I've met someone and I'm curious.
Well, by "met someone," I haven't actually met her, it's just that, if you're in this instagramming world like me, you can quickly get a sense of someone and a few months ago i was lured into the moody, minimalist yet uplifting Instagram (IG) feed of Dominique and we've been chatting ever since. She's an instagram friend:) If you check out her IG feed and 'All That is She' blog you will see what it is about her aesthetic that drew me in; her beautiful depiction of everyday scenes,the risk-taking, the styling, her fabulous grey hair moments...it's all kinda mystical yet everyday-ish at the same time... but there's more- she's a real life mum that lives from a 36 piece wardrobe! Are you feeling my curiousity? I had to find out more. I had some questions to ask...here goes, join me won't you....
R: Hi Dominique, as you know, I'm kinda intrigued by you.... i'm fascinated and love that a normal-mum-type person like you is pulling off this living with 'less stuff'. Let's kick things off with a brief lowdown on your family and life.
D: If I'm honest, we're really not all that exciting. There's my partner (Dominic – yep, that means we're both called Dom) he is self-employed and works from home, Amelia (9), Penny (2.5) and me. I stay at home with the girls and takes a plethora of cups of tea photos, among any other Instagrammable things I can find. Currently, we're living with my mam while our new house is renovated, but hopefully we should be moved in by the end of the month. Then I'm hoping the whirlwind will calm and normality will begin again.
R: For over a year now I've been trying to get rid of excess clothing so that there is more space physically (and mentally) for play and the important stuff, but oh my, I have never been disciplined enough to strip it down to 30-40 piece capsule wardrobe.
What is your motivation to live with a capsule wardrobe and how, oh HOW do you stay disciplined?
D: I first heard the concept 'capsule wardrobe' last year, when I accidentally stumbled across 'Un-fancy'. This girl had a style I could relate to and that I really admired, but yet she did this with only 37 items in her wardrobe. After the initial shock (even with a bulging wardrobe, I struggled to pull so many outfits together), I started questioning my own shopping tactics and my attitude towards clothes?
I'm now into my fourth season of living with a capsule wardrobe and I feel it gets easier each time. My motivation is simply that, I love it. There is not one part of living with a capsule wardrobe that I don’t enjoy. There's less fuss, less mess and less stress. You'd be surprised what difference it makes to your day, when you can pick your outfit quickly and easily every morning.
Apart from the first, initial month the discipline side is something I've never struggled with. I always hated shopping - dragging children out of other peoples changing rooms whilst apologising profusely to a semi-naked woman, was not the Saturdays of fun I had in mind – so reducing those trips to just four a year is heavenly. It helps free your thoughts, so that you can think of other more productive things. Before I started, I was constantly thinking about clothes, I always thought that I needed more. The urge to shop never weakened, no matter how much I bought and even the weekly trip to the supermarket would result in me browsing the clothing rails - clothes and shopping consumed me. My wardrobe soon became a bottomless pit; no matter how much I crammed in, it was never enough to make me happy.
Nowadays, I carefully select what I buy, love each and every single item and feel fantastic in all of my clothes. For me, less is definitely more and sticking to something that you enjoy, is easy. And if you do start to stray, think of all the money you wasted on clothing you didn’t really need or want, save it up and treat yourself to something that will actually benefit you instead (spa day, mini break, books)
R: Is there anyone / thing/ idea / book in your life that has inspired you?
D: It's a collective of all the above. Reading a book about slow/minimal living is definitely on my agenda of things to do though. I feel like I am only scratching the surface right now, so would like to explore the idea in more depth and see if I can improve my way of life even more. What probably inspires me most right now, is other Instagram accounts. People like @allthingsalij, @caroline_joy, @helena.moore and @me_and_orla are all feeds worth checking out.
R: Amazing!! Have you got a number one tip for someone ready to take the plunge?
D: If you are looking to start a capsule wardrobe or at least, minimise the wardrobe you currently own, then my best piece of advice is to be truthful to yourself. Be brutal. Do you really need it, do you feel good in it and if you haven't worn it in the last year, you probably never will.
When it comes to life in general, I once read an article about not giving too many f***'s. Basically, you set yourself a daily limit and you're not allowed to exceed that amount. It helps you to stop sweating the little, insignificant things and only give a f*** about the things that actually matter. For example: you burn your toast on a morning, you have two options 1) curse and shout at your toaster, throw your toast into the bin in temper and write off the rest of the day as being shit. 2) put your toast in the bin, put another slice in the toaster, adjust the dial and forget about it. In the scheme of things, burnt toast isn't a big deal (there's people in the world who don’t even get a chance to burn toast), so don’t use one of your f***'s up on it. Everytime you feel stressed, angry or upset, ask yourself; does it really matter, is it worth giving a f*** about?
R: What is 'slow living' and what does it mean to you and your family?
D: To me 'slow-livinlow-living' is all about living in the present, the here and now. It's about taking the time to notice the world around us and to enjoy our lives.
I'd be a liar if I said our family life was as slow as I would like it to be, it's not. Living with parents, renovating a house, working, Instagramming and squeezing in activities with the kids when we can, all make it extremely difficult not to feel like we're all trapped in a hamster wheel. Once we're settled in the new house and when we don’t have to think about what tiles we want, or what size doors we need, I've made a promise to myself that I will press the pause button and slow things right down again. Until then, I am still trying to steal those small, precious moments as much as possible – eating together every night (no phones allowed), taking walks, using those spare few moments to enjoy the quiet and turning off the noise.
R: What is your hope or dream for your beauty of a blog and it's impact on those who read?
D: Firstly, I hope to get back into a routine of writing posts more frequently. I've been stuck in a six month writers block, that I can't seem to break free from. Once I've done that, I hope to share more about my wardrobe, what went well, what didn’t, how I plan to improve it and I suppose as it's a blog, anything else I want to blabber on about. I've read some incredibly heart-warming comments on my Instagram recently from followers who enjoy seeing my wardrobe posts and that certainly gives me the boost I need to continue doing what I do.
Fortunately for me, Dominque likes many of the Lines & Current pieces and I've had the honour of watching her style them on her feed and welcoming them into her Spring Capsule. Please check out Dominque's blog "All That is She" here & follow on IG here.