thinking about "cost per wear" not the rack price.

I went shopping for a suit after work yesterday. I had fun browsing through the racks of beautiful clothes. With the help of the salesperson, I dragged about twenty items into the dressing room and spent hours trying them on. In the end, I bought a great pair of black pants that were classic and crisp- just what I was looking for. The search for a perfect blazer continues.

I chatted with my mom about how pricey suits were, and she told me to think about the cost per wear of these items. Cost Per Wear, or CPW, is the cost of the item divided by the number of times you wear it. This method of calculating the cost of your items focuses on how much you use the item, rather than the price off the rack. For instance, the dress you bought on clearance but never wore, the price of that is effectively infinity(divide by zero...). Not really, but kind of. It means that if you invest in a classic piece that you wear on multiple occasions, your CPW may be less than that of something you considered a bargain.

could 60's fashion be any more glamorous? Banana Republic's Mad Men collection.

Rent The Runway markets off the idea of Cost Per Wear. You can borrow designer pieces such as dresses, jewelry, and even purses from this website, at a price correlated to the market price. For example, most of the dresses that are $500-$1000 rent at $50/weekend. I thought this idea was silly until I remembered my prom dress- I bought a very puffy/pink/tulle-y typical prom dress, and ended up wearing it just that one night.

I scheduled my first interview this morning. Now I have another motivation to be invited to more interviews- to lower the CPW of my suits.