A passion for fashion that's cheap

Apart from necessities such as underwear and trainers, the 35-year-old declared she would not add to her wardrobe for a year. Photo / Doug Sherring

The wardrobe full of new clothes was a short-term fix. Carolyn Taylor felt like a fraud.

The former What Now presenter and Celebrity Treasure Island contestant was spending up to $8000 a year on clothes and it was hurting more than her bank balance. It was killing her dreams. No more, she decided.

Apart from necessities such as underwear and trainers, the 35-year-old declared she would not add to her wardrobe for a year.

The break ended this winter and, $5000 better off, Taylor is planning a month-long holiday in Europe. Another $6000 saved paid for her to move back to Auckland from Melbourne.

Taylor decided to go cold turkey on clothes spending because she wanted to travel.

She was never one for big labels - her most-expensive single purchase was an $800 ball gown and her best bargain was a $600 dress she found at the Salvation Army shop for $40.

But the number of transactions limited her travels to Australia, Bali and several Pacific Islands.

"I thought, 'What was stopping me doing that?' It was because I've been irresponsible with money and tied myself into a life that was awesome but was not allowing the freedom to get away from it."

The second half of last year and the first half of this year were a clothes-buying sabbatical, but she still kept up with fashion.

On her blog Fashionista Fail and matching Instagram account, Taylor documented her journey, including uploading a daily photo of an outfit created from her existing wardrobe.

Fashion magazines told her she already had many "new-look" clothes they were promoting and she got columnist gigs at Cleo and Newmarket magazines.

The blog was less about fashion than talking about the pressure to have it all, she said.

"Our generation has a lot of pressure to have everything. Fashionista Fail was about looking like a million bucks, without earning a million bucks.

"I realised shopping was an emotional thing. It's a superficial feel-good, a vanity feel-good. It doesn't heal the heart."