I am now in London where I plan to be based for a while, and moving has been inspiring some breakthroughs, in terms of understanding myself better and also coming up with life hacks.

I will share them here over the next couple of weeks (there is still that War and Peace post I promised about Holland vs UK, I remember!). Let me start with the shallowest and the smallest.

You can not live in London and not be aware of fashion. It’s another official language of the capital – impeccable, achingly cool, highly individual, yet with subtle commonalities recognisable to others in the tribe. Londoners may be wearing absolutely mismatched things, second hand head to toe (or vintage as they say here) or something out-of-this-world eccentric, but it will work and it will look cool. Fashion in London is a work of art, a way of self expression, something taken as seriously as oral hygiene and afternoon tea.

As a result, shopping is a serious business here, and choice is enormous. It’s hard not to get sucked into the world of fast fashion and find yourself spending a lot on clothes and accessories. It’s equally hard to resist the appeal of luxurious brands (‘it’s an investment, baby’). Londoners make it look so easy.

There is planet, there is budget, there is limited storage space and there is not wanting to spend your hard earned pounds on smth you will only wear once. So here is my newly invented life hack – have a theme.

Decide what you are this year and buy only essentials that fit into the theme. The theme may be on fashion or not. As long as it works for you. My theme for this year is 3MS – Military, Matrix, Minimalist and Sci fi. Year is important because it protects you from seasonality of fast fashion. Essentials is another key word – only buy items that you need to fill the gap in your wardrobe. If you never wear skirts, don’t buy one. If you have 5 polo necks, you probably don’t need another one. If you have an item that does not go with anything, but you want to keep it, buy something to go with it. And so on.

Shopping when you have a theme is easy – you don’t overspend and you are in control. No to this girlie retro coat, no matter how cute or soft it is. No to these great shiny opulent heels. Yes to the grey chunky sweater (Matrix) and cool Alexander Wang like top (Minimalist).

Life simplified. Happy 🙂