This is a pretty typical dream outfit of mine at the moment. I can't get that stupid jacket out of my head, and I have been obsessed with eyes since forever (Yayoi understands) and like to have an eye on me at all times so I love this bracelet. And I want a classic white shirt I can wear with everything forever. This is just the right amount of weird, you know? It could be a really boring run of the mill outfit, but there is just something a little wrong with all of it. The fuzzy textured skirt, the too shiny jacket, and black lipstick.... space age office goth.
I think about what style is every day, and how I would define my own when asked. I'm not very good at it; I'm not really good at sticking to one look when it comes to clothes. I have two distinct halves when it comes to what I want. If I had my way, I'd wear CDG for the rest of my life exclusively, and that would lend itself to a very dark closet probably. But since I can't afford that on a regular basis (DON'T I WISH I COULD) I usually buy bright and weird pieces at the thrift store that I know nobody else can pull of. I don't have many 'classic' pieces, like, I don't have a tan trench coat (ah, but I do have a purple, a pumpkin, and a leather one!), I don't have the Perfect White Button Up, nor do I own the perfect pair of cigarette trousers. I do have lots of blazers (but not a plain black one) and black oxfords... with a knuckle ring for heels. You see what I mean? I don't do simple, or classic. It's not in me. I wish I could, it's just so hard to find those perfect classics at an affordable price point. Those things are my Wistful Wardrobe Dreams.
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| From this post. This is as close as I'll get to 'classic'. CDG/TAOXCDG/ZANABAYNE/VINTAGE. |
When it comes to dream wardrobes though, that's kind of another matter. I don't care about classic in the long run, like, it's just not interesting to me. I only want clothes that makes my eyes widen and jaw drop. I've been slowly accumulating my 'dream wardrobe' at the same time that I rapidly accumulate a really bizarre eccentric All Statement Pieces wardrobe, and seeing them side by side in my closet is really funny to me; one side is pretty much all black or plaid (I'm a lesbian cliche, I fucking love plaid) and the other side is a rainbow of colors. So different! How do you approach your closet and wardrobe choices? How do you decide what to buy, whether it's a splurge or a last minute purchase? What constitutes an investment piece for you? What are your outfit goals? Do you think you'll get rid of most of your closet when you're older? Will you pass down stuff from it to your children? Will you donate it to a museum if you are rich and have lots of cool stuff like Isabella Blow? (if you are this, be my friend, I wanna see your closet and 'borrow things'.)
I think about this stuff all the time. Aspirational dressing keeps me happy. I want to live to be really old and have a closet that has lived with me and given me so much joy. I call my designer pieces my Survival Items, because I work really hard to save up for them and spend hours and days and weeks looking for the perfect item that would go well with my small collection. It has to be from a collection that means something, it has to go well with my other Survival Pieces, it has to be something I can look forward to cherishing. I mean, the things my Survival pieces have gotten me through... I put them on and I feel so much more at home in my own skin. It's a point of pride that I worked for months or whatever to buy something that means so much to me that I can bring with me everywhere, a tangible piece of love.
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| From this post. One of my favorites! My first CDG dress, in an homage to my dream Nozomi Ishiguru dress. |
It keeps me going, to have goals when it comes to buying pieces that I will be able to tell stories about in the future to whoever will care to listen. "I bought this dress when I was 17 with my best friend, I spent 6 months of allowance and weeks of wages to buy it and my bank thought someone stole my card because I had never spent so much, and I lived on ramen weeks afterwards, and I don't regret a thing." or, "When I got rejected from my dream school, I wore this jacket for 2 weeks straight and had crying marathons in the local movie theater while I watched Orson Welles movies and it made me feel so much better to have such a pretty sleeve to cry on." These little histories matter to me, I know they're probably boring to other people but I care about my clothes so much and I want other people to care too. I just find clothes really romantic in general. So I guess when I look at my closet, even though it's discombobulated in some ways - my dream wardrobe on one side, dark and goth and strangely, lovingly mutated, and my 'real life' wardrobe on the others (sequinned and patterned and a rainbow of color), it's all so romantic to me because it's all part of who I am, and who I want to be. All of my wardrobe identities are real and totally me, even if they're really different from one another. It's fun to see the $5 checkered blazer I bought without thinking and after a shitty day, right next to the $500 one I spent months saving up for and cried when I finally bought it. It makes me happy to remember the stories they tell, and how much I love them both.
TLDR; I really love clothing.
