Do you ever walk into your closet overflowing with clothes, look around and say, "I have NOTHING to wear."  I'm just guessing here, but I imagine everybody says that at one time or another.

Sometimes, there are good reasons.  You just lost a lot of weight, and you haven't been shopping for new clothes yet.  Or you've put on just enough extra pounds, that those clothes that used to fit perfectly really are a bit too snug; and you need new togs.

But usually the reason is closer to purely haphazard "I just want something new and different" kind of shopping that occasionally takes over even the most pragmatic among us.  And then results in "why the &*#@ did I ever buy this?" 

But hand in hand with what I'll dub "mindless shopping" is the quantity vs. quality mindset.  Now I know my readers have exquisite taste, and you would never dream of buying a bunch of cheap stuff, just to be "buying."  But that's not the case for many people.  Far too many are caught up in the "more is better" mindset.  Look at the popularity of some chain restaurants that are into HUGE portions but questionable quality.

And look at the popularity of Stacy and Clinton on "What Not To Wear."  When they're throwing out the entire contents of someone's closet, it's not just because the hapless woman doesn't know how to dress herself in the most becoming style.  It's often because it's a closet filled with cheap, poorly made  garbage, that she never should have even considered in the first place.

I grew up with a mom that taught me from a wee age that it's ALL about quality.  Her saying when I was young - " If you have $100 you don't buy ten things for $10, you buy one beautiful well-made piece."  It's the way the French fill their closets.  It's a well known fact that French women have far less clothes than their American counterparts.  But they're the ones who are always held up as the models of style - the chicest of the chic.  Why?  Yes, they do seem to have a "gene" for knowing how to put an ensemble together; but beyond that, they buy the finest they can afford.  And if they can't afford it at the time, they wait, save up, and then purchase.  But it's all about quality.

Many years ago, right after I graduated from college and I was in my first job, I found the most exquisite Calvin Klein suit on sale for 50% off it's original price.  Now it was still expensive to me - in fact, it was FAR too expensive for me.  But it was made of the most gorgeous lightweight Italian wool, and the jacket fit like it was bespoke.  I truly fell in love with it - and decided to charge it on my one and only credit card (not something I would normally advise anyone to do) and take it home right then - lest someone else snap it up.

Why am I telling you about an expensive suit I bought almost thirty years ago?  I still have it.   I still wear it.  And I still love it.  And it still looks like a million bucks!

Granted, it was a lucky purchase.  The style at the time didn't have the massive shoulder pads that came later in the decade, and would have dated it to the point of being unwearable.  The skirt went through many iterations: long to short, to shorter - to - I finally gave it way.  But the jacket: so classic, so beautifully cut and tailored, that it holds up today.  And because I've never worn it on a consistent basis - maybe only a few times a season -  I've never tired of it.

Yes, it truly is all about quality.