A little over two years ago, we followed The Uniform Project where Sheena Matheiken chose to wear one single dress for an entire year. Certainly she was creative in doing so and made the idea of wearing a single garment every.single.day a little less painful for the rest of us. She offered the design for sale on her website and it quickly sold out. Since then, other contributors have proposed their own versions of the modular LBD, all of which have sold out as they were released.

There is definite interest in the pared down approach to fashion.

Other designers around the world are playing with this idea too. The Ultra 10 Challenge, who’s creators are based in Kuala Lumpur and China, has come up with a 10-piece-wardrobe-for-365-days concept. The collection includes some creative convertible and multifunctional pieces such as the 3-in-1 coat, which converts into both a shirt and a skirt and the 2-in-1 jacket which converts into a vest. Other included wardrobe staples are a white shirt/dress, stretch pants, cotton trousers, a skirt, a dress, a cropped top and a vest. The whole collection is made from organic cotton and recycled materials. Though it appears to no longer be available for sale online, I’m still finding that this concept provokes an inspiring way to think about reformulating my own wardrobe based on multitasking, interchangeable and classic pieces.

What about shoes? Israeli designer Daniela Bekerman has created a convertible shoe concept. Her shoe takes on different styles and heel heights depending on which heel attachment is chosen. The shoe is not available for sale (still in concept stage), but the idea is fantastic and would definitely be a godsend solution for frequent travelers.

I don’t think that most of us are there yet, in terms of being ready to adopt the discipline of wearing only 10 garments and one pair of shoes for a whole year. But definitely, visionaries such as the ones mentioned here are helping open our eyes to new ideas to curb over-consumption. There is definitely freedom to be had in such simplicity.

If I could set my vanity aside for a moment, that might help too.

Leave the Kids at Home: Yeah, you’ll end up putting stuff in your basket just to make them or keep them happy.

Watch out for the fake bargains: “You pass by a box of spaghetti marked $2.50. A few days later, the same box features a sign reading “2 for $5″. Hummm, I hadn’t consciously noticed these tactics. I’ll have to start paying more attention…

Avoid Big Carts: Because, the bigger the cart, the more stuff you put in. Think Costco. I never thought of this. I’m grabbing the little handle basket from now on.

Don’t Sniff: because those luscious bakery scents, or Starbucks aroma (most of the supermarkets in our area have positioned a Starbucks right at the entrance of the store) will do you no good. Not for your waistline, not for your wallet. Well, I’m not about to wearing a nose plug when shopping, but awareness will definitely help me avoid putting unwanted product in my cart. Uh, I mean, my handle basket…

Shopoholism: I do believe that it’s a real addiction. My family has switched to cash only and we are now very much aware of buying only what we need. We also buy better quality so that our “stuff” lasts longer. Besides, as mentioned numerous times (here and here), all this consumerism is so detrimental to our environment. (Except for the shoes, ahem).

Read the full article here. Thanks for the warnings, Martin!

Anyhoo, here are some of the things that they have pinpointed as the “To Watch” items of  2008. Interesting that poor Benazir Bhutto made the list.  Looks like JWT is on to something. Not sure what they mean by some of the terms listed here, like “sturking” or “women juggling men” (is that literal? a  movement??, what???), but we are we are bound to find out as the media starts talking about it.

1. Africa (foreign investment and development in)
2. Antibiotic backlash
3. Assisted marriage
4. Beijing 2008
5. Blue replacing green as the environmental movement’s color du jour
6. Brain exercises
7. British actress Keira Knightley
8. Carbon tax
9. Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang
10. Classical musician Gustavo Dudamel
11. Climate sightseeing
12. Continuation of comebacks (Indiana Jones, The Cure, etc.)
13. Cooperative consumption
14. Couch surfing
15. Country branding (Oman, Indonesia, etc.)
16. Designer Phillip Lim

17. De-teching
18. DJ Tiesto
19. DNA-based exercising
20. E-clutter (and e-clutter consultants)
21. Eco-fatigue
22. E-mail etiquette
23. Facebook suicides
24. Fashion label Vena Cava
25. Foreign government investment (e.g., China, UAE) in U.S. companies
26. French President Nicolas Sarkozy
27. Game 3.0 (gamer-generated global gaming)
28. Google’s Android
29. Gossip Girl
30. Gphone
31. Green weddings
32. Higher education online
33. Hip-hop’s Retro Kids
34. Humbling of the hedge fund manager (anti-excess post sub-prime)
35. Hybrid taxis
36. Indian actress Deepika Padukone
37. Intellectual luxury
38. Investigating ingredients
39. Japanese designs (Tsumori Chisato, Uniqlo, Muji, etc.)
40. Kitchen appliances as new power tools
41. Lifestyle curators
42. Lipstick trumping lip gloss
43. Manga-inspired clothes
44. Mobile technology explosion
45. Mobulimia
46. Music as awareness driver; concerts and other residuals as cash cow
47. Musicovery (music tailored to moods)
48. Myanmar
49. Nollywood (the rise of Nigerian cinema)
50. Outsourcing to Ukraine (and other Eastern European countries)
51. Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto
52. Pantone’s 18-3943 (blue iris)
53. Pets in the office
54. Prius homes
55. Radical transparency
56. Radiohead repeats (name-your-own-price music)
57. Recycling into fashion (Nau, Gary Harvey, etc.)
58. Selfless as the new selfish
59. Sex and the City, the movie
60. Shiny Toy Guns (the band)
61. Skiing in novel spots (Kashmir, Japan, Greenland, Russia, Korea, etc.)
62. Single men saying no to sex
63. Skype sex
64. Smart Cars in American cities
65. SNS (social network service) brand communities
66. Spanish actor Javier Bardem
67. Staycations
68. Sturking
69. Tequila as the new wine
70. The N-11
71. Third screen (the mobile screen) rivaling the first screen (TV)
72. Trans-ertainment
73. U.S. gymnast Shawn Johnson
74. U.S. presidential election
75. Vicarious consumption
76. (Video) Gaming Olympics
77. Virtual gifting
78. Wannabe young Internet entrepreneurs (a.k.a. Mark Zuckerberg copycats)
79. Weak dollar/strong euro
80. Women juggling men

Nollywood from the land of online scammers and extortionists? Climate sightseeing? I can’t wait to see how these things develop…