Becoming a Sixer

I have way too many clothes.  Like, can-barely-close-my-closet-doors too many clothes.  I love fashion.  I love style.  I love looking at fashionable people. I love the craftsmanship that I see in a beautifully-made garment, and if I can get it at a discount (or can grab a really decent likeness of it at an H&M, Forever21, or thriftstore), you can bet that puppy is going in my closet. 

Clearly, my love for all things sartorial is boundless, but my closets are woefully finite. What is a girl to do?  Same thing I do when my jeans are getting a wee bit snug.  Restrict myself for a time.  Not punishment, mind you.  Just an exercise in self-control, keeping in mind that at the end of the sentenc...er...challenge, I'll look and feel better in my clothes.

So, I've been checking out the Six Items or Less and the Great American Apparel Diet for the past couple of days.  I really should take the leap and do the apparel diet that forbids indulging retail therapy for 1. Whole. Freaking. Year. But, you know, Christmas is coming up, and I'm going to the States in February, and...well, I am, fo sho, going to fall off the wagon because I have ZERO self-control. 

Living in Argentina should be fantastic for my pocket book because the clothes aren't well-made, aren't my style, and tend get ruined after a few rounds in the washing machine, even in the cold, gentle cycle sans dryer.  But going back home, well, it's like holding a big chili burger from Tommy's under the nose of a vegan. No matter what my good intentions are, I'm going to fall off the wagon and have chili dribbling down my chin in 2 seconds. I've become an even bigger consumer since I started living here, and all the .com shops have become my closest internet companions.  Not. Good. 

Six Items or Less, a challenge started by two friends in the States earlier this year, seems to me a way to take stock of my consumerism and fashion addiction on a limited scale.  Check out this video the NYTimes on Six Items or Less:

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/07/22/style/1247468489339/six-items-or-fewer.html

I can do 1 month with a mere 6 articles of clothing. I can do anything for a month!  I'm no wimp!  I am woman!  I'm stylish!  I can accessorize! 

One of the requirements for signing up to be a Sixer is to blog about my experience on their website, so stay tuned for my briefs (which, thank goodness, are not limited!)