I’ve long struggled with describing my personal style because… what is it? I can’t look at my wardrobe and go – minimalist chic or Boho princess or Scandi farmer because my interests are varied. I’ve gravitated to the same sort of thing for years (literally years – there are pictures of 3 year old me in basically the same pair of dungarees that I sit here typing this in now).
I know that I like vintage and Boho dresses with a peppering of tomboy apparel (dungarees, t-shirts, jeans, oversized shirts and blazers). No high heels. Whites, blues, blacks and greys with the occasional pop of colour in my dresses. I’ve done a great job whittling my wardrobe down over the years to mostly only clothes that bring me joy (mostly – there are one or two pieces that I’m toxically hanging on to because they don’t fit anymore but were on the more expensive end of the spectrum).
Some of the most talked about fashion advice is “dress for the life you want” not the life you have. I’m pretty sure that could have been the slogan to the original “What Not to Wear”. And with the tenets of that philosophy being to care about what you put on your body and re-engage with yourself (lofty and valuable goals, of course); I am calling bullsh%t on it. I undoubtedly feel better when I put on clothing I love versus slouching around unwashed in my pjs all day, but the “dress for the life you want” mantra only really wants all people to aspire to the same thing. A quick google search of it shows exclusively JCrew/Nordstrom/skinny white women in bandage dress stuff. Which is completely fine, if that’s the style that you love. One website even said, “You want the job? Go in looking the part! You want the guy? Throw on those high heels.” Now we can spend all day unpacking that if we want, but I can safely say that I never wore heels to a single date with Sam and here we are, pretty happily married.
There’s a famous Michael Pollan quote that goes “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” I think it’s pretty applicable to being adapted in to my fashion mantra “Buy clothes. Not too many. Mostly ones you love and can wear today.”
So that’s been what I’ve been trying to do this year. I’ve been paying a lot of attention to where my fabrics and clothing comes from, how it was produced and how it makes me feel to wear it. I haven’t bought anything from Zara, TopShop, Primark or H&M this year. I’m trying to rid myself of the insidious influence of “fast-fashion” and its 1,000,000 micro-seasons per year and consider, “if this is how little I’m paying for something and I know the company is still making a profit, then how much is the actual person sewing this garment making per day?”
By narrowing down how much was in my closet, I actually seemed to have a lot more. And with no pick-me-up shopping trips, I can save up for bigger ticket items that I actually want. (Like a gorgeous locally made linen dress.)
Outfit Details:
Dress
Shoes
Sunglasses
Lipstick
Jacket
***The lovely stripy dress that I am wearing the photos is from Celtic & Co. This was a gift but I am thoroughly enjoying wearing it. They have a lovely range of Women’s Dresses, including a lot of organic cotton. Plus an amazing thing that the Celtic & Co website does, is that it lists the origins of the item of clothing that you’re interested it. This dress was made in the EU but you can also find things that were exclusively made in the UK***
Do you feel like you have a personal style?
