Here I am today, in pensive mode. It's supposed to be sixty-something outside, but right now it's forty-something and cloudy, which has really put the lid on any desire I had to go out and walk, or garden, or . . . really, do anything productive at all.
I'm wearing shades of purple, because I do that in Advent and Lent, and it becomes its own challenge: how many outfits can I make with the relatively few purple items I own? And what kind of outfits are they, and how do I feel about them, which really means: do I feel that I look good in them, but also, am I comfortable, both physically and mentally? Can I do what I need to do in these clothes, but most importantly, do I feel like myself? This last question is the hardest one to answer, because like King Lear, I feel that I hath ever slenderly known myself.
Part of my challenge to myself for this Lent is not to buy anything new in the way of clothes. I have to wear purple, and I have to wear what I already own. Now, I did set myself up somewhat in January: I did a good bit of closet purging and replacing of some key items. I bought some joggers and went shopping at Goodwill and a couple of little independent charity shops in my neighborhood.
As it turned out, I actually got rid of more purple items – worn out, stretched out, not really doing anything for me for one reason or another – than I bought, but fortunately most of what's in my closet will work with purple. Here's one really helpful guide for putting colors together, incidentally – I'm not affiliated with this program in any way, but I did buy this e-book and have used it daily since I bought it. It's helped me most recently to visualize how many different outfits I can actually make using the clothes I already own – and quite handy when I've set myself the rule of incorporating purple into my outfit on a daily basis for the duration of Lent. I did her little free style course as well, which was fun and helpful. I did already have some idea of the colors and fabrics that work best for me, but Make It Look Easy and the @colour.science account on Instagram have given me more good ideas to work with. (I also follow the #mindfulnessoutfit hashtag pretty faithfully – more great ideas there).
At this stage, most of my wardrobe is thrifted. I prefer thrift shopping to any other kind of clothes shopping, partly because it feels creative and adventurous – I enjoy the hunt – and partly, I think, because the stakes are low. My choices do not represent major financial investments, so that if something turns out not to work, I've lost maybe five bucks, and I can re-donate it with a clear conscience. I also like to strike my small blow against the whole vast fast-fashion complex (and the human trafficking and slave labor that are part of that complex), but I will confess to the occasional fast-fashion purchase. I try to keep the ratio at roughly 90/10. Also, I just find normal clothing stores overwhelming. I don't know why. But thrift stores: for whatever reason, they're my element.
My outfits from Ash Wednesday to Saturday before Lent 2:
Ash Wednesday: thrifted purple skinny jeans (Faded Glory, I think, nothing special), thrifted cardigan, thrifted silky tee in soft grape, old linen scarf, Doc Martens I bought myself for my 55th birthday.
Thursday: thrifted washed-navy t-shirt dress, the same cardigan, some super-soft purple leggings bought at Ross two years ago, this year's birthday boots (Dream Pairs: not investment boots, but I like them a lot and wear them all the time). This probably could have done with a belt, but it was a nice comfortable outfit that could theoretically taken me through any number of endeavors.
Friday: Okay, this dress I found when I was looking through the dress-ups collection in the upstairs windowseat. I forget which of my daughters it belonged to at age 11 or 12, but anyway, there it was, and I thought I could wear it. It's from Target, at least probably six years ago, but possibly as long ago at 2006. I really don't remember. Anyway, it's now a treasured part of my spring wardrobe. There's a little bleach spill at the bottom of the skirt, and I've contemplated splatter-painting it with more bleach so it looks more intentional, but I haven't decided yet.
Cardigan and dark-purple tee are thrifted (sorry, this light is not great. I'll have to figure out something better). Navy leggings from Walmart this year. Doc Martens.
Saturday daytime: I bought these joggers on Amazon not long ago (see: true confessions, fast fashion, above). They are very comfortable, and I like pink. I didn't have any pink bottoms, so that was what I went for. And . . . I dunno. Other people seem to be able to style pink joggers so that they look cool. I do not feel that I have leveled up here yet. But anyway, here they are.
Thrifted purple top. I love this top for the smocked detail at the neck, which probably doesn't show up well in this photo. It's sleeveless, so I wear it year-round, but it's definitely a favorite Lenten piece. Target cardigan handed down from my oldest daughter to my youngest daughter, who gave it to me. Walmart sneakers (as I said).
Saturday night: We went out for a socially-distanced dinner, our first dinner out since my birthday in November. Numbers are down here, so we masked up and took our chances. Here I'm wearing the tiered little-girl's sundress from Thursday, over a purple tee that you can't see because of the scarf, which is the same one I wore Wednesday. I *think* I'm wearing the purple leggings again, but I'm not sure. The camel boots from Thursday.
Sunday Mass: Thrifted gray cardigan from Friday, over a thrifted dress bought last year (Soma is the label, and it's unbelievably soft and lovely to wear, a favorite dress for three seasons of the year). Purple leggings, camel boots.
Monday: Cold weather, and I wasn't going anywhere much (though I did go out and walk – the next shot is later the same day, with my jacket on). The same purple leggings. One thing I will say about these leggings is that they're both incredibly soft and very resilient – they hold their shape even if you wear them several days in a row in various guises. Gray pullover (I think it's J. Crew) belonged to my youngest daughter, who found it at Goodwill, wore it for a year or so, then purged it. I always raid other people's Goodwill bags before they leave the house. Another pair of Walmart sneakers in blush pink.
Same outfit, rather blah, but it was comfortable. My oldest daughter gave me the puffer coat for Christmas last year, and it's one of my favorite things ever. Lightweight but really warm, and a nice shade of gray to go with pretty much everything I own.
Tuesday: Thrifted purple skinny jeans last worn on Ash Wednesday. Thrifted chambray shirt, thrifted soft blazer/cardigan weird-but-comfortable thingy. EVA Birkenstocks, three years old and still in play. I would rather wear sandals than any other kind of shoes, and it was warm enough that day to wear them actually outside for a walk.
Wednesday: This is easily my favorite outfit of the week: a J. Jill dress bought three years ago when my oldest daughter got married. The rehearsal dinner was casual-dress, so I wore this dress for that event and then again many times over the next couple of years. It has gotten a bit stretched out and kind of pilled, though not too badly – anyway, I didn't feel it was flattering to me, so I put it in the outbox (actually a laundry basket next to my dresser, which serves as a holding tank for clothes I think I want to get rid of). Then, after seeing that people were dealing with maxi dresses and skirts by tying knots in them, I pulled it out again and tried that. This one weird trick, as they say, was life-changing, at least in terms of the life of this dress in my life. Even without a belt, it suddenly follows the lines of my admittedly-pillowy pear-shaped body, and is flattering in a way that it never was before. Here I'm wearing it with a thrifted thin belt, a thrifted 9West denim shirt that works nicely as a "shacket" (a word that makes me break out in hives, but people are using it), and the same EVA Birks. I have to say: I felt GREAT in this outfit, all day long. It was just the aesthetic I like, flowy and relaxed and like something a lady working in the gift shop for a pottery studio, for example, might wear.
Thursday #1: thrifted everything but the Converse. I have been of two minds about this skirt, because it's awfully wide, but I think I like it. I know I like the color. The top is one of my favorites – Loft, which is a brand I buy a lot of secondhand – mostly again because of the smocked detail at the yoke. I like the scalloped edge of the Eddie Bauer cardigan, too.
But somehow, it just didn't feel very together, until I decided to try knotting the cardigan at my waist instead of wearing it loose:
Thursday #2: I really love this. If one of my aesthetics is "lady working in artisanal pottery-studio gift shop," another is, I don't know, librariancore? Victorian-lady-missionary-in-serviceable-skirt-core? Whatever. I liked how this worked out, especially with a Day-6-hair updo.
Thursday #3: Closeup of the shirt and cardigan details. I don't like pattern much, and definitely am not that into pattern mixing. But I love texture and texture mixing.
Also, you can see my rescued Miraculous Medal, which I wear most days with a little medal of the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts. I had had the latter medal for years, but the former I found in an antique mall on our town's little Main Street. Aside from being really happy to wear the Miraculous Medal, I like that it's big enough and strongly colored enough to be visible as a necklace. I'm not that into necklaces – I keep trying to wear ribcage-length ones like all the stylish ladies, but am driven nuts by them. But I wear this one almost every day.
Friday: Cold and rainy after several days of warm temperatures and sunshine. Trying again to style the pink joggers. I like the color combination here: the blush/pastel pink with the soft-grape thrifted tee and the thrifted Athleta drape cardigan, which is another favorite item. And the gray-green Docs, rather than sneakers.
And . . . eh. I dunno. I feel that if my hair had looked different somehow, maybe the whole outfit would have worked better, but I'd just washed it, so I didn't want to put it up. I never know what to do with my hair anyway. It's wavy, and I take good care of it via a modified Curly Girl Method, so it's healthy and I like it . . . I like the layers cut into it, though it's overdue for a trim. Can't decide whether I like bangs or not. They're half-grown out now, and I can't decide whether to cut them again or not. My friends always exclaim about the bangs, as in they're cute, they make me look so young. But again, I dunno.
Anyway, I wasn't going anywhere. This was comfortable for a day of writing and reading, which is mostly what I do.
Thinking ahead to Sunday: Before I went to bed last night, I decided to experiment with items for Sunday Massgoing. Aside from the Docs, all these items are thrifted: duck-egg-blue Loft cardigan, purple Coldwater Creek long-sleeved tee, floral skirt (can't remember the brand, if the label's even still in it). I liked the colors together. But I also tried it this way:
I think I like this better. We'll see how I feel Sunday morning. I might just wear the knotted J. Jill dress again. Who's gonna stop me?
Saturday: They told me it was going to warm up, but it hasn't appreciably, yet. Except for the scarf and the sneakers, all these items are thrifted: sage-green skinny jeans, soft grape Old Navy Luxe tunic tucked in, patterned gray long cardigan, which is one of my most indispensable pieces. I'm a hippy (as in having noticeable hips) pear-shaped body type, and I find that a long cardigan really adds a nice vertical line that makes me feel more . . . vertical, I guess. Trying to think of a body-positive way to say not dumpy. Anyway, with a change of shoes, I could wear this outfit to, say, teach a writing workshop. My go-to "casual professional" attire tends to be skinny jeans in some color (I have some red ones I'm really in love with), a tucked flowy top, and a long cardigan, with either sandals or Docs, depending on the temperature. But in fact today I'm just knocking around, catching up on laundry and planning to do a little more reading for an anthology project I'm working on. The scarf transformed this outfit, incidentally. It was pretty boring without it.
So, that's the week-and-a-half that was. I'm not terrific at updating blogs, but I do take daily photos of what I'm wearing, so that I remember what works for me and what doesn't, so at least I do have ready material for this one.
Stay tuned, I guess.
