Clean Up, Let Go, & Move On

Tidy up your belongings = tidy up your mind

The luxury consignment shop is a museum of unwanted memories. Women consign these goods not for extra cash, usually, but to rid themselves of items that no longer suit their current season in life.

Pre-loved by Asian housewives, cliquey hockey moms, and Slavic sugar babies, the dresses from forgotten galas and bags gifted in bygone relationships are relics of good times. Even as a buyer, walking into a consignment shop brings about a sense of not just nostalgia but catharsis. Every piece of Bottega leather or Hermès silk is evidence that a woman once said, “I am ready to let go of the good to make room for the better.”

Material holds emotions. For instance, whenever I wear the wool scarf hand-knit by my best friend, I feel not just warmer around my neck, but also my heart. I think this is true for all possessions, and so, what you want to own is fundamentally a question about what emotions you want to wrap your day-to-day in. Your ownership pattern is an expression of your values: what you keep shows what you care about. The state of your room, your closet, your vanity, and your bookshelf display who you are becoming.

Music Room II, Edward Gordon (2005). I REALLY want to own a piece by Gordon in the near future.