Confessions of a reformed maximalist

Words Emma Vidgen // @emma_vee

It’s a very special episode this week with Wayward co-founder Sarah joining me on the couch to discuss her own mindful fashion journey. The youngest member of our Wayward crew, Sarah’s four-month-old son Yuki also makes an appearance.

Before leaving her job in magazine publishing and taking off overseas to become a full time digital nomad in 2016, Sarah had an EPIC wardrobe - actually three wardrobes to be precise! She was the kind of person you rarely saw wearing the same thing twice. Fearless with colour, prints and texture, Sarah’s always had FUN with fashion and would try almost anything once.

In this episode she chats about what her relationship to fashion and shopping was before she traded it all in for a simpler life, and the unexpected realisations she had when the time came to part with 80 per cent of her wardrobe, pack her bags and hit the road. “It started with a Kondo-style cull, but after two or three rounds of ‘finding joy’ I started to realise other faults in my wardrobe. Like, sure that hot pink mini sparked a lot of joy and gave definite Barbie vibes, but it was also made for someone with a much longer torso, had always kind of clung to my thighs and was actually pretty crappy quality. It’s only redeeming quality was that it was ‘fun’ and on trend. The more ruthless I got, the more I realised just how poorly made, and ill-fitting a lot of my clothes were (thanks mass manufacturing!) and even that was a real eye-opener for me.”

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to stay up to date and tune in next week to learn what to pack when you’re planning on going travelling indefinitely, and discover how Sarah’s relationship to shopping and personal style evolved when she became a full-time wanderer with no fixed address.

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