The No-Diet Zone

For the curious, it may be pretty educational to visit a site that is the anti-thesis (in a good way) to the fashion blog: The Great American Apparel Diet.


The Great American Apparel Diet (or TGAAD) has nothing to do with foregoing food in order to fit into shiny, high-waist hot pants. It also has nothing to do with eschewing the American Apparel brand itself, though, I highly recommend doing so in favor of Alternative Apparel. I mean, you've been to the American Apparel site, right? Sometimes, I go on there and type in the search "What's the most ridiculous thing you got?" to which the search results answer, "Basically everything on this site is ridiculous."

Anyway, TGAAD website is pretty cool. These brave ladies are stopping their bad spending habits for one whole year in favor of buying NO CLOTHES AT ALL. Sound like cruel and unusual punishment? Well, it's self-inflicted.

The economic recession and environmental crisis have driven many people to reevaluate the way they live their lives. More and more people are putting the three R's into practice (reduce, reuse, recycle). More people are biking to work, buying hybrid cars, planting gardens, and using tote bags at the grocery store. It's a sweeping phenomenon. As awareness of the environment grows and the debt crisis continues to get out of control, people are turning to alternative solutions to a staid American existence. Nights spent cruising around in gas guzzling SUV's and throwing plastic down for every purchase between Taco Bell and the high-stakes tables at a casino are a thing of the past. Excess is SO 2009.

The women taking part in the Apparel Diet are challenging themselves for many reasons. Most of them want to save money, get out of debt, and wean themselves off of the co-dependent relationship they have with their local mall. These are noble pursuits. If it interests you, I urge you to join their cause. It started off in September with 30 women and has grown to 97 members in four months.


Here's why I won't be joining the Apparel Diet:

1) As a fashion journalist and blogger, it would be career suicide to cut myself off from spending cold turkey. Shocking revelation: I don't spend that much money on clothes to begin with. I am a frugal, uh, what's the word? Recessionista? Frugalista? Whatever...ista.

2) I don't believe in extremes, of any kind. I am not a Democrat or a Republican; a right-wing Christian or a Gaia-embracing pagan earth mother. Nothing is wrong with any of these labels, but I don't belong to any of them. I think extremism in any form is dangerous. Why? Because extremism places the wrong thing as the central focus. It provides band-aids for symptoms while never addressing the underlying cause. Extreme left-wing Democrats think that the earth will crack open and swallow them whole should Sarah Palin ever become President, so they hate Sarah Palin. However, this never gets to the root issue: why are some Americans starved for a political figure like Sarah Palin? What is about her that they find appealing and what is going on in their lives that they would feel like electing her would be a good choice for the future of our country? Find the answer to those questions, and you have your Sarah Palin problem fixed.

The same goes for extreme crash spending diets. Sure, they work, but they don't ever get to the root cause: why are you spending so much money on clothes you don't need or wear? If you can address those issues, and learn how to moderate your spending and how to wisely update your wardrobe with minimal mental fracture, then you can keep buying clothes.

3) Most women don't have complete wardrobes. By this, I mean that they don't have all of their prudent basics assembled, with nice trend pieces mixed with vintage pieces (i.e. Rachel Zoe's advice for a well-rounded closet). If you're like me, your closet is a mish-mash of insane outfits, practical outfits and random Death Cab for Cutie hoodies from 2001 (how'd THAT get in there?!). Sometimes, I really do need to buy something like a swimsuit or a nice cocktail dress. A self-imposed buy ban is just not practical for everyone.


Instead of taking the extreme way out, here are some alternatives:

1) Buy only secondhand clothes.
2) For every item you buy, donate an item of equal or greater value that you don't wear.
3) Give yourself a spending allowance and stick to it.
4) Have clothing swaps with your girlfriends.
5) For one year, MAKE all of your clothes. Woo. Now that's a challenge.


For women that do have a problem with spending too much on clothes, the Great American Apparel Diet may be a good first step toward helping them out of a tough situation, but I would say that it's not a panacea. If any of your join TGAAD, let me know! I am interested to see how it helps you.


Whatever your choice may be, I hope you get fulfillment out of your wardrobe. I hope you delight in stepping to your closet every day and making an adventure out of an outfit. Clothes are as much about whimsy, reinvention and experimentation as they are about practical mundane things like Cost, Fit, and Seasonal Appropriateness.