3 Keepers & a Regret: Kelly Williams
She writes us 'formulas' for getting dressed. Not one of them explains what she kept.
3 Keepers and a Regret is a recurring series on Retail Therapy on Substack where I ask people I admire to name 3 things they’d fight to keep — bought, inherited, stolen — and 1 thing they regret.
For a beat you could look at Kelly Williams of Midimalist fame and imagine that we’re similar. We both went to journalism school and had professors who tried to scare us out of the field. Neither of us is a reporter now. The difference is I still tried.
I insisted on reporting until I got tired of being objective. I wanted a seat at the table so I could share my opinionated POV. I can’t shake the skills that make you a good reporter, like eavesdropping and asking questions that make people squirm. You can’t make assumptions, either. Everything has to be considered, checked and verified. Which means when I’m shopping, everything has possibilities. Nothing is a no.
Meanwhile Kelly built something steadier, “living somewhere between minimalism and maximalism.” When she’s standing in front of something desirable, I imagine her ease and effervescence. She already knows the answer.
I’m so jealous I could scream. I’ve lost count of the stores that closed while I was still inside. The item may not be there tomorrow, so I made the purchase. Only to decide to return it before I’ve even made it home to try it on. Hello all clothing from Costco, I’m talking to you.
Not Kelly. She can tell us — and herself — when we’re done shopping. She knows when it’s time to shop in her closet. I don’t know how to be done. I’m not sure I want to.
Three Keepers
3 things you’d fight to keep — bought, inherited, stolen
No. 1 — black cotton dress from my mom
My first keep is a simple black cotton dress that I stole from my mom's closet years ago. It's an obscure brand that would probably return some interesting second-hand results but it fits perfectly with a built in tie at the waist. The shape of the dress has held up so well over the years and the color hasn't faded at all which definitely says something about the way clothes were made in previous generations. Every time I wear it, I feel very 90s Posh Spice (which my 8 year old self would be thrilled with) and, of course, I think of my mom every time I put it on.
No. 2 — Converse sneakers
As a junior in college I took a group of middle-school girls to camp for the summer and wore a pair of very on-trend Converse sneakers for the week. If you thought I took kids to camp simply out of the goodness of my heart, you'd be wrong because my boyfriend was also a counselor for the summer and getting to see him multiple times a day was a thrill. Sitting around one day, he wrote an inscription on my sneakers that has *magically* stayed after all these years. The boyfriend became my husband and Converse sneakers fade in and out of style but mine will always, always be the first thing I rescue from my closet.
No. 3 — daughter’s charm bracelet
I’ve never been someone who bought or wore fine jewelry but I’ve always loved the idea of having jewelry to hand down to my kids. I’m a massively sentimental person so around the time my first daughter had her first birthday I had an idea to buy her a charm bracelet and a charm to memorialize her first year. Now every year, on her birthday, I get her a charm that represents the previous year. And I will happily buy her a charm every year that she’ll let me.
In recent years, she loves to sit down with me and scroll through the catalog of available charms and brainstorm what one could really represent something special from the year. We love to tell each other stories about each charm and it gives me major nostalgia feels whenever she wears it around. If my house was on fire, I’d battle the blaze for her bracelet (and her sisters).
One Regret
now the regret
My regret is a bit non-traditional because, frankly, I have the chance to rectify this regret all the time. For years I've been tinting my eyebrows at home and- at some point- I promised myself that I would get them microbladed (aka tattooed). Usually my at-home tint wears off after 2-3 weeks and it's about that time that my regret really kicks in.
Why I’m Still Shopping
Really? It could be that easy, huh?
Kelly’s keepers are her people: her mom, her husband and daughters. They’re the subscriptions of her life.
Sorta like me with Radio. Anything and everything that boy wants or needs is his. But he is not spoiled.
Systems be damned, Kelly perfected Retail Therapy. She found something she can buy forever that never comes with regret “every year that she’ll let me.”
She can fix her eyebrows any time she wants, but hasn’t. Meanwhile, I consider the things I couldn’t return. My custom ear plugs. Laser hair removal, done religiously everywhere possible, years before it was the rage. Same for Lasik surgery, to correct my vision. At least the first time.
Thanks to Kelly Williams of Midimalist
When life stops making sense, we shop. More soon.
Excellent take here on the skills of a good reporter. . .and the frustrations. And I learned about microbladed eyebrows. Will be on the look out.
Rani, the intro you queued me up with might just be the kindest words I’ve heard in months. **FLATTERED**
Also, the way you brought all three things back around to people made my hormones leak out my eyeballs.