Paring Down: Case Study #3

In my last post in this series I discussed a few reasons that an item should go, such as:

1. Do not wear
2. Do not like
3. Does not fit (body or wardrobe)
4. Should not wear

To recap, the way I figure these things out is by wearing the item in question.  In the first case, I wore the woodpecker sweater skirt and found out that even though I loved the look of it I felt uncomfortable wearing it. The first three categories applied. In the second case, I concluded that I could not wear the flowy tent-like top the way I was wearing it.  I'm currently holding onto it, but I might sell it on eBay to make room for and enable the buying of a more flattering top. This is the good thing about Anthro items: the resale value on eBay is pretty good.Well, let us move onto a truly embarrassing case:

  

cashmere teal sweater - Moth/Anthro 

black slip - Jockey (remixed)

black skirt - H & M (remixed)

tights - Eloise/Anthro 

earrings - defunct boutique in KC (remixed)

green beads necklace - Target (remixed)

scarf - H & M (remixed)

black wellies - Capelli via Marshalls (remixed)

Why such a dramatic pose?  Am I channeling Raphael's St Catherine of Alexandria (which, to complete your unsolicited iconography lesson of the day, strongly resembles the woman on the cover of a mid-90s Smashing Pumpkins album)? No, I am not in ecstasy.  I am thinking, Why, God, did I do this to myself?

I know I should have gotten rid of this sweater a year ago, but I couldn't.  Look how perfect this particular shade of teal looks on me! Look at it against shades of light green! And it matches every bottom imaginable:  black, brown, jeans, gray! Why do I need to get rid of it?

Did you see it, yet?

There it is.  Public shaming complete.  SFE's #1 rule for paring down: If you think you can't get rid of an item, wear it.  After a day of having to keep my arms clamped by my sides, I am ready to throw it into the rubbish bin (unless any of you have some amazing way to re-knit over the tearing in the armpits, which got even worse yesterday). And the worst thing about this was that I didn't really have time to come home and change, but I had to before SME and I headed to small party. And I didn't have time to change my entire outfit, so I just switched out my sweater, necklace, and boots:

  

cardi - Anthro/Sparrow (remixed)

necklace - Anthro

boots - LOFT (remixed)

Had I not been in a hurry I don't think I would have worn the black, white, and blue tights with the necklace and top.  I probably would've gone with the mauve, white, and red version of them, but I'm glad I varied my look.

 necklace has been doubled

Are any of you secretly holding onto embarrassingly threadbared items because you're too attached to them?