become a way of life. You don’t want to be replacing everything you buy every year. You want to be building a wardrobe, not maintaining it.

First step is a proper wardrobe audit - what’s in there, what’s missing? I wrote about some strategies here. You can take it one step further and digitise your wardrobe - Save Your Wardrobe have an app for that, as do Style Book. Those that do plan and photograph every outfit day by day, swear by it. Please let me know if you already use one and have had a good experience - it would be great to share with the group.

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I’m not this organised. (Does this need to change?). The ex magazine editor does a Week on a Wall on her socials - she spends Sunday afternoon planning her outfit diary and then hangs it all up ready to go. Fabulously admirable but I’m lucky if I manage it the day before - I do quite like lying in bed at night and working out the next day’s wardrobe as I fall asleep. And weather - no planning for that. For days when I don’t need to dress up I have a shelf of comfortable loungewear I can reach for before the school run/dog walk/bike ride. This is never my best look, I am going to try and sort this out as a 2024 goal. Tracksuit bottoms must know their place.

So, have you started thinking what your first purchase might be? The fun lies in zeroing in on what it is, then finding it. For me it was a white shirt last year (how I tracked down my perfect one); this year it’s the turn of the white t-shirt. Boring purchase I know, but it’s such a staple - I wear one with jackets and jeans, black trousers, layered under treasured wool sweaters, tucked into statement trousers and skirts. For me, it’s an essential wardrobe building block. I like mine close cropped and round necked, with a cropped sleeve and super, super soft cotton. I wear it a lot, so it’s going to need to be good quality to last. Check out this instagram post as I’ve been given some great brand recommendations to explore.

Finally, below are some tips and the shopping lists from the Guardian’s Rule of 5 women. When you do take more care over what you’re buying, it seems like you hunt down small, interesting, independent brands. Many of these are new to me and I’m looking forward to discovering them.

Enjoy their recommendations, and enjoy your planning! Let me know what your first purchase is in the comments below.

Tiff x

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Jane Shepherdson – fashion retail consultant, London

What were the five items you bought new? I confess I tried to cheat, counting a two-piece suit as one item, but I came clean. I also bought a sweatshirt from Amy Powney’s Mother of Pearl brand. Then I bought an Ulla Johnson jumpsuit, reduced to £150 from £450, something I have been searching for, forever. My last purchase came when my little cross body bag bit the dust after years of service. I tried to find one secondhand, but couldn’t find the right size, so I bought a burgundy Isabel Marant bag, which I will wear for ever.

Did you do anything else to make your wardrobe more sustainable? I rented a green velvet Vampire’s Wife dress for a wedding. I also altered two pairs of trousers – my local tailor made one fit properly, and cropped the other to make them look more contemporary. And I bought an electric wool shaver to de-pill all my knitwear. It is a gamechanger!

Emma Hakansson – activist, political assistant and author of Total Ethics Fashion, Melbourne, Australia

What were the five items you bought new? I was given a pair of loafers and a handbag that fits my laptop (both ethically made, free from animal-derived materials). I also bought a beautiful, silky Tencel skirt from local brand A.BCH after chatting with the two people who cut the fabric and sewed it – I loved that. I was also given a T-shirt from the New York City Animal Liberation march I spoke at. I can still buy one more thing – there are a couple I’m still considering!

Did you do anything else to make your wardrobe more sustainable? I sent clothes in for Citizen Wolf’s Black Fridye, an initiative that aims to usurp Black Friday. Instead of encouraging you to buy new, you pay them to responsibly dye your clothes black if they’re stained or unloved. A friend gave me a pink linen shirt at an office clothing swap and I loved the shape, but pink didn’t suit my skin tone.

What advice can you offer those wanting to cut back? Learn to appreciate clothing you see online in the same way you appreciate art – admiration doesn’t mean you need to buy it. And love the clothes you have: there are plenty of outfits you haven’t thought about yet among what you already own.

Jessica Stanley – merchandising, the Cotswolds

What were the five items you bought new? I bought an excellent quality Breton stripe T-shirt from Ivy the Brand, a pair of Maje cargo trousers, a pair of straight leg jeans from River Island, a pair of Birkenstock suede clogs and a cream knitted waistcoat from An’ge. I also bought a few secondhand items from Instagram sellers, which satisfied my need to play into trends.

Did you do anything else to make your wardrobe more sustainable? I shopped my husband’s wardrobe, stealing one of his suit jackets to wear to a wedding. Previously I would have scoured Zara last minute and got something delivered. I also attended some swap shops – the best piece I got was a vintage Topshop denim boiler suit which I wore all year. And my friend and I swapped woolly hats: she got my Ganni and I got her AMI.

Nicky McChrystal – runs a small children’s lifestyle brand, Leicestershire

What were the five items you bought new? As the mother of a five- and a three-year-old, all my jeans have holes in the knees. I bought a new pair in January and another in November. I’d wanted new trainers for about a year so I researched before plunging for some NB 327s. We went on our first holiday abroad since 2019, so I bought a new bikini from Away That Day, which uses recycled nylon. They took one of my old swimsuits to recycle.

Did you do anything else to make your wardrobe more sustainable? I had a wedding in March and rented a Self Portrait dress from Hurr. The renter sent me garment tape to keep it in place.

Dalbir Bains – career coach, London

What were the five items you bought new? A black and white Stine Goya trouser suit was the best thing I bought – it’s timeless and will be in my wardrobe for years to come. Two dresses, one from Arket, one from Anthropologie, and a Project AJ117 shirt.

Did you do anything else to make your wardrobe more sustainable? I have some beautiful bright blue Tibi jeans I never wear because they are long and require heels. I finally accepted that I’m never going to wear heels, so I had them shortened and have already worn them several times.

How did you manage buying less this year? I asked myself questions before every purchase – do you have somewhere to wear it? Do you already have something similar? Will you get multiple wears out of it? Is it something you could rent? Those questions often resulted in me putting garments back on the rail.

This newsletter is a resource of tips, tricks and inspiration, better shopping directories and strategies. It will help you engage with mending, altering, swapping, borrowing, dress making (yes! 2024 goal) and second hand. It’s all free, but the more you support, the more I can give. And dare I suggest that by paying, you are also putting a downpayment on your commitment? I hope so!

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This newsletter is a resource of tips, tricks and inspiration, better shopping directories and strategies. It will help you engage with mending, altering, swapping, borrowing, dress making (yes! 2024 goal) and second hand. It’s all free, but the more you support us, the more we can give. And by paying, you are also pledging your own commitment.

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Let’s get started

First up - avoid the sales! It’s that time of year and the force is strong here. No doubt your email inbox and your social media feeds and maybe even your doormats are overflowing with ‘money off’, ‘one time only’ bargains that you just CANNOT afford to miss. Well - you can. Sale shopping is dangerous as it is rarely what you need. Do yourself a massive favour (so you don’t fall at the first) and unsubscribe from every fashion site, turn off fashion ads and what ever you do, don’t go to the shops!

Embrace the Rules

I set these out as more of a guideline to help you. There is no ‘success’ or ‘failure’ other than making you more conscious about what you are buying, ending the overflowing wardrobe crisis and trying to solve this horrible situation of fashion waste. Why 5? It’s all laid out here, but briefly the climate scientists crunched the numbers and found that broadly if you live in the west and you are in the top 20% of earners, (meaning you earn more than about £44k or $56k or €50k a year), we, as in the world, can only afford for you to buy five new fashion items a year.

* (please see bottom of this post for a bit more on this).

So the rules:

What’s Allowed

Lingerie (but don’t go mad)

Tights and socks (but don’t go mad)

Renting

Mending and altering

Swapping

Borrowing

Dressmaking (extra points if you upcycle your own or deadstock material)

A small amount of second hand (but don’t go mad. I allow myself 4 items)

What’s Not Allowed

Buying more than 5 new things

Gifts (they count I’m afraid)

Shoes and accessories (they are part of your ‘five’)

The Seasons

I also found it helpful last year (the first year I did it), to break the year into five seasons, allowing myself one purchase per season. This is what those seasons look like:

Winter: Jan 1st to March 7th

Spring: March 8th to May 25th

Summer: May 26th to August 16th

Autumn: August 17th to October 31st

Christmas: November 1st to December 31st

A word of warning here. For many of us that did it last year, the holidays were the hardest bit. It’s when your wardrobe needs to change (you are doing something active or different from your day to day, you are in a different climate etc) and it’s also when you want to relax and have fun. Why not treat yourself to a new dress/pair of sandals/hiking boots? Plan for this!

The Wardrobe Audit

This is a great place to start. Plan a date night with your closet. Get it all out on the floor and have a good and honest chat together. What’s working and what’s not? What’s forgotten that could be revived? What’s leading you down the wrong path? There’s more advice from top stylist Cathy Kasterine here:

Wardrobe Clear Out? The Dos and Don’ts

Make a Plan

This is the fun bit. What do you need? What’s missing? What have you always wanted and not got? What could you save up for as a reward? When you pinpoint something you need and really want, take your time.

Do Your Research

I spent 6 weeks looking for the perfect white shirt last year, and was overjoyed when I found it. I tried so many on, really nailed what it was that I wanted, then set out to find it. The thrill of the hunt! Discover new brands with values you want to align yourself with, look for new influencers and activists sharing information you are curious about that can help shape your decisions. Learn more about where clothes come from - it’s fascinating, I promise.

A few to get started with:

Brands: With Nothing Underneath, (shirts) Navy Grey, (knitwear) Another Tomorrow, (luxury fashion) ELV Denim, (jeans and things) Wehve, (knitwear) Branwyn (transformative underwear).

Influencers and Activists: Collective Fashion Justice, Dirt Charity, Greenwith Studio, It’s Not Sustainable with Tiffanie Darke

The other newsletter in this Substack family is It’s Not Sustainable where I write every week on fashion. Last year we looked at the purpose, mission and values behind companies like Veja, examined the climate impact of Phoebe Philo’s new brand and saw what happened when Asos crashed a climate summit. I also confess all my dirty laundry from the time I was a fashion editor in Rupert Murdoch’s world.

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Some helpful strategies

What really worked for me was the cool off period. When I really wanted something (and it happened a lot), I gave myself 2 weeks to think about. If I still really wanted it at the end of two weeks then it was probably a keeper. Almost every time, the desire went away.

Remember: Don’t buy something because you like it. Buy it because you LOVE it!

You can inject wardrobe newness in so many different ways from buying new. When you are bored of all your clothes think about what else is available: renting is the easiest, but so too is altering - find a good dressmaker or learn some skills yourself. I gained two new skirts and a beautiful peplum top last year from my existing unworn wardrobe and have more plans for this year.

Think more strategically about styling. Layering, print clashing, colour blocking, underwear as outerwear - so many hacks! Get a friend round to style up some outfits for you - they might see something in your collection you haven’t spotted yet. You can do the same for each other, it’s fun. More hacks here:

Warddrobe Refresh, 12 Easy Hacks

Finally, if you do fall off the wagon, just get back on again. This is basically a fashion diet and we are all prone to failure. If you do buy something, regret it, can’t take it back, then promise yourself you will wear it to death or re-home it where it can be properly appreciated. And just resolve not to do it again. The beauty of the seasons (above) is that if you have a splurge, you can re-set. No shame in that!

The Joy to Come

Some people have found this challenge hard, some easy. Personally, I found it quite hard. But I suppose with everything in life, (sigh), no pain no gain, and without doubt the triumph I felt at the end of the year, coupled with the greater understanding I gained about my personal style, and the true treasures I now have as part of my wardrobe family - most of which I really, really cherish - has without doubt made up for it.

So - good luck! Please let us know how you get on in the comments, or you can follow me @tiffdarke over on Instagram for more daily chats. Remember - this is fun. I absolutely promise you you will walk away at the end of this year having discovered more about yourself and about fashion than you ever had before. Or your money back.

Until next time,

Tiff (and all the Rule of 5 team who showed it could be done)

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*As a planet we are consuming resources at 1.7 times the rate we can afford, so every body needs to cut back and it starts with us. Also, our rampant consumerism has been something of a mind trick by marketeers - the idea that collecting objects and stuff will make you happy. To a certain extent this is true (Chanel shoes, anyone?) - but what sort of happiness is this? Just sit with that for a bit as it’s quite a personal question.

Also, please leave a comment or ask questions as always lovely to hear from you. I found committing to this publicly last year forced me into it - there was no giving up or backing away once I’d declared myself!

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Quick intro here: Rachel works in the industry as a systems thinker and strategist (if you’re into Linked In she is absolutely worth a follow); is a big fan of dressing up, has two young children and is an incorrigible globetrotter. How on earth was she going to fit all that into only 5 new things?

We also owe Rachel a huge debt of gratitude. She was the first to draw attention to the Hot or Cool Institute’s report Unfit, Unfair, Unfashionable, and has been a champion of Rule of Five since it was born. Thank you Rachel, from all the Rule of Five community!

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Rachel Arthur: Why I followed the Rule of Five

There were two things that stood out to me from the Hot or Cool Institute report about a fair fashion consumption space, which looked at how much we should actually be buying in 2030 in order to contribute to the 1.5 degree target of the Paris Agreement on climate, and indeed to what extent most countries are set to overshoot that currently.

The first was that on average in the UK, where I am based, the top 20% of earners need to reduce fashion consumption by 83%. This is the equivalent of buying just five new items per year.

The second was that with a little further research that top 20% turns out to be me. And I imagine it's many of you too. According to the UK government website, in 2021 (the most recent figures) that meant earning over £44,300 per annum.

Enter Tiffanie Darke’s Rule of 5 campaign for 2023 encouraging us all to do exactly that. So here we go, I thought. No excuses but to attempt this. I spout about the challenges of overconsumption everyday for my work as the sustainable fashion advocacy lead for the UN Environment Programme, it’s time to actually walk the talk.

So here’s what happened. What was key was that I didn't stop engaging with clothes; if anything, I did so more, I just did so differently.

Lesson 1/ I analysed

I entered the year realising if I was going to do this I needed to stop and think. If I could only buy five pieces, I need to first truly consider them, then process them and then wait even longer to see if I actually wanted them. So I did exactly that. What I realised in doing so, is it wasn’t actually that hard. By reframing how you think about shopping, you remove the pressure that comes from the constant bombardment of messages trying to make us buy. Simply, it stops affecting you in the same way. I didn't care so much anymore; none of it applied to me. Yes I still desired things, but I was suddenly able to rationalise through a lens of 'do I really need this?' first, and then 'do I really want it?' second. I also decided with the latter it had to always then be, 'do I want it enough that I'll still want it in a year's time?' Most of the time, the answer to all of those was ‘no’.

Lesson 2/ I raided my friend's wardrobe 

Remember when you were younger and you used to go round to your best friend's house and treat her wardrobe as if it was your own? Or you lived with housemates at uni or when you first start working and just nabbed each other's pieces all the time? I decided to bring that back. I'm not going to lie, I have an advantage here - it's helpful to have a best friend in Emma Barnett, presenter of BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour, who constantly looks amazing and provided a fantastic pool to pull from. Not only does she have a huge selection of beautiful dresses, but she also spent much of the year on maternity leave, which made it fair game in my mind to prise away pieces she wasn't going to be wearing for a while. (It wasn't one way, I promise - I also lent pieces back to her!) This was probably the most enjoyable part of my whole year of fashion experiments truthfully, not least because it meant extra time together playing dress up.

Lesson 3/ I swapped

I had heard amazing things about swap shops, but never given one a go, so off I went to Selfridges in London over the summer to trial out what Loanhood had to offer with its pop-up on the top floor. Here's how it works: you take up to 5 items worth over £50 at resale each, and hand them in. In return, you get tokens relative to the value of your pieces, which you can then use to 'shop' what's otherwise there that others have dropped off before you. First time I went, I took a See by Chloe dress, a Tommy Hilfiger jumpsuit, a pair of Everlane jeans and a couple of other pieces that I no longer wore but I thought someone else would love, and I got stuck in to exploring. Perhaps it was my mindset that day (I was in a bit of a rush and was flustered by some other things going on at work), or maybe it was just bad luck, but I walked away with nothing and was gutted. Nonetheless, perseverance paid off - I returned a week later, and this time with a magpie friend in tow to help, and out I walked on that occasion with a number of incredible 'new' pieces including a Reformation skirt, Ganni blouse and a Paul Smith jumper for my other half. A huge win.

Ps. I pitched a Paris Fashion Week front row swap shop in an Op-Ed I wrote for the Business of Fashion this year; please can someone make this a reality?ED: Yes Rachel, let’s do it!

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Lesson 4/ I mended and reworked some faves 

For my 40th birthday in January I was given a new sewing machine. Finally, after years of begging and borrowing my Mum's in order to fix or adjust the odd item, I got my own - namely because of the holes in my kids clothes. Again, I'm probably at an advantage here because I know how to sew. Much of that has gone out of the curriculum for kids today, which is another story, but it made me realise what a shame it is not to use something I am capable of, and also enjoy. Not that I'm particularly advanced - fixing a seam is fine, but I had a skirt that needed a new waistband. It looked particularly tricky to do myself after being so out of practice (refresher lessons are in my 2024 plan), so I took it to the tailor in my local market, which was beyond worth the £8 I paid for it. What I'm most proud of doing is turning a cotton dress I already owned (and rarely wore) into a sundress. I did this by cutting up an old summer top that was falling apart, and replacing the dress’s sleeves with its ruffle straps. With the heatwaves this summer and a trip to Indonesia, that piece got worn nearly every day for weeks, and will no doubt continue to be a favourite for years to come.  

Lesson 5/ I bought a few pieces

I did indeed buy some new things. Restricting purchases for the year made me realise what my wardrobe is missing. I now have a list of things I'd like to own, or that would fit within the style I think suits me. I tried to buy aligned to that (so fulfilling 'needs') but I also wanted to pepper it with a couple of pieces I got really excited about (being more about 'wants'). I decided my needs could be bought new, but I would try and keep them to more sustainable brands, and my wants should be second hand. The result was a pair of tailored black trousers from Sezane, a white cropped jean from Mother of Pearl and a black puff sleeved maxi dress from Nobody's  Child. I have worn all three of those on repeat this year throughout different seasons. I also added a Hayley Menzies cream and green tiger-print coatigan from Vinted (such fun!) and a Me & Em pale blue floral dress from a second hand pop-up charity sale.

Lesson 6/ I messed up

I didn't only buy those five pieces. I did actually fail at my quest. I was doing so well until we went to Indonesia in October with a suitcase full of what I thought to be the right sort of thing - lots of floral maxi dresses and cute tops with denim shorts. Turned out, 42 degrees and insane humidity just before the rainy season is too hot for such clothing. I had to give in and buy two pairs of lightweight cotton shorts to wear instead. Before we went, I also had a last minute panic and bought an extra summer dress I found online. One year after maternity leave, I felt as though most of the ones I already owned didn't work for me anymore and I wanted something to feel good in. What's fascinating about having done so, is that this dress was probably the worst purchase I made of the year. It was also the one I did without any real thought or attention to how much I would value it. I won't get rid of it, I will wear it again next year, but I also learnt not to be quite so rash again in future.

Lesson 7/ I rented

To end on a high, my seventh and final fashion experiment of the year comes from renting. Now, I've been doing this with different items of clothing for some time, so it wasn't new to me, but I stepped it up a gear in 2023 and went from just borrowing for weddings and special occasions, to choosing  pieces for other regular events and outings. Some of those were still pretty exceptional, like the palm print backless Rixo dress I wore for my black tie 40th dinner, but there was also a co-ord look I chose for a simple meal with industry friends, a La Double JJ wrap feather number for a supper club and a Ganni mini dress I took on holiday. I was also very fortunate to be loaned pieces from a few of my favourite brands - Stella McCartney, Mother of Pearl and Sezane as three examples for on stage occasions I had for my job this year. The best thing about doing this is you can wear pieces way more courageous than what you would choose were you deciding to own them. Would I imagine a bright pink tailored suit would be a regular look for me? No. Is it the thing I've had the most comments on all year? Yes, by far.

So there you have it - I learned a lot, I didn't get it all right, but I had a lot of fun in the process. And quite honestly, it's changed my attitude to fashion and to shopping forever. Roll on 2024, there's a Marfa Stance coat with my name on it I think.

Are you thinking of following Rule of Five this year? Stay tuned as we will have a wealth of resources, inspiration, ideas and cheerleaders to help you on your way. You will also find a transformational lens on fashion, style and shopping that will transform the way you feel about your clothes.

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At the beginning of this year, some of us made a promise. We promised we would only buy five new fashion items for the next 12 months because that’s all the climate scientists are telling us we can afford. Many of you have joined this campaign, including Topshop and Whistles hero Jane Shepherdson, Emily Chan, the sustainability editor of Vogue, Fanny Moizant, founder of Vestiaire Collective and Lauren Indvik, fashion editor of the Financial Times. If you love fashion, it seemed like a good way for us to maintain our relationship with clothes whilst moving more responsibly through the world.

Supportively, all my friends said I couldn’t do it. A dyed in the wool fashion editor, who now even co-runs her own fashion store, how could I possibly pull this off?

Ha! Thanks everyone. Well here we are - December - and I think I’ve done it. For those who nearly did it, that is just as good, and there’s always next year (more on this below).

This is about taking matters into our own hands, a collective journey into more conscious consumerism and taking back the power of where we as a society, individuals and a planet. It’s not been an easy journey, but it has been incredibly rewarding. Here’s how.

If you would like to join the Rule of 5 campaign, please do subscribe, as there are regular helpful bulletins. Also, it’s easier - and more fun - if you do it with a friend - this post is public so feel free to share it.

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What I bought - and what I didn’t buy

It all started so well, a wardrobe audit in January revealed the cornerstone piece I was missing - a white shirt. I spent weeks researching, tried dozens on, and then landed on The One. A boyfriend cut poplin number, made from organic cotton. Better, it is from a small independent local brand, With Nothing Underneath. Tick tick tick. Easy!

Then came shopping paralysis. having vowed to cut back I had to turn down all new season treats. No floral midi dress, no high waisted corduroy trouser, no Spring 23 ballet flat. Suddenly, I couldn’t buy anything - nothing seemed important enough to merit a ‘serious purchase’.

Then - disaster struck. I wondered into AGORA, the luxury and sustainability store I co-run in Ibiza, picked a pair of gold silk cargo pants off the rail, tried them on and - never took them off. Total Impulse buy, totally frivolous purchase. But I did learn something - fashion is sometimes about that, sheer fun, and that doesn’t have to be denied. I just had to learn to not do it again.

The summer was hard: I went away and packed badly, my daughter lost my shoes, I was bored of all my clothes. Purchase number three were useless (biodegradable) rubber and jute black sandals I was forced into buying and which will not last the year (biodegradable: sustainable in some ways, but not in others). This campaign was NO FUN. I came back in September and revenge shopped with Vestiaire Collective, buying a Gabriela Hearst shirt (which arrived with a missing button and a thread pull) and a sensible Toteme polo knit I could layer under everything. A win and a lose.

My spirit was lifted by commissioning a long desired treat: a bespoke embroidered house coat from Alice Temperley. All that money I saved by not ‘popping into Zara’ found a much better avenue. Alice is Queen of the House Coat, and having something specially made is a once in a lifetime treat. Embroiderers are busy sewing now, I am very excited for its arrival.

How fashion tricks us

The truth is, if fashion (and the world) wants to hit the 2030 1.5C warming target, no amount of regenerative materials, biotechnology or recycled polyester is going to get us there: we just have to stop consuming so much. You can see it in the satellite pictures of the Atacama desert, you can see it in the overflowing landfills of west Africa, you can see it in the piles of dirty clothes left on the pavements outside high street charity stores. The world is choking on clothes.

Do we really need to buy this much stuff, or are we just falling victim to the powerful marketing campaigns fashion deploys, telling us we must keep up, we must stay relevant, we must be on trend? This is what the Rule of 5 set out to find out. Do we really need a constantly replenished sneaker wardrobe, a suite of white shirts, a biannual bikini overhaul, another perfect day dress, or a new velvet suit? (Well - it is Christmas after all.)

Or is our over consumption conditioned by an advertising industry telling us that our very meaning is dependent on these possessions? The best piece of insight I got this year was the two week cool off period. When I really wanted something, I left it for two weeks. If I still wanted it - then it was probably worth buying. I hardly ever ‘still wanted it’.

Listening to a podcast with Kate Raworth recently, (she of Doughnut Economics), I was turned on to the work of Edward Bernays, nephew of Sigmund Freud and the so called ‘father of public relations’. An advertising mastermind, one of his most successful campaigns was telling women that if they smoked they would become empowered and even fall in love, (he dubbed cigarettes “torches of freedom”).

In 1928 Bernays wrote the seminal book, Propaganda, in which he noted:

The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are moulded, our tastes formed, and our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of…. It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind.

Sinister stuff. Drawing on his Uncle’s psychoanalytical observations, he called public relations “the engineering of consent” and identified that this ‘consent’ could be manipulated by appealing to the unconscious rather than the rational part of the mind. That an idea or even an object could be framed as leading to satisfaction and purpose - happiness even. He worked for politicians (his work inspired Joseph Goebbels to create a cult around Hitler), and he monetised his theory by working for consumer companies like Proctor & Gamble, Dixie Cups and General Electric. Essentially, he manipulated audiences into thinking they needed stuff they did not want.

Sound familiar? It’s the basis of consumer culture, and 100 years later we now find ourselves choking on our own stuff and experiencing unprecedented levels of mental health issues. Turns out cigarettes do not empower you, nor do face creams make you happy, or televisions give you purpose.

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We’re not going to change anything unless we make it fun

Fashion is wonderful fun, but our relationship with it is twisted. Dialling back my shopping this year has taught me that. That my progress, my endorphin releases, my rewards and my relevance have been to a large part defined by fashion. Keeping up with trends is entertaining, but in a world where we now cycle through 10 trends a day, keeping up is just not possible - so why bother? Developing a personal style is a lot more sophisticated.

Secondly, newness can arrive in different forms - rental, alteration, swapping and borrowing all tick that box in a very satisfactory manner, it turns out. Please check out the rest of this Substack for details, I’ve tried them all.

Progress has been a hard one. I have had to look to other places to mark the beginning of a new season, a graduation at work or in life. Nothing semaphored ‘the new’ to me like new season Prada. This year I had to find it internally from books and films, and externally through conversation and ideas.

But fun? I’ve had more fun with fashion this year than ever before. It turns out dialling down ‘buying new’ forces you to be more creative. Shopping my own wardrobe, I discovered I had way more than I realised (we actually only ever wear about 30% of our wardrobe, according to WRAP). With a good seamstress and some styling ideas on hand, there’s plenty of treasures in there yet to discover.

It’s not about denial

After all, this isn’t about denial - what I love about this campaign is we are not giving up on fashion at all. With five new things spread out over the year we would still have the opportunity to shop, and by really thinking hard about our purchases, making sure they really count, and then treasuring them when they arrive, shopping has actually become a lot more fulfilling.

I’ve made mistakes, but I’ve learned from them. The shirt, the gold trousers (which actually turned out to be very useful), the brown polo knit and the house coat when it comes, have much mileage for the future. The shoes - not so much. (Thinking my first January purchase may be a pair of second hand black leather sandals. N one buys sandals in January, so I may score a hit). Either way, the thrill of the hunt is on.

The big question is - shall we stick to five again next year? Personally, I don’t think I can ever go back. I could not walk through the doors of Zara and sweep garments off hangers without being ill. I have no intention of resubscribing to those Net-a-Porter emails that trigger my shopping anxiety.

But I don’t think 5 is quite right. Emily Chan at Vogue says small things like socks and hats don’t count (I don’t know about that - I think the Atacama desert has a few of those), but I really needed a sun hat when I went abroad and cashed in a second hand token to buy that: a few measured second hand purchases are helpful. Lauren at the Financial Times allowed herself 4, which I think is about right.

The problem is clothing attrition: I left a beanie hat on a train in the middle of a cold snap, my daughter left my flip flops on the beach, my white t-shirt (two years old) is now grey. These are three essential replacement purchases already. I’ve also had terrible trouble with moths in the last few months and many of my sweaters have been eaten up, but I’m just going to get them darned, (hello Save Your Wardrobe).

Finally - the question all my friends asked: did I cheat? (I’m not sure what this says about my friends, or me for that matter). In the spirit of transparency, I did make a couple of mistakes. I went swimming with a girlfriend outdoors in England in early March and she leant me a woolly hat I ended up taking home. I didn’t think twice about it at the time, then realised that actually this was theoretically a fashion gift (and gifts count). Perhaps it was the universe confiscating my beanie hat on the train later in the year.

And I also bought a halter neck swimsuit as a piece of underwear to wear underneath an evening gown I rented for a party. Lingerie is allowed (but don’t go mad), so I reasoned this is ok. But technically this was a Kymina swimsuit, not a silk slip and I have actually worn it swimming since.

Will you forgive me?

I vow to go again next year. Please come along with me for the ride - we can share tips and tricks, successes and failures. I promise you: it is fun.

Rule of 5 is a campaign to encourage more conscious shopping - and more fun with fashion. Please join us by subscribing below. Of course it’s free to follow - we’re saving the world! - but if you pay, that’s commitment.

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See you in 2024, let’s do this!

Tiff

Also, if you are interested in more sustainable fashion stories, I run another Substack, It’s Not Sustainable. You can check it out here, or subscribe below

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And I’m dying to hear from you! Please leave a comment if you did this campaign, even if it was just aprt way through the year. Or if you are thinking about doing it next year - say hello!

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