Reduce, Reuse and Recycle: A Guide To Finding Your Style On A Budget - Kutlo Mmereki

The clothes, the shoes and all the outfits that come with them. Fashion to me is like smelling a good brewed cup of coffee, it’s one of God’s many treats to this world. The pursuit of the right outfit to fully express my mood and aesthetic is one of my favourite things. Your style is meant to express the beauty of who you are, not to try and make you someone else’s form of beautiful. 

On the search of finding what works for me; I found three simple steps that always help me when I am redefining my style, that come in a phrase we all know: reduce, reuse, and recycle. My style is a bit eccentric and outlandish, my type of clothes are probably some of the hardest items to come by and these steps have helped - but feel free to add another step or to only follow one! 

Reduce: 

Style is often what you make of it. Your closet is a gateway from your past styles and your future ones. Often the style we are looking for is actually stuck somewhere in the middle of your closet, the area you have grown to see as outdated. When choosing a new style, the first thing to do is go into your closet with a fresh perspective almost like shopping but in your closet. When going through your closet keep a ‘shop mentality’ where if you wouldn’t see yourself wearing it more than twice you don’t keep it. The ‘shop mentality’ also works if you could see yourself customising the item to create an entire new item of clothing. If you find it hard to look at your closet in a new way PRAAY! You are creative, beautiful and can do this with God at your side. That’s how I do it. 

After picking the must keep items, carefully dispose of the remainder of what you don’t need. A hint to doing this is to have exchange parties with your friends, everyone brings items of clothing they no longer want and begin to swap clothes. This has been one of my favourite budget friendly ‘shopping activity’ to do over the years! Another way is to give them away and be a blessing to someone else. 

Reuse: 

Once you have exchanged or given away your clothes, put all the clothes you have left on your bed or your floor (that’s what I do). All your t-shirts, tops etc. laid out on one side and your pants on the other side. Take one of your tops and place them on top of each of your pants until you find a combination or two that works. Then take a photo of the outfit, so that you can have a gallery of outfits you know you will look cute in; this is now your basic outfit. To make the outfit pop add accessories such as earrings, scarfs and head wraps. Continue this with each item of clothing and save the photos!  

Another tip to reusing clothes is take clothes you like a little, that are simple, and customise them to make them unique to you. The type of customisation is dependent on the article of clothing. The rule of thumb is denim can’t be sown on and that t-shirts have no restrictions. 

Recycle: 

This is my favourite part, as this step actually requires my favourite type of shopping - thrift shopping. Thrift shopping is purchasing pre loved clothing at a second hand or vintage store. This shopping has been a key essential in updating my look. Remember that in thrift shopping it is not about the amount of money you have; it’s how you use it. The basics of thrift shopping is 

1. Bring a friend along to be your mirror. 

2. Try on the actual items of clothing to see how it fits on you. 

Thrift shopping allows you to get needed articles of clothing at budget prices. The beauty of thrift shopping is that what one man considers trash another considers treasure! 

Just a reminder that style is only the outward expression of the beauty you have inside. Money isn’t the key ingredient to a great style - your creativity is, use it fully to express YOU! 

Written by Kutlo Mmereki 

Kutlo is a Kingdomcity Youth leader in Gaborone, Botswana.