 |
| I was recently gifted a bright yellow and rust, bespoke clutch bag. This accessory has brought me to my senses! |
 |
| This was the result of a capsule wardrobe of years past. |
This time last year—and the year before, and the year before that—I jumped onto the spring cleaning wagon. I would scrub the nooks and crannies of our small house and then turn my attention to our shared closet. In my two-thirds of this room, I packed away sweaters and long sleeve anything, and pulled out my warm weather gear, with a view to whittling down my possessions. In years past, I’ve experimented with capsule wardrobes, mono-chromatic wardrobes, minimalist wardrobes...
I’ve gone for all solid colors, and then all patterns. I’ve even tried wearing nothing but dresses
(over my sole pair of jeans). This ascetic approach to clothing is something that came over me after buying our house.
This a far cry from the person I was in my apartment-dwelling days (before I had a walk-in closet!) when I had a wardrobe so extensive that I did laundry quarterly.
It occurs to me, in this time of global pandemic, that rather than deny myself a lifelong love of fashion—I should really embrace multitudes of clothes, of varying styles, colors, patterns, fabrics, timelines, and cuts. The austerity of my collection of Eileen Fisher is beautiful. So too is my collection of west African wax print dresses, which features my favorite bright yellow Ghanaian summer frock. So too are my 5 identical navy blue v-neck fitted tees
(and the 5 black ones, and the 5 white ones). So too is my linen moto jacket…and the varsity tees from every university where I’ve studied and or worked—that I bought solely for nostalgia’s sake, and only wear indoors…and the harem pants that I pair with blazers to make business casual look fun...and this red dress lace-up back and Victorian ruffles...and so much more!
 |
| One of a few West African tops that deserve to stay in my spring / summer wardrobe |
 |
| in a capsule wardrobe I cannot layer a minimum of five tops in a single outfit...look, this is brilliant! |
I was recently gifted a bright yellow and rust, bespoke clutch bag
(pictured above) that brought me to my senses. In the time that I've spent whittling, I have gotten rid of some of the most fun and beautiful clothes, and accessories. That is not living!
Anyway, my point is that this year I’m not whittling down my wardrobe. My wardrobe is living for today, not a nimble, pared-down, one-carry-on-bag-tomorrow. If I learn nothing from the horror of Covid-19, I learn this.
It occurs to me, in this time of global pandemic, that rather than deny myself a lifelong love of fashion—I should really embrace multitudes of clothes, of varying styles, colors, patterns, fabrics, timelines, and cuts. The austerity of my collection of Eileen Fisher is beautiful. So too is my collection of west African wax print dresses, which features my favorite bright yellow Ghanaian summer frock. So too are my 5 identical navy blue v-neck fitted tees (and the 5 black ones, and the 5 white ones). So too is my linen moto jacket…and the varsity tees from every university where I’ve studied and or worked—that I bought solely for nostalgia’s sake, and only wear indoors…and the harem pants that I pair with blazers to make business casual look fun...and this red dress lace-up back and Victorian ruffles...and so much more!
I was recently gifted a bright yellow and rust, bespoke clutch bag (pictured above) that brought me to my senses. In the time that I've spent whittling, I have gotten rid of some of the most fun and beautiful clothes, and accessories. That is not living!
