COULD YOU BUY JUST FIVE THINGS IN A YEAR?

Tiffanie Darke took up the challenge – her choices may surprise you (yes, there were gold trousers!)

magine if you had been allowed to buy only five things for your wardrobe this year. Sit with that for a second. How many have you bought – can you even remember them all? Were they worth it? How many times have you worn each since?

This has been my challenge for 2023, and it has radically altered the way I enjoy fashion. I’ve learnt the arts of renting, altering and mending. I’ve held some hilarious swapping parties, bought some wonderful (and useful) things and made some horrible mistakes. And I’ve learnt quite a bit about myself in the process, too.

Full disclosure: as a fashion editor I have binged on clothes most of my life. But the twin worries of climate change and the cost of living have made me cut back. Last year I thought I had been very abstemious, but when I counted what I had bought I was shocked: it came to more than 20 new items.

A report had just come out from the think tank The Hot or Cool Institute (which looks at society and sustainability) that found if fashion really wanted to meet its global warming targets by 2030, then no amounts of regenerative materials, organic cottons or recycled fabrics are going to do it. We simply must buy less. And in the UK, that means no more than five items per person per year. This begins, I thought, with me.

If you have just five purchases a year, you make them count. They need to be good quality, long lasting and work hard in your wardrobe. They should also be mendable, resilient and beautiful. You will cherish them, care for them, love them. Suddenly they become rather valuable.

Much fun came from plotting these five purchases – what I was missing, what a functioning wardrobe for my lifestyle needs (office workwear, mum on the run, yoga

WHAT MADE THE CUT AND WHY

February: full marks for being sensible