Naked Lady

One woman’s old clothes…

…are another women’s new wardrobe!

I scored the above stacks of clothes last night while hosting a clothes exchange party.   There were only a handful of women there but we still managed to pull together a small mountain of clothes through which to sort, swap, and “shop”.

New sweater! New boots! 🙂

I’ve been hosting and attending these parties for over a dozen years and am always pleased at the outcome.  There’s something about a group of women getting together and trying on clothes (these parties are often called “Naked Lady”) that is very playful and creates a nice camaraderie.  Wine don’t hurt neither. 😉

There is also something very satisfying to me, especially in this season of consumerism, to just trade.  No money, no receipts, no gift bags, no return policies, just straight up offering what you don’t want and choosing things you do.

We all went home with some treasures last night and the three (!) garbage bags of clothes that weren’t claimed will be donated to the Salvation Army.

Do you wear/buy used clothes? I’ve always shopped at thrift stores and traded with my sisters and girl-friends.  I am attracted to the thriftiness, environmental aspect, and the ability to get more unique clothes.  Of course, I will never claim to be very fashionable or on top of trends, I just wear what makes me feel good, is comfortable, and functional.

Have you ever hosted an exchange party?  It doesn’t have to be clothes, last night was also open to books, jewelry, stuff in general.   I’ve often thought that a kitchen stuff exchange would be fun, we all have appliances and things around that we just don’t utilize.