Been a while since I last posted a closet shot, so here's the closet, circa this morning. Missing: my Birk Melrose boots and Fiona are still in the bathroom, where I took them off last night. Willow is still draped on the drying rack. Cardigan shelf above not shown. But this is it: my wardrobe. It's not as small as some, but it's pretty compressed. I'm still trying to challenge myself to wear my closet, and pondering how best to do that today, when I have poetry classes to record --- the situation all week, in fact.
It's lovely to reunite with all my dresses after a 30-day challenge. Wearing Fiona yesterday felt delicious --- a dress with a waist! This week I'm going for dresses and outfits that look good on Zoom (which is basically all of them, thanks to my color choices), so having a set-in waist won't matter much from that standpoint . . . and as always, I love having varied options.
I have also received my reward discount from Wool& and have purchased the dress I had put in my shopping cart. This does it for me for the rest of 2023 . . . I mean, I have not exactly been a minimal shopper in 2023! I acquired what was, for me, a lot of dresses, at least in part because I both made some money and went places where I needed to look nice. I have no idea what I'll do in 2024. My one firm resolution is not to make resolutions I'm bound to break, so no more declaring no-buys and purchasing pauses. I might tell myself, privately, that I'm taking a break, but I won't be announcing these things and then rationalizing my not sticking to them. That cycle of behavior makes me feel like a loser, so I shall simply not do it.
I am continuing to eye things in my closet, to see what I might pare down, but honestly, at this point, I like what's there, even if I don't wear it often. It's not so much that I can't see what I have, and if something is hanging there that maybe shouldn't be, so what? It's not taking up an undue amount of space. Note, for example, the shimmery blue skirt at far left. This is a prom dress which the Texasgirl brought home from Goodwill in maybe 2010 and didn't wear. It went into the dressups box, from which I rescued it some years ago, because I'd always liked it and hated to see it get completely trashed. It does need some repair in the straps, but it's otherwise in nice condition, and the color is beautiful. I have not, since I've had it, been invited to a black-tie occasion, but should I be invited to a black-tie occasion, I am ready. Right now I'm actually liking the midnight-blue dress as juxtaposed with the teal Thai silk kimono that Marly talked me into the last time I was in Cullowhee with her, and thinking, Now, there is my black-tie ensemble. Next time a child of mine gets married, maybe. Or somebody does, in the evening, with black tie specified on the invitation. No rushing out in a lather to impulse-buy the first outfit I clap my eyes on. Nope. I'm set, thanks.
So here we are. With both Sierra and Camellia out of my regular wearing rotation, the new dress will give me eight dresses, which is fine. You'll find out when it arrives what kind of sleeve I settled on, and what color --- I will merely remark now that the color is in one way a radical departure from my normal palette, though really it should fit just fine. It won't go with absolutely everything in the closet, but it will go with enough. Beyond that . . . more will be revealed.
I had better get dressed now and plan to take the dog out, so that I can prep for my first class recording at 1 p.m.
Wearing:
For the first time in over a month, a departure from teal! Here is my beloved Wisteria Willow, back in action, in one of my consistently favorite combinations: with Allbirds navy merino-blend leggings (surely my best purchase of the last year), purple Birk Rosemeads (ditto), and this J.Jill cashmere scarf I bought in a thrift store with Marly. She didn't have to talk me into this one. I'd been on the lookout for a lightweight cashmere shawl-scarf, like those expensive featherweight ones you see advertised everywhere that are supposed to be so fine and so warm all at once. This one is thicker than those, but it's still quite light, soft, and fine. I really love this darker soft purple against the "wisteria" periwinkle color of my dress --- which feels very short, I must add, after a month in a long length of the same dress.
I might need to put on boots to go out with the dog, because it's still not quite 40F, I don't think. The high today is 67F, though --- quite warm. I'll probably lose the scarf by late afternoon, which will give me some appearance of variety from one class recording to the next.
The Gospel reading at Mass yesterday was the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, and the offertory hymn --- fittingly enough for the reading --- was Wachet Auf/Wake O Wake. It felt like a whole pre-Advent mood, which I guess in a way those readings were supposed to initiate. So today's outfit is a pre-Advent mood, trotting out the purple for a practice run.
And off we go.
LATER:
One class down! One more to go today, then one a day for the rest of the week.
Trying out this mossy green blazer for the second class recording:
I'm not sure the colors quite go. Teal, I think, woudl be better with this green. But I'm going to go for it anyway.
This isn't necessarily an outfit I would wear out, as is:
But for an hour on Zoom? Yeah, why not.
I switched to my Birk Madeiras, as you can see. I really like them with leggings --- possibly more than I like them with either bare legs or tights. I don't know why that is, but they feel like "trouser shoes" to me . . . which is maybe problematic because I don't own any trousers. Well, other than leggings, which I don't wear as trousers, but anyway.
Gotta let the dog out, then gather myself for the next class.