I could give two shits about fashion, but I will say this for it: fashion is easy.* You buy a magazine, you watch a television program, you read a website, you keep your eyes open when walking past shops with window displays, you hang out in the common areas of any accredited undergraduate institution, and ta da! You now know what is in fashion. You may not like it and you may not have the knack for making it look effortless and you may not be able to find it in your damn size, but at least you know that skinny jeans and high heels that lace up and kind of look like boots but are also open-toed and over-sized watches are on trend.**
But what about style? Not what the fashion industry is excited about this season, but what I am excited about every day? For some people, those two things are the same, but alas, not so for me. The problem is that after, shit, nearly a lifetime of having to subjugate my own personal style instincts in the face of a dearth of off-the-rack, at-least-semi-well-fitted, affordable clothing, I had no idea what my actual style preferences were. In the same way that in a patriarchy, women are strongly encouraged to ignore their own instincts regarding hunger and eating, in a capitalist society, everybody is encouraged to ignore his or her own personal taste and preferences regarding consumer goods, because capitalism feeds on the constant dissatisfaction of the consumer base the way Pennywise the clown fed on little kids’ fear. If the consumers stop chasing the brass ring of the Next Great Thing, capitalism stops working (or at least starts winding down (presumably; it’s hard to say what those in power will do to keep the status quo chugging along)), so consumers shouldn’t worry about what they actually like, because if they buy it and hate it, they can just buy something else!
So my first step was to figure out what I even liked, style-wise. I could have followed Plumcake’s reasonable directive to make an inspiration board, but I have this thing where when I get an idea and I know it’s good, I’m all, “FULL STEAM AHEAD” and “DAMN THE TORPEDOES” and many other naval metaphors and creating an inspiration board was going to take FOR-EV-ER and GOD I just wanted to do this WARDROBE THING, OKAY? So instead I started by thinking about stuff that I like, the kind of stuff where when I see an item that is representitive of said stuff, I say, “Ooo!” and run directly toward the representative item, leaving my companions standing around, brows furrowed in puzzlement. For me, this list includes (but is not limited to):
Victorian Literature
Gothic Fiction
Art Nouveau
The Arts and Crafts Movement
Jane Austen Novels
The English Renaissance
Horror Movies
Norma Desmond’s bedroom in Sunset Boulevard
Gothic Architecture
Battlestar Galactica
The Pre-Raphaelites
Fairy Tales
While there are a few outliers, this is a sufficiently cohesive list from which I can tease out a general aesthetic trend: bookish, proper, and correct yet unrestrained and unpretentious, and a little witchy with a crypto-goth streak a mile wide. The cool thing for me was realizing how right freaking on this general aesthetic trend actually was. I looked around and saw this aesthetic on my bookshelf, in my DVD collection, on my iPod, around my workspace, and to a lesser extent in my home decor (I do live with another person whose preferred aesthetic is best summed up by the concrete and stainless steel modular home that this dude in Japan built that was featured on the TV show Small Space, Big Style a couple of years ago, in which you can slide big, blank, dully reflective walls around to hide your kitchen, bathroom, living and bedrooms, and which, in its native state, looks like a big, empty concrete and metal box, the mere thought of which makes my chest tight). The one place this aesthetic does not appear? My closet.
Unfortunately, another place in which this aesthetic is absent is on the racks and webpages of most plus-size retailers, unless Victorian Dress Reform included a hidden period of enthusiasm about polyester and plastic bedazzling. And so, now familiar with my personal style aesthetic, I bought this dress in every color and spent $5,000 at Holy Clothing and called it a day.
Just kidding! For me, there is a lot more to creating a capsule wardrobe than just selecting clothes that satisfy a particular aesthetic paradigm. I also have to consider the logistics of why I need to wear clothes. There are obvious environmental considerations: I live in Chicago, which while sometimes as hot and humid as a hobo’s armpit, is mostly temperate to colder than batshit on a witch’s tit. Then there are professional considerations: I am a legal professional and while my current job does not require a particularly high standard of dress, I am a believer of dressing for the job I want, and I want a job where people won’t ask me if I am going to be on TV or something because I happen to be wearing a tailored black dress and pearls. And finally there are general, practical considerations of personal preference: a strong preference for natural fibers and dresses more so than pants, a unabashed love of cardigans, a white-hot hatred of constricting clothing, the need for durable and easy-care garments, and a tragic lack of closet space.
The bigger challenge for me was taking this aesthetic, and all these logistical considerations, and turning them into a style. I actively and intently thought about this quite a bit. Eventually I settled on the following characteristics: evolved from an Anglo-Western tradition; was fairly modest without being timorous; relied on smart tailoring and a wee smidge of stretch to achieve a fit that emphasized simple lines yet was comfortable and non-restrictive; had a decidedly yet subtly old-fashioned vibe; was minimally embellished and then Morris over Mondriaan; and constructed, whenever possible, of natural fiber fabrics. Think an episode of Project Runway as hosted by Lady Dedlock and Aubrey Beardsley, with special guest judge Queen Elizabeth I, in which the designers have to create a plus-size look appropriate for presenting oral arguments before the US Supreme Court, and Stevie Nicks wins.
And thus was born My Personal Style. The next step is to apply this nascent personal style to my fantasy capsule wardrobe.
*Well, in some respects. In other respects, such as the respect of actually finding those on trend items in your actual size, it’s fucking hard as hell as Gabi and many other excellent fatshion bloggers can tell you.
**Actual trendiness of the listed items not guaranteed.
8 comments
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August 12, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Jae
You just saved me $50.
I saw a cute dress online. Really cute. Slightly hipsterish. And I was going to buy it along with a pair of leggings to go along with it. And then I realized that every time I try on something like this, I end up hating how it looks, and what’s worse, feeling like a phony. Because I am not a hipster nor do I really want to dress like one when push comes to shove. It’s the artsyness and the freedom I feel in the clothes that I want, and I have that, kimono dress or no kimono dress.
Anytime I need to remember that I define the clothes, and not the other way around, I will refer back to this post.
August 12, 2009 at 1:18 pm
OTM
That’s a great illustration of something that I do ALL THE TIME (I even fall prey to the hipster aesthetic on a regular basis), and one of my big motivations for creating a capsule wardrobe in the first place.
August 12, 2009 at 3:39 pm
shinobi42
Thank you for introducing me to Holy Clothing. I am now broke.
August 12, 2009 at 6:51 pm
OTM
Ha, yeah, part of my deal with this was that I would cease all clothes buying and divert my clothing dollars towards the wardrobe project. If I hadn’t, I would totally be all over those “Gothic pants.”
August 12, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Anna
This was awesome! I spent the whole read going Yes! And also giggling.
I was actually thinking of your previous post the other day while I walked through a store. I respect you for trying to make a capsule wardrobe, becuase there is NO WAY I could do it. I HATE buying basics that go with everything, even though I know I should. For instance, I have loads of clothes that I think would look great with a plain black long sleeved shirt. I had to really talk myself into buying one, even though I know it will go with everything. It’s just so BORING.
Also, reading all your considerations (temperature, work, wardrobe space etc) I must also say you have quite a lot of forethought. I am like OOH PRETTY.
Summed up: You are pretty awesome. Please keep us (me) updated.
August 12, 2009 at 6:55 pm
OTM
I guess I have been giving it a lot of forethought. I probably go into more detail about my reasoning eventually, but a big part of it was that I am just really bad at shopping.
August 22, 2009 at 10:07 am
Fashioning a Style « Spoonforkfuls
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August 29, 2009 at 10:22 pm
plumpdumpling
Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame here. I’ve spent my whole life in clothes that are flattering to me, which basically means clothes that are boring and not at all what I’d choose for myself if I was to suddenly look good in everything. I’m now aware that I like 50s-era dresses, but the fitted bodices would just look terrible on me.
And it sucks that I both live in NYC and have super-fashionable, thin friends. So not only do I live in the city where it’s easiest to get amazing clothes, but everyone I know is under the impression that they have better fashion sense than I do.