Witch's Wardrobe Challenge

So, armed with the knowledge that the weekend had suddenly and joyously doubled in length and the car was still running, albeit with only half an exhaust pipe, Witch went to see the 'rents yesterday.

Big Witch was there too. Joined us for lunch at a little Italian deli.

"Have you ordered mine yet?" she asked, wrestling with an impossibly large and ridiculously patent Chloe handbag. "Oh, great. No, I'll just have a hot water."
She rummaged around inside the enormous Chloe and produced an unusual-looking teabag.

Big Witch: several years my senior; impossibly trendy; works for a big glossy; likes handbags, smells, books and buying sofas on ebay; keeping them for two weeks before deciding she doesn't like them and selling them on (usually for a profit). Also has witchy hair (a la West End Witch) and is snobbish about tea.

We had a mooch around the shops. I was beginning to tire a little of being dragged around stores where the price tags had to be big enough for four figures. Lately I had begun to tire of the drab old selection in my closet. I felt as if I had nothing to wear but no budget to solve the problem. I voiced this concern to Big Witch and she suggested getting the summer wardrobe out.

"It's not that warm yet," I said.
"No, but you can play around with layering," she replied, fingering a Paul and Joe skirt. "Try it. You've got loads of clothes. And some of them you haven't seen for six months. It'll be like having a new wardrobe."

I thought about what Big Witch had said when I got home. She might just be onto something. I crawled under the bed and pulled out the two big bags of necessaries and fripperies that had lain there hidden for half a year.

She was right. All the summer sillies were there - strappy little pieces of nothing and flimsy bits of chiffon, but there were also a few dresses that were warm enough to wear now with a sweater and the right shoes. What was this? A dear little Forties tea frock I had found a couple of years ago on Brick Lane? Marvellous. And this cute sample from a warehouse somewhere in North London that I had altered to fit? I had forgotten about that, too. Oh, joy!

A little-known fact about West End Witch: I collect dresses. Designer, high street, thrift, home-made - I don't care. I am obsessed with dresses. Fortunately I have so many that when I pulled them out of the bags, it was like having a new wardrobe.

Which got me thinking. We wear 20% of our wardrobe 80% of the time. Kind of shows that there are a lot of sad little numbers sitting at the back of our closets, waiting to be picked. I wondered how long I could go without wearing the same thing twice...

I think I am going to set myself a challenge. I'll have to set some rules and allowances, of course - I'd have to repeat shoes and underwear, and maybe I'd have to exclude rehearsal gear from the equation, but I reckon I could do a fair stretch. In this time of credit crisis, wouldn't it make sense?

Right. I'm going to do it. As soon as I've figured out the finer details of my plan, I'll let you know.