A Manifesto for Recessionistas: Be A Gatherer, Not A Hunter.

I think it’s only appropriate, with the endless talk of the GFC (Global Financial Crisis) and its impact on the garment industry, to devote a series of entries to the phenomenon of the Recessionista. Recessionista, of course, being a play on the term Fashionista – ie when you plonk a Fashionista in the middle of a recession you get a hybrid species of thrifty stylist – a Recessionista.

I have a confession to make. I’ve been a Recessionista all my styling life. Being a student for - well, forever, having gone straight from high school to university and now staying on for a PhD – means that I’ve never been able to dress without one eye on some fairly tight budgetary constraints. I viewed these constraints with contempt in my first three years at university – but in my third year, I began to see them as an advantage. Working within one’s means, rather than spending beyond them, can yield even more fabulous fashion results than a platinum AMEX card and a sugar daddy.

The fashion world has cottoned on to the need for thrift in the shadow of the GFC. Articles in various fashion rags spruk the benefits of ‘investment dressing’, usually with a focus on spending money on the basics and whittling down one’s wardrobe to an (ahem) ‘austere’ black and grey palette, in the simplest of shapes.

Whittling down and dispensing with fripperies has its merits. However, now is not the time for self expression and creativity to be the metaphorical babies thrown out with the bathwater. In fact, let these hard economic times flex your creativity and fabulousness, which, in times of plenty, can atrophy like a muscle choked by the fat of easy available credit and the fiscal licence to shop and dress impudently.

Here, from me to you, is the first of my top tips for being the ultimate Recessionista, inspired by years of fashion on a budget. Use them wisely, and stay fabulous, even when everyone around you is clamouring for the demure and the drab.

Be A Gatherer, Not A Hunter: as much as biological essentialism appals me as a sociologist, it’s possibly an apt metaphor for the way that a Recessionista needs to go about building her wardrobe. Women, for whatever reason, tend to have innate ‘gathering’ skills – and there is never a better time than a recession to use them.

Being a fashion gatherer means revolutionising the way that you shop. Let me tell you a tale of two friends, Gatherer Gertrude and Hunter Hermionie:

Gatherer Gertrude has a hot date at Sage on the weekend with Gorgeous Gareth. She’s a bit nervous – isn’t everybody before a date? – but refuses to run out to The Canberra Centre as soon as Gorgeous Gareth has made the reservation. In fact, it’s her off pay week, and she’s got $200 to last till next Thursday after she’s put petrol in the car. Even if work wasn’t so frantic, a shopping spree would still be out of the question. Instead, she takes a look in her wardrobe (and under her bed, and in the laundry hamper, and at the bottom of the pile of stuff that the cat was making a nest on…) to see what she’s got put aside for such an occasion. Sure enough, there’s a cournicopia of dresses, skirt and tops to choose from, because Gatherer Gertrude picks up bits and pieces she likes as she sees them and when she can afford them. Her friend, Hunter Hermionie, thinks it’s foolish for Gatherer Gertrude to ‘fritter away’ her meagre salary on whimsies she spies at market stalls and in kooky little boutiques - but more about Hunter Hermionie later. Gatherer Gertrude finds – wedged behind the column heater, of all places - a cute beaded top that she bought during a Sunday wander along Lonsdale Street last month. Silk, with a cute bow detail, she had no idea what she would wear it to at the time but she liked it and it was on special so why not buy it?. The bead detail lends itself to a more sedate pairing on the bottom half – in comes that pleated Country Road skirt she bought at a sample sale in first year. It’s a strange colour – a dull apple green – but it was forty dollars at the time and she liked it, so she’d bought it and been surprised at how much she’d worn it in the years since. Throwing on a belt she’d picked up at the post clearance sales – wide, black patent – and puling the whole thing together with her mum’s old Glomesh clutch, all that remained was for her to wander around the Gorman house markets on Saturday morning, picking up a fabulous pair of earings which offset the green of the skirt nicely. After lunching with Mummykins in Manuka, Gatherer Gertrude walked past Lyn & Barrett and happened to notice that Pleasure State was on sale – because she hadn’t had to rush out and buy a whole new outfit, she could justify putting that bargain lacy bra and pants set on her credit card – she could have $75 hanging over her head this month. As the evening rolled around, Gatherer Gertrude was feeling sexy and fabulous from the skin out. Gorgeous Gareth noticed she was glowing. Gatherer Gerturde was flattered when several heads – male and female – turned as she sasheyed through the restaurant to their table. Gatherer Gerturde didn’t like to blow her own horn, but she had to admit, she could understand why – she looked pretty damned foxy, shining like a star amoungst all the staid black cocktail dresses and skinny jean/glittery top combos other clotheshorses were wearing. And she’d done it without too much hassle and debt. She felt fantastic the whole night, her good mood rubbing off on Gorgeous Gareth. Without getting MA 15+ on you, they had the perfect ending to the perfect evening, and Gorgeous Gareth most certainly appreciated Gatherer Gertrude’s special purchases.

Hunter Hermione, unlike her dear friend Gatherer Gertrude, doesn’t like to spend money on clothes when there’s no clear purpose. Hunter Hermione doesn’t understand how Gatherer Gertrude can throw so much money away on clothes – it seems like Gatherer Gertrude buys something every other week! Anyway, Hunky Hank has asked Hunter Hermione out to Ottoman on Friday night. Hunky Hank calls to confirm this on Monday. Hunter Hermione checks her bank balance as soon as Hunky Hank has hung up – as it’s off pay week, she’s only got $200 left after she’s put petrol in the car for the week. Unfortunately, there’s nothing she feels really excited about wearing in her functional black-and-gray wardrobe – nothing that would do for such an expensive night out at any rate. Steeling her resolve, Hunter Hermione decides that this is a job for her credit card. This was okay. She’s normally so restrained, she thinks that she will be able to justify putting a new frock and maybe some shoes on her Visa. Work was a bitch that week so Hunter Hermione didn’t have a chance to get a look in at the shops till her lunch break on Thursday. Armed with her credit card, she hits The Canberra Centre running on Thursday lunchtime. Hungry, tired and with sore feet, she does scans of all the stores that she normally likes. She sees a sensible black frock, nothing special but still nice enough, in the window of Saba but it’s $320. More than she wants to spend, she’d have to Visa it…time being limited, she power walks to DJ’s and is underwhelmed there too. Everything is out of budget, and the one dress she did like was not available in her size, and wouldn’t be coming in again until the following week. The sands of her lunch hour rapidly dwindling through the hourglass, Hunter Hermione hightails it back to Saba, throws the black frock on over her work blouse and skirt – yep, zip does up – and puts it on the visa. The sales assistant, noticing that Hunter Hermione is a little flustered and distracted, suggests she pick up a tangerine belt to brighten the otherwise plain dress. Hunter Hermione agrees, because there’s nothing else she has in her cupboard to brighten up the outfit – another hundred dollars later, she’s out of the store, with debt on her credit card and a sinking feeling that she’s going to look as bland as a bowl of mashed potato on Friday night. Friday night rolls around and Hunter Hermione feels as uninspiring as she looks. The dress is alright, but it’s a bit loose around the bust and she’s had to pad it out with chicken fillets. The belt, a pretty colour in its own right, is swamped by the overwhelming blackness of the outfit and looks just plain silly. Hunter Hermione only has two bags, subscribing to the ‘investment dressing’ view which states that you should buy less and of greater quality. Faced with the choice between a black Oroton tote and a Country Road hobo in beige, Hunter Hermione opts for the Oroton. The bag is too large for the outfit and swamps the dress, which just adds to Hunter Hermione’s feeling that this outfit isn’t working. But too late, Hunky Hank is knocking at the door and she has to go. Hunky Hank wonders what he’s done wrong – Hunter Hermione is in a filthy mood and he can’t work out why. At the restaurant, three other women are wearing the same dress as Hunter Hermione. She has never felt less fabulous in her whole life, and wishes that she hadn’t talked herself out of buying that red silk dress Gatherer Gertrude had spied for her during the post Christmas sales. Hunter Hermione’s mood doesn’t pick at all, and by desert, she’s wishing that she was at home, in her sensible Peter Alexander stripy Pyjamas, eating her weight in hazelnut gelato. Which is exactly where she is an hour after the desert course, Hunky Hank having decided that Hunter Hermione must be tired and needs to have a good night of undisturbed rest in her own bed.

Now this is all a teensy bit exaggerated – but I’m sure you get the picture. The budget conscious Recessionista should always take up a bargain where and when she sees it, if she can afford it. There’s a lot to be said for taking a ‘store cupboard’ approach to your wardrobe – gathering fashion’s nuts and berries and storing them away for a fruitless season. Like my grandmother who Vacoloa-ed summer peaches and apricots, I like to think of the little things that we buy when we see them – a pretty dress on sale, an antique broach – as building a bountiful wardrobe so that when we do have that special dinner, or that important presentation, or that spring wedding, to go to, we can pull together a stunning outfit with minimal effort and minimal cost. That way, when you’re asked where you got your fabulous outfit on the way to the ladies, you can utter the line that all true fashionistas aspire to utter:

‘oh this? I’ve had it for years, it’s fabulous isn’t it?’

Proving that, not only are you chic, but you are timeless and effortless as well. And that’s not half bad for something you found behind the column heater.