find a personal style and stick with it

I want to feel great about myself..this is my goal! Along with that comes a personal style I can manage. I dont want a huge wardrobe…just simple,easy good looking clothes that help me feel great! I have worked hard the last year to lose 30 pounds and I am proud of that goal…I want to reflect how i feel on the outside..fun interesting and together!

I’m moving to seattle and i’ve been seriously considering this issue of wardrobe all the while because i’m a fickly dresser and i have a hard time as long as i can remember finding things that make me feel ME.

I got up the other day for instance and was to tired to think so i wore my nice black pants and the (on second thought) ugliest t-shirt in the drawer with a corduroy jacket to the bank meeting i had.

I hate days like that.
i wish there was a magic button to tell me what i feel like wearing all the time.

Regardless… i have it pegged. I’m moving in august and i have to pack everything into my big suitcase, EVERYTHING that i want to wear for a year (... alright okay so i’ll be making a beeline for the goodwill in seattle as soon as i have an apartment this is true).

But yeah, i have no more wiggle room. Its a good manifest, it all fits me well, it fits in the bag and it will layer hopefully to keep me from freezing/overheating or looking like a nightmare fashion disaster. Simple is good, but i have realized that there is a strategy to simple, my simple is not everyone elses and i’ve gotten really good through this whole fitting it in one bag process at figuring out what is really good for me quickly.

Goodbye ridiculous old mens shirts and pouchy sweaters and capri’s that i never really liked in the first place.. see you next season, on someone else.

last week was value village sale day and i spend 40.00

Got:
(pictured)
-The PERFECT pair of leather + leatherlined boots with 2.5’’ heel
-A fits like a tailor made it black skirt (high waist AND pockets!!!)
-Blue eyelet short sleeve blouse that makes me feel like a ‘young lady’.

and not pictured:

-a SUPER puffy sleeved pink striped polyester sweater
-Glam Clip on earrings (love the clip on’s)
-a thin+warm beige utility sweater

I’ve been wearing&pondering these choices… all of which are really seeming to suit my body and my personality.

It seems somehow that much of what i like is fifties vintage (because of the flattering cuts), but i like hi tech fabrics too and am a lover of ‘function’ and ‘smart design’.

Maybe there is a way to incorporate these two seemingly divergent style loves.

Maybe i should make clip on earrings, who makes clip on’s anymore

Or to wear them out on the town together without seeming too contrived.

Like, perhaps i need a packable nylon version of the ‘wrappy skirt/dress, or like a tasseled gore-tex poncho.

So much to think about!

I wish i could just design stuff and have people make it for me. I would promise always to be fresh and to have good ideas.

Anyone want to hire me? I’m GREAT!

Maybe if i keep wearing ‘myself’ out, I’ll be discovered.

i have widdled down the ‘drobe as posted, but now WHAT,
I’m sort of in the midst of figuring out how to look ‘cute/adult/crisp/funky all at once.

I love mixing patterns and lately theres been a lot of patterned dress shirts/solid bright sweaters/polkadot or metalic blazers.
That, i like.

What i don’t like is that i keep wearing the same pair of skinny jeans. They make me look slim and trendy which i like, but i’m getting a little tired. Trouble now, is that i can’t stand looking at my legs in baggier (we’re talking boot cut here) pants.

I’m looking for other options, first i’m going to try on a pair of American Apparel Skinny slacks in black and maybe in navy/forrest green if i like the fit.

I’m also midway through re-making an eighties electric blue leather jacket into my dream ‘hipster-style’ jacket.

And i’m 8 snap fastners away from having my ultimate/versatile purse/briefcase for my move to seattle with.

I’m really funneling down what to buy/keep with a bilateral approach… what do i like? and What fits/looks good on me?

So then, i went out and got flowers to spruce up my place, and a mop to make it like people who don’t have dirt floors and bonobo’s for roomates would.
So yeah… this is me with a mop, the way my bangs look with a little windblowing through them on a beautiful friday morning.

Can anyone say… ‘HAIRSPRAY!’

Okay, I will.

Oh, also i got a tea biscuit from alternative grounds that knocked my proverbial socks off this morning.. (its warm enough for the haviannas).
Get this!

Black Pepper and apple, with cheddar on top!
AWESOME.

.... i could equally call it bunny fangs.
And i shall.

Here is a picture of me before i left the house (okay, maybe a re-enactment).

It seemed like a good idea to pull my teeny little fringe back because it was unruly after an 45 minute bike ride home… but.

Ugh…

Today was the big day…i (mostly) got rid of everything i don’t NEED… but i still have a bag of things that i want to keep until i’m ready to move… i just have to figure out how to keep them separated from my other stuff…

What’s barely visible in this picture are THREE BIG garbage bags full of clothing, shoes and other miscellany that i don’t ever need/want to wear again.

Now i’ve just got to have a ‘come to my house if you want my stuff’ party…

I’ve been growing out my hair for ‘fireproofing’ reasons… it doesn’t make sense to have short hair when you know you’re going to be in a studio and its going to be in your way… so i grew my hair out, but it was ALWAYS back and i was getting bored of it, so i cut a fringe a while back…
I like it, but i got bored once again… and my hair is actually long enough to pull back all the way without droopy pieces…

SO.
I cut my bangs again tonight and i’m not allowed to cut them again until next spring… i’ll grow them out this summer, and let them get shaggy/hippy so that i can sidesweep them in the fall.
I think i look cute and springy kind of an audrey hepburn bang thing going on…
Oh, this is me with a mimosa in bed… yeah that’s right i lover le vida loca

Its a book i snabbed from the cheap shelves at indigo last week. I like self help books it makes my sometimes strange approach to life feel somehow more rational…

I know the number of square inches i have to pack within for my move this summer.

Wow. Lots to think on.

i realized today that what i need to do, is actually to reprogram my way of thinking about clothes.
at present i don’t have any clothes that are comfortable and clean to wear.. my winter wardrobe is pretty limited. I need some tshirts…

BUT INSTEAD OF FILLING IN THE BLANKS IN MY EXISTING WARDROBE I’M GOING TO WORK BACKWARDS!!!

I’ve been thinking about my absolute favourite things to wear, and then working from what i like about them.
Now all i have to do is use those same principals when buying peices.

Things i like about my indespensible wardrobe peices:

-versatile colour (i like a lot of black apparently).
-wear anywhere styling, hip but not trendy
-comfortable and easy to maintain

Next step, gets me some tshirts that fit that bill.
After that, look in my own closet for more indespensible staples.