A major part of staying sane during this crisis is to retain some sense of normalcy.

It’s about that time of the semester when actually getting up in the morning and getting dressed is an impossible struggle.

With classes finally at an end, students are able to collectively let out a sigh of relief. But that feeling is quickly stripped away as finals rapidly approach. Though you may no longer have to stunt on everyone in your classes, that isn’t a reason to let yourself go completely. You’re still going to spend time studying and taking exams on campus, so you want to be as presentable as possible under all the pressure.

If you’re like me, you like buying a lot of new clothes pretty often. However, while it may be fun to stock up on fun new pieces and refresh your wardrobe, doing so carries a massive cost to more than just your bank account. The fashion industry as it exists today is extremely detrimental to the environment. Textile dyeing is the second-biggest clean water polluter in the world, after oil. In major textile production counties, runoff chemicals from clothing treatments, dying and washing are dumped directly into rivers and oceans. As a result of mass production of cotton and fabric treatment, the fabric dying consumes over 1.3 trillion liters of water per year.

As I’ve said in previous Wardrobe Watches, your closet is an investment. Every piece you own should be bought with consideration so that you don’t buy something you don’t need and end up giving away. It’s good to have a well-curated, high quality wardrobe of items you get use out of, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to spend top dollar for every item.

Having a full and healthy wardrobe can be expensive. It’s as much of an investment as a car, a house or any other big-ticket item. As such, it is important to treat your clothes with respect and care and not let them wear away out of neglect. In the end, the worse you treat your clothes, the more you’ll have to spend replacing items. Beyond just washing, folding and hanging, there is a lot more you should be doing to extend the life span of your clothes that doesn’t cost a lot of money or time.

With every new season comes a new set of fashion trends that get promoted on runways and by major fashion brands. For the fall/winter 2018, a few trends have really stuck out to me as being especially interesting. So, today I would like to over a couple of them, give my personal thoughts and explain how you can incorporate them into your day-to-day outfits.

If you are a person who has never put thought into your style before, the best place to start is to take inventory of what you already have.

I want to start off this series by talking about why you should actually care about the way you dress. Although the saying might suggest otherwise, you can actually judge a book by its cover.