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a colour-crazed maximalist ventures into minimalism


I, Louise Kate Vivian,  am a maximalist. If you don't believe me, you should see my room. Admittedly, I did live away from my home for three years (for uni) and there accumulated a ton of stuff, a veritable ton. However, as 2018 fast approaches, I have decided to minimise my oh-so-maximalist lifestyle: the compulsive clothes-purchasing has to stop, and I highly doubt I need to read every single one of the three hundred books that lay in (untidy, though organised) stacks on my desk. Having so many material possessions is tiring, stressful and weighing heavily on my mind. I thirst for a clear space, a life and personality independent of consumerist-induced vanity, and a focus on experiencing all (or at least some) of what life has to offer. It's time to wave goodbye to the ton of stuff, and welcome a greatly improved financial situation and a greatly reduced quota of time allotted to tidying my currently untameable room.


Where to start? Or more to the point: how to start?

I did some research: I watched video-variants of 'How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe,' 'How to Become a Minimalist' and 'The Mari-Kondo method,' but they were of little help to me. I understand the concept of a capsule wardrobe: a small selection of pieces that represent your personality and style for each season, and yet while primarily desirable, the whole idea of limiting choice is unnatural to me. I'm a different person every day, I love to experiment, I want to be able to adopt a new identity with each fresh outfit. This leads me to come back to a question I desperately try to evade: who is Louise Kate Vivian? And moreover, who could she be?

I have a vague idea about my style: quirky and colourful. However, during my quest for information, I realised that virtually everyone on the Internet that has successfully adopted the minimalist wardrobe ideal (and even lifestyle) has an exceptionally monochromatic palette. Even those with an infusion of colour appear too simplistic for my taste. 'Crazy' and 'Loud' are two words I place value upon (though this is not to say I don't dress plainly myself sometimes, and that I don't enjoy the minimalist aesthetic, it is rather to make the claim that I am almost certainly incapable of dressing in that way).



And so this leads me onto why I'm writing this post and why I intend to record my journey into minimalist maximalism: there doesn't seem to be any content (that I can find, if you know of any, please point me in the right direction) or bloggers or vloggers documenting such a feat.


I will venture where no self-proclaimed maximalist has gone before. 2018 is the year of minimalist maximalism. I am unafraid (okay, a little afraid) to do so and to let you lot see my successes, my failings and my somewhere-inbetweens.


All the photos in the post by the way are pre-minimalist-clear-out evidence (heavily tidied, mind you), so let's hope the next year or so will bring about a positive change with preferably more successes than failings.

Over and out folks, thanks for reading, let the purge begin!

Instagram: @jumper.dweller




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