As I Get Older, I Want Fewer – But Nicer - Things

Chanel Ballet Flats Street Style (via Who What Wear)

OK, I LOVE NICE THINGS. Who doesn’t? And, when I do happen to acquire a nice thing, I don’t just keep it ‘for good’, I wear/use/display it, to love and enjoy it, for all of my waking hours. Please note, right from the off, by ‘nice things’ I really mean ‘expensive things’. But as I get older, I want less. Less nice things. Less things in general. Oh, my god, am I becoming a minimalist?

The Perfect Outfit of Nice Things

The idea of driving through life, on a mission to acquire masses of designer goods, is pretty repulsive to me now. But I definitely had a checklist in my youth; a list of symbolic items that would indicate that I had ‘made it’. It included items of clothing, accessories, homes in good locations, artistic things and money. Weirdly, it didn’t include a car. Who knows? I was a mercurial aspirational greedy whippersnapper.

Thandie Newton in Gucci and Grace Jones (via StyleGuideCT)

And yes, I acquired a good many of these things. Did I feel like I had ‘made it’? Not for a bloody second. All it did was make me want more things. I had a Louis Vuitton clutch bag, well I’d best get a Gucci cross body bag next. I have no idea why. Who needs so many bags when I only use the same boring old one every single day.

I may have done some serious shopping in my time. New York haul 2017.

What about a wardrobe bursting at the seams with the latest fashion – fast or furious? I definitely wanted that. And now my joy is most certainly sparked by removing items, freeing up space, creating a void that lightens the load in some strangely liberating way.

Sandals. By Lucie de Moyencourt 2019

If I do acquire something new these days, I try and make it count. A meaningful pen and ink sketch, a much needed winter coat, a replacement pair of Chanel ballet pumps (the only pair of pumps in my wardrobe). Beautiful things, for sure, but acquired only once a month - and with a disciplined one-in-one-out policy.

Louis Vuitton Neverfull. King of Tote Bags.

I don’t want to die knowing I had lovely things but few friends to cherish, no ribald stories to tell, no moments to remember when someone whispered, “I love you” in my ear. Stuff – beautiful or otherwise – holds you back from chasing meaningful moments, based on total honesty. I used to think that nice things would make me feel safe, accepted, important. But I now know that none of those things matter a jot. Freedom is far more important, and sometimes that even means freedom from stuff. Just not my handbags. I need those.