Shopping the wishlist

I went back to the wishlists I made on my no-buy to see if they matched what I subsequently bought.

Liberty pyjamas.Silk, Tana Lawn, Tana Lawn. Never not in love with these prints.

I thought it might be interesting to revisit the wishlists I made during my 2024/25 12 month no-buy, to see if I actually ended up with the things I felt I needed when I couldn’t get them. My plan in making a wishlist was to try to notice what I felt was missing, and it’s worth noting that I didn’t ever feel deprived while I was doing the no-buy: I just felt that some things might make spring and autumn easier, and also noticed the things I wore all the time that I wouldn’t mind having more of.

This is what I wrote last spring. This was a kind of fantasy, rebuild your wardrobe list, leaning heavily into the idea of having an entirely seperate wardrobe for spring, the way I do for summer and winter. I did buy some of the pieces from the list: linen from Not Perfect Linen, and a light sweater from Artknit.

Here is a wishlist I made before the end of the no-buy and I’m going to quote from it:

I’ve mentioned before that the items on my rolling clothing wishlist didn’t really roll: I didn’t change my mind. These are the things that I kept coming back to throughout the no-buy year.

• Liberty Tana Lawn pyjamas.

  Want, not need. Would wear all summer. Plan to get at some point.

  I bought another pair with a hefty discount, and have already worn them quite a bit. I never wear them as a set, but always separately. This was a no-brainer after last summer: I wore the pair I had so much that every day I wasn’t wearing them i wished I was. I find something very reassuring about having both a top and a bottom of a print I really love hanging on the rail looking gorgeous. I wouldn’t ever wear both pieces together as they are quite oversized. My first pair of Liberty pyjamas were/are silk, and I imagined my perfect life to be swanning around in various pairs of them, but actually I love the practicality of the cotton ones. But silk or cotton, these are pieces that serve me very well indeed.

• Linen shirt.

  Want, not need. Would wear all spring, summer and autumn. Plan to get at some point.

  I ordered a shirt from Not Perfect Linen, one of their new models, and now plan to replace some of my old ones as needed - I love the graceful, structural shape of the Elmina (I asked them to add a shirt collar), and suspect that shirts will serve me well this spring/summer. Linen shirts are invaluable as a piece of clothing in their own right, and as an extra layer, more informal than a jacket. I’ve been wearing a sleeveless linen top under a shirt as an ideal spring combination, and I like how the structure of the top isn’t squashed into the softness of a conventional cardigan.

• Linen set (pants and sleeveless top).

  Want, not need. Would wear all spring, summer and autumn. Plan to get at some point.

  My deal here was that I wanted to see if Not Perfect Linen came up with a printed floral for summer in a colour way that worked for me, and they did. I loved this spring’s chambray blooms, so ordered a pair of trousers and a top. I’m very into the idea of summer coords that aren’t actual pyjamas, but also both pieces add a bit of pattern when paired with my other linen bits.

• Thin long-sleeved underlayer(s).

  Want, not need. Would wear all winter. Plan to get at some point.

  Here I had told myself sternly that I didn’t need to take advantage of Intimissimi’s 4-for-3 promotion, as I didn’t need more than a couple. But I did take advantage of it and wore them all the time and have no regrets. These are very thin, warm underlayers, and having them in a variety of colours gave me a lot of joy. No regrets.

• Cotton or linen sweater.

  Want, not need. Would wear spring and autumn. Will get if the right one presents itself.

  I already knew that the right one was a boxy blue linen number from Artknit, that I felt was more than I wanted to spend on a category of clothing I felt slightly ambivalent about. I kept seeing cheaper versions, but always reminded myself that the Artknit one was nicer, and as I have in the past not enjoyed cotton sweaters (too bulky in the heat, not warm enough in the chill), I was holding out for the perfect one. When it ended up substantially reduced in the archive sale, I snapped it up and love it. This has been my most worn piece of clothing this spring, as soon as the weather skews slightly damper or chiller. I’ve worn it with jeans at the weekend, with linen trousers for everyday, with silk pants for smartness. I don’t regret not buying a cheaper or heavier version, because I’m still not sure I would have worn one - I think this fluid linen number is exactly what U need.

• Mid-weight knit jacket.

  Want, not need. Would wear spring and autumn. Will get if the right one presents itself.

  I just couldn’t figure out what I wanted here, and I’m not sure I ever will. I like the idea but I’m not sure if I can commit to the reality.

• Black cashmere (or wool) hip-length cardigan.

  Want, not need. Would wear all winter. Will get if the right one presents itself.

  I kind of got this, in that I had ordered two sizes of a green men’s cardigan as a Christmas present, and missed the window for sending the wrong size back, so ended up keeping it myself, this fulfilling my criteria for a long cardigan. I had ordered a short black recycled cashmere cardigan from Rifò which is my ideal cardigan shape so I don’t feel as though I need another black one. I feel as though the search for the perfect black cardigan was one that carried me all the way through my original no-buy, and I didn’t get it, but am happier with what I got in the end. The original perfect black cashmere cardigan lives on as the layer I reach for instead of a dressing gown at home, even though the pockets are hanging off and it is more holes than fabric.

• Ballet flats or closed sandals.

  Want, not need. Would wear spring and autumn. Will get if the right one presents itself AND IT DID.

  Ordered silver ballet flats from Penelope Chilvers which are gorgeous but possibly slightly too neat. Decided the wear the friulane I have, and was given another pair for my birthday. Have fully embraced the friulane life. I feel as though last year I was all about the clumpy footwear, and this year I’m going for something distinctly more girly, but soon it will be time for my beloved clumpy sandals again.

After the no-buy ended last summer, it took me a couple of months before I actually started buying anything again. I never put them on any wishlist, but I had missed not having knit dresses, so I acquired a couple of those and wore them a lot during the winter, and I also realised that I would wear another pair of cropped wide-leg cords. All of these no-brainer good clothes strangely helped me navigate the constant switching between home/work/hospital visits; I care about my clothes, but I didn’t have the brain space to think about them, so just being able to grab beautiful, practical clothes allowed me to show up knowing that I at least looked put-together, and that helped me feel a bit more pulled-together.

What I really noticed, and continue to notice, is that the no-buy helped me realise what I really loved in my wardrobe: if you are no longer introducing new wild cards into your wardrobe, and you keep wearing the same things and never feel as though you don’t have enough choice, then there are lessons to be learned. Also, trends, passing fancies… all these passed me by because I couldn’t buy into them or have my head turned by them.

Spring/summer clothes on the rack in my bedroom. A tight palette and a lot of pattern.

Almost everything I have bought since the clothes no-buy ended and I started another in January of this year has been a version of something I have worn for years and know will work in my wardrobe, and has come from a few favoured retailers. I feel as though my determination to buy from brands that I believe in has become more rigid, so that if some piece of clothing catches my eye, I’m less likely to just buy it, but will go to my favourite websites to check out if they have anything along those lines. The linen sweater from Artknit that I bought recently had been on my wishlist ever since I first saw it, and I’ve worn it solidly since I got it. I think there’s always a danger with new things that their sparkly newness just makes you want to wear them all the time, but sometimes you realise that you want to wear them all the time because they are exactly the thing you needed, and you were completely right to think it was worth breaking bending the terms of your nobuy to have it (to be fair to myself, I built in a couple of provisos to this year’s, which allowed me to buy the pieces from Not Perfect Linen).

I’m not much of an an accessories person: I have been wearing the same scarf every day this spring, and I am not the kind of person who is going to think a belt or a bag will transform a meh outfit. I love my bags and scarves, but I don’t change them up to change an outfit. Shoes will do that, but bags and scarves are more seasonal signifiers; I’ve pulled my basket bag out now, and that will accompany me through the summer.

Quite old basket bag, Liberty pyjamas from last year, this year’s linen shirt and friulane

Quite old silk Liberty pyjamas, this year’s linen sweater, last years friulane.

Quite old basket bag, jeans and shirt, last year’s friulane. One of the things that makes me happy about this outfit is pushing the blue to extremes: into purple at one end and emerald/teal at the other.

In conclusion: wishlists are fun, and I particularly like making them when I’m on a self-imposed no-buy. But mine are too garment-oriented, and really what I ended up buying reflected more how I wanted to feel: I didn’t have the knit dresses on a wish list because I was too caught up in chasing down the perfect black cardigan, but what I really wanted was the ease of pulling on one piece of clothing and feeling pulled-together with minimum effort. But this knowledge probably won’t stop me throwing together wishlists again.