Five Ideas For Your Career Wardrobe After You Retire.
By Karen and Erica
We loved our wardrobes. We always felt that one of the great advantages women had in the workplace was the ability to expand their colors and patterns from blue and black to pink and red and turquoise and emerald, and from pinstripes to checks and paisleys and polka dots and animal prints. (Men can do that with a tiny sliver of fabric slung around their necks but they seem to have given that up too. A mistake. Compare what medieval kings wore with the “dapper mustard and brown suit” worn by the Duke of Windsor in the twentieth century. Where’s the fun, not to mention elegance, in mustard and brown houndstooth?)
That advantage exists forever, even, or especially, after you retire. But once your career is over, unless you plan to spend your waking hours serving on boards, you will not need your entire business wardrobe. So what to do?
We found that cleaning our closets put a little bit of an exclamation point on our new status as retired women, and at first it was a bit uncomfortable. We were admitting that our beloved careers were well and truly over. It’s all part of the mourning process, which is also the process for making a new start. Once we faced up to both reality and opportunity, we started to look forward to a new wardrobe.
When you are ready—which will take a while—go through your closet. Pick out things you really can’t bear to part with, things you are pretty happy to part with, and things in the middle.
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Restyle Your Favorites. If you are creative, think about refashioning your favorites. Once you are out of the corporate work you can be a little more flexible in how you look. We still wear our best suit jackets as blazers, and suit trousers with different tops. If we were creative would recreate some of our clothes—adding layers to skirts or ribbons on shirts or sparkling sequins on jackets. We have visions of what we might do with sparkly or neon paint for fabric. Or taking apart costume jewelry and sewing sparkly bits on to severe business jackets—or fake pearls around the neckline of a black top. Maybe we can find someone more creative than we are to help!
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Give The Others Away. Some clothes you will be ready to say goodbye to—those things you wore when you expected to have a difficult day with difficult people. We gave clothes to Dress for Success and Goodwill and Housing Works. And—we just heard about the Buy Nothing Project. Seems like another way to find a home for your clothes.
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Return To The Brand. Some brands take back their clothes so they can be resold. Check out Eileen Fisher’s Renew project or Coach’s Re(loved).
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Consign The Good Stuff. Take the clothes to a place like Buffalo Exchange. If you have fancy stuff, check out these websites. There are surely lots of local thrift shops in your area that accept clothes, though check any site out ahead of time as they may have restrictive policies.
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Recycle Your Textiles. If some of your clothes are pretty much done—unlike you—recycle them. There are many options, including in NYC dropping them off at your local Greenmarket for textile recycling, which is a big environmental issue.
Your clothes served you well, and you are sorry to give them up. When you do, maybe have a little celebratory lunch with your girlfriends to say goodbye to your old life. And to start to think about the fun you will have creating a new look for a new purpose.
Tell us how you have restructured your wardrobe. Especially if it involves adding buttons and bows and sequins to interesting places!
Surprise! Not everyone lives in New York so only mentioning New York places, events, museums, etc. is very limiting. And Goodwill is a poor charity to support since their admin takes a huge chunk and less goes back to the community. Try recommending Salvation Army.
Surprise! Not everyone lives in New York so only mentioning New York places, events, museums, etc. is very limiting. And Goodwill is a poor charity to support since their admin takes a huge chunk and less goes back to the community. Try recommending Salvation Army.
As a former Librarian, I really enjoyed wearing dresses & skirts (I still do). But the fancier work/interview/meeting attire- I really didn’t need anymore. BUT, my niece did.Her career was just taking off. My own daughter is a flight attendant & has a uniform, nit to mention she is rather fussy. But my niece -when it comes to clothes is kinda like me-not too fussy & willing to try just about anything, clothes-wise. So, every month, she gets a box from me!
As a former Librarian, I really enjoyed wearing dresses & skirts (I still do). But the fancier work/interview/meeting attire- I really didn’t need anymore. BUT, my niece did.Her career was just taking off. My own daughter is a flight attendant & has a uniform, nit to mention she is rather fussy. But my niece -when it comes to clothes is kinda like me-not too fussy & willing to try just about anything, clothes-wise. So, every month, she gets a box from me!
Be Leary of recycling through Goodwill. They send craters of clothing to Africa (think photos of kids in small villages wearing Yankees hats) and are destroying the local textile industries. Better to find an organization that actually distributes clothing locally.
Be Leary of recycling through Goodwill. They send craters of clothing to Africa (think photos of kids in small villages wearing Yankees hats) and are destroying the local textile industries. Better to find an organization that actually distributes clothing locally.
Also, it helps if your next-door-neighbor contracts to have a monthly pick up from Amvets!
Also, it helps if your next-door-neighbor contracts to have a monthly pick up from Amvets!
My daughter is a reseller and has her own on-line business (https://poshmark.com/closet/alexathrifts). Donating your items to small businesses can help on so many levels including supporting (mostly women) entrepreneurs. My daughter is able to provide beautiful pieces for a fraction of the price to people who would not usually be able to afford them. Plus, reselling is a means of not having items go to the landfills, so there is definitely an environmental advantage for reselling. During this pandemic, she has been able to grow her business through donations. In retirement, I am lucky enough to be able to work for her (paid in love).
My daughter is a reseller and has her own on-line business (https://poshmark.com/closet/alexathrifts). Donating your items to small businesses can help on so many levels including supporting (mostly women) entrepreneurs. My daughter is able to provide beautiful pieces for a fraction of the price to people who would not usually be able to afford them. Plus, reselling is a means of not having items go to the landfills, so there is definitely an environmental advantage for reselling. During this pandemic, she has been able to grow her business through donations. In retirement, I am lucky enough to be able to work for her (paid in love).
As a college president and then foundation executive, I enjoyed shopping with my daughter, who has always loved fashion. Now I am enjoying my "bonus years" with a new casual wardrobe. I gave away most of my professional clothes to another college president and took the rest to Gift and Thrift, where the proceeds go to world hunger. In the meantime, my daughter has started a new business called KindYouFind. She does personal shopping among second-hand stores and loves helping put together new looks to help express someone’s style. When I went back as a consultant to a college recently, I was wearing the best-looking jacket of my career. Sourced by my daughter, of course.
As a college president and then foundation executive, I enjoyed shopping with my daughter, who has always loved fashion. Now I am enjoying my "bonus years" with a new casual wardrobe. I gave away most of my professional clothes to another college president and took the rest to Gift and Thrift, where the proceeds go to world hunger. In the meantime, my daughter has started a new business called KindYouFind. She does personal shopping among second-hand stores and loves helping put together new looks to help express someone’s style. When I went back as a consultant to a college recently, I was wearing the best-looking jacket of my career. Sourced by my daughter, of course.
Such wonderful stories and ideas. Thanks!
Can the current ‘uniform’ of sweat pants/leggings be described as a ‘wardrobe?’
Can the current ‘uniform’ of sweat pants/leggings be described as a ‘wardrobe?’
Hi!
My daughters & I have a designated person we give clothing to & she is truly grateful.
I used to give to Goodwill or Salvation Army, but heard their admin costs are high &
not really much of a charity, when one of them does not support gay rights! Sometimes
the county or a religious organization sponsors free clothing drives/outlets – that’s the way to go!
The prices in Goodwill/Salvation Army actually are high for used clothing – you can buy new at
outlets for less! Donate where they don’t resell the items – they give them away free of charge –
that charity!
Hi!
My daughters & I have a designated person we give clothing to & she is truly grateful.
I used to give to Goodwill or Salvation Army, but heard their admin costs are high &
not really much of a charity, when one of them does not support gay rights! Sometimes
the county or a religious organization sponsors free clothing drives/outlets – that’s the way to go!
The prices in Goodwill/Salvation Army actually are high for used clothing – you can buy new at
outlets for less! Donate where they don’t resell the items – they give them away free of charge –
that charity!
I gave some clothes to my college age granddaughter who is becoming a teacher. She is wearing one of my blazers to interview at a school today.