Call Backs

Call Backs

I recently told my significant other that I felt like I had been wearing only a capsule wardrobe for as long as I could remember, and it’s been less than a month. Thinking about it more deeply, I can remember other times in my life when I wore a very small amount of clothing, and those times may have laid the groundwork for my comfort level with Project 333 now.

Month long trip to Russia, age 13 (with a group, but not with my family, so alone, essentially)

Like many things in my life, this seemed totally normal and not worth commenting on until I mention it casually to people and they seem very intrigued and surprised. You did WHAT? At WHAT AGE? ALONE? Seemed like NBD at the time!

My mom worked on and made by hand (!!) a mix and match wardrobe for me (that I can’t recall much of now, sadly) and living out of a suitcase seemed not only normal, but preferable. This desire to have very little and travel light never left me.

Catholic High School: Uniform dressing

My uniform was navy blue pants or skirt, or uniform skirt, and white or blue top, with optional navy sweater. Those were the choices, and yet there seemed to be endless ways to combine them and make them my own. Vintage silk blouse with men’s slacks, knee high socks with tassels and brogues, preppy layers of white over navy polos, and so on.

Assistant Store Manager, Body Shop: Uniform of all black with business casual (yet functional) expectations

I had about 12 pieces I wore day in and day out (once a week we had to do an open to close, that was 9:00 AM to 10 PM so those clothes had BETTER be comfy). I was *always* looking for cute, comfortable, stylish black clothing, but this was a kind of dressing with restrictions that I see now as “practice” for my current lifestyle.

Moved to Philippines with one suitcase and one carryon.

Yeah, I really did! Also seemed like NBD at the time? Not sure where I get this sangfroid about up and ditching all my possessions (helped that my mom stored most of them at her place, too) but I was somehow totally cool with moving *permanently* to another country with one suitcase. I had one or two workhorse pieces, like a shrimp pink linen sheath from Chicos (a gift from a co worker) and a grey tunic top, that I wore TO DEATH as I slowly purchased more items. I remember talking to my coworker Ryan on my third or fourth day in-country and saying “I am so stress free right now! Maybe it’s because my apartment could burn down with everything in it and I would be okay with that.”

Moved home to the USA with one large suitcase, one small suitcase, and one carryon.

This time I had considerably more clothing (I mailed two cartons home as well, before I flew home). There were so many irreplaceable items—handmade by local tailors or found in thrift shops, I just couldn’t conceive of letting them go. But overall, it was a limited wardrobe.

Throughout my life, there has been a theme of dressing with less. It just took until now for me to see that at some of the most comfortable times in my life, I was dressing minimally, deliberately, and with less. 

20 days in: Lessons and Changes

I’m 20 days into Project 333.

Things that have really worked for me:

Packing for trips, and for going between my apartment and my fiancé’s apartment.

                It’s so easy! I grab 2 outfits, making sure they’re in the same color story (I have 2 color stories in my capsule), and then if I need more, I simply wash the items and mix and match them. Since I tend to favor a layered look, most outfits have 2-3 pieces anyway, making this a great strategy for easy packing.

Selecting items for special events.

                I’ve gone to hipster craft fairs, a 4 day vacation in Western NY that included a sit down dinner, attended a family dinner to mark a special occasion, and gone to networking events. Not once have I felt wrongly dressed, under-or-over dressed, or out of place.

Readjusting my shopping.

                I have purchased two items during the project: a cardigan and a tee shirt. It’s been very hard to resist the siren call of browsing the thrift stores and sale racks, but I feel so much better about the two purchases I made. They are genuine wardrobe needs (replacing an item that didn't work, or filling a real hole in the capsule). I am also very, very picky about what I buy or think about buying now. A cute sweater in a consignment store that doesn't fit my capsule, even if it’s Anthropologie? Sorry, no.

Making extra money selling stuff on eBay.

                Being ruthless about my wardrobe (i.e., I really won’t be wearing heels much anymore, my lifestyle is so much more active than I anticipated at this point) has allowed me to put some really desirable items on eBay and make 150$ in about 2 weeks.

Things I’m still working on:

Sorting out the transitional seasonal clothing.

                Denver, CO has very unpredictable spring and fall weather—one week can go from 70’s to 30’s and snowing within 4 days. Some of the items I thought I would be wearing (long sleeved tees) I’m just not using because it’s too warm. However, the sleeveless shells I included make me feel too exposed this early in the season. I had to adjust and get a cardigan to wear over shells, and I’m looking at rotating in some summer clothes and rotating out some winter/fall ones.

Wardrobe-ing the wardrobe.

                For me, skirts without tights need another layer underneath- a split slip, Jockey Skimmies or the like. Since it’s spring, I’m going back and forth with wearing tights and no tights, meaning I keep forgetting to pack skimmies when I change apartments, making the skirts essentially unwearable.

Another challenge in this department has been footwear. Early on, I realized my moto boots were not getting worn, and subbed them out, and put a black “workhorse” tunic in instead. But I’m wondering if only 4 pairs of shoes is getting the job done.  My leopard print “Vans” are comfortable and fashionable, but they don’t go with my printed leggings or with tights and a skirt—they just look odd. My grey boots are comfortable, but they’re a hidden wedge and wearing them day after day is really hard on my feet (same with my black heels). I have slip on sandals, but then my toes need to be presentable (IMHO). So…shoes are still a challenge at this point.

Keeping the excitement level up.

                The first few days of the Project were terrific. It’s still very cool, but my over the top enthusiasm has waned a bit. I think it might be due to traveling—half my wardrobe is inaccessible to me and half of that half is in the laundry, meaning one of the most fun things (playing with clothes to make outfits) is not an option very often. I also need to replace the fun and entertainment value of shopping with something else—I really love rifling through a sales rack and finding bargains. What can I do instead?

Accepting the quality level of the items I have right now.

                Most of my clothing is thrifted or from, at best, department stores. The quality level ranges from fast fashion to high end but not designer, with most of it being Target-quality stuff. Not terrible, but tends to last only a season or two before looking shabby and worn. I take pretty good care of my stuff, but I see some of my thinner shirts have un-repairable “moth holes” from the thin material simply giving way, and some other items just not looking super fresh. How will I replace those, on a next to nothing budget? Right now my plan is to take my eBay money and invest in 1-2 high quality items from eBay, like Eileen Fisher or similar lines. Then I’ll slowly replace my wardrobe basics with high quality look a-likes. 

Selfies and Authenticity

One of my goals for this project is to become more comfortable with having my picture taken (by non professionals, which means pretty much everyone.) I don't consider myself naturally photogenic and I tend to freeze into what I call the "robot with the potato face" when there's a camera around. Add to that the fact that I'm so much taller than everyone around me (meaning the photographer is at the oh so flattering "shooting from below" angle and.....ugh.

However, one of the reasons I wanted to do Project 333 is to push myself past my plateau, to challenge myself in new ways. And being more comfortable in front of the camera is a must in 2015. Everyone has a camera phone and FB, Instagram, blogs, and Pinterest run on photos. Plus, with fashion or clothing, it's so much better to see than read about only.

Today I wanted to talk a little bit about selfies and authenticity. The shots I take of my outfits myself look GREAT (or at least really good). The shots taken by others look (in my mind) merely okay.

Let's compare:

Taken by me:

Taken by my workmate (same outfit, and I did not suddenly gain 15 pounds in 4 hours)

There's a few things going on here, but the main thing is *I can't see what's going on in real time and adjust it to look better* and *my workmate is not at a straight angle from me holding the phone straight out*. So my feet look super teeny tiny, making my upper body look gradually bigger and bigger, since my body is not a straight line in space starting from my feet. Real flattering.

It's so hard to let other people take photos (and believe me when I say this one above is the best of about 8) and then use them when you feel they aren't that flattering, or they aren't "the real you". I love this outfit and as I move around in front of the mirror, I can see all the ways it does flatter me--but in a flat photo it looks....not as flattering as it does in person.

So what is the best practice? To be "authentic" and allow all-thumbs shorties to take pictures and gradually accept that this is what I look like in candid photos? Or to mix selfies where I look pretty good with "ok" candids and hope the candids get better?

These are the type of questions that I actually enjoy thinking about with this project. Which is more real--the photo that I feel shows how the outfit makes me feel? Or the photo that shows the way it looks "in real life"?

Jessica's Post: 01!

For me, this project is less about fashion, which I can't say is exactly an interest of mine, and more about getting rid of things, curbing my hoarding tendencies, making room for my boyfriend to move into my apartment, and reducing the amount of brain space that is dedicated to what I wear every day.

 

In my dreams I would either dress like Rachel Maddow or else wear a slim sweater, slacks that magically fit right and weren't too long and also can go in the wash (which may exist somewhere in the known universe but see lack of fashion interest, which translates to not wanting to spend an entire Saturday trying on pants), and comfortable flats, every single day. Sadly I don't have the balls to butch it up, or really the figure either. But I like that this project is giving me permission to pretty much wear the same thing all the time and not think about it. Liberation will be mine. Already I am daydreaming about what I will do with all the mental energy that is no longer wasted on trying to please people with my appearance.

 

Day One:

Grey short-sleeved sweater with a black print, black slacks, black flats. Aaaahh bliss.

 

Day Two:

Printed blouse with a fancy little tie around the neck, different black slacks, and my favorite "pimp shoes," which are bright purple Cole Haan oxfords with pink soles and laces. (basically I guess my dream is to dress either like a fashionably masculine woman or how one might expect a gay guy to look, something with a little room for appreciating nice things without trying to get attention for my body)

 

Day Three:

This is actually an example of me using the limited wardrobe to make combinations I wouldn't have before. Tight black short-sleeved sweater, long stretchy fitted black skirt, skinny turquoise belt and turquoise (also Cole Haan) flats that I added to my 33 because they can both be paired with the two "date night" dresses.

 

This Day Three outfit looks really good on me but the nondescript Day One outfit made me so much happier, partly because there was nothing to adjust and straighten and poke at me all day but also because -- I don't need people looking at my butt. I want to just *be.* The more I think about it, the more I want to wear the blandest thing possible six days per week and keep a couple of simple low-cut black dresses on hand for date nights or other occasions, a nice suit or two for meetings, and be done with it.

 

My aesthetic already involves:

No manicures or pedicures or threading or waxing of any kind

Not coloring my hair, hello greys, you can live

Very light makeup 9 days out of 10, mostly just a tinted moisturizer and a little mascara and lip color

Spending the time I do allocate to taking care of myself on working out and cooking healthy meals, and occasionally testing new hair and skin care products.

My obligatory "no makeup selfie". 

 

It's my nightmare to be staring down 40 all made up and dyed and starched looking like I'm trying to be 25 and desperate to be liked. I'm 35, the clock is only running one way, this is my face and my figure. On to other things.