Style Symmetry

I think this may be the last reason for my style evolution (but maybe not), just for the challenge!  By now, it’s very easy for me to take an outfit and turn it into some matchy-girly-goodness.  Take the paisley skirt, pull out the purples, golds and green and add pieces in those colors to go with it.  Or grab my electric blue belt, tights and bow hat and mix with a cute dress.  Take a pair of pants add cute shoes, cute top, cute earrings, cute scarf, cute (well you get it).  It is much harder for me to dress simply with less pieces and still look and feel stylish and confident. I am ready to take on the challenge of putting together pieces in less complicated ways.  I think this means I’ll be wearing my dresses a lot more, skirts a bit less.

Now to look at this outfit with its black, white and grey mix and you may think I felt drab but quite the contrary.   The belting at the waist, the slightly unexpected feel of the kick ass boots and the coziness of it all; I felt pulled together, sophisticated and even a bit sexy.   I wore this to work and then for an evening out.

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Thrifted Striped Cowl Sweater. Grey Sweater, Gift. Black Velvety Pants, Suzy Shier. Vintage Boots.

My closet is stuffed!!! And by stuffed I mean stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey, stuffed like I am at Shabusen Korean BBQ all you can eat stuffed, I mean I could not stuff in one more single piece of satin fabric in there without the whole thing exploding!   It is not only time for me to stop ‘collecting’ but also time to part with many beloved pieces and this is another reason for the change.   This is not to say I have millions of clothes but that I have only one large closet and one short 4 drawer dresser. In the closet there is a shelving system; it was designed to be the apartment linen closet so don’t ask where I store towels and sheets.   All these shelves are two rows deep with clothes, top shelf is all sweaters, the next two have blouses, tank tops, tshirts, long sleeves and a few dresses, 4th shelf is skirts, shorts and dress pants, bottom shelf is comfy clothes, leggings and jeans.  I don’t want to even count how any hanging pieces are in there, I cannot believe that bar hasn’t collapsed yet.  I am also going to be collecting my storage in Calgary by the summer and that contains two wardrobe boxes of goodies, the cowboy clothes from my Stampede days can go, but the dozen crinolines I will be reluctant to sell.  Now going through all this will be a huge undertaking so I am trying to get a better idea of where my style is heading before I get rid of key pieces that I may miss later.  It will be cleansing and despite how it may seem I am not begrudging but actually looking forward to it.  You can too since I will be listing a huge amount on ebay (and maybe etsy too).   What is to blame for this huge excess? There are a few key reasons I can quickly recall, losing weight and feeling confident in so many things that I just wanted to have them all, an excessively cheap thrift store in my neighborhood and clothing swaps!  Yup, that about sums it up. It’s funny to think how full my closet is and how little I have spent on clothes in the last 2 years, the amount would be shockingly below $1000.   Don’t worry, I spent enough in the 5 years prior.

How full is your closet?

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Thrifted Yellow Floral Dress. Gold Floral Hair Clips, Booth. Gold Tights, Ebay. Winners Beige Boots.

Another reason for this style change is my age, I am 28 years old (gasps! lol). Now I know that I am still ‘young’ and ‘vibrant’ and blah blah blah but by the time I am 30 I do not want to be dressing like a kid anymore so the sooner I start this transition the better. I would put my current style at an age of 24 so really this is a growing up process. When I moved out to Vancouver three and a half years ago I finally felt like I could dress however I wanted and believe me I have! I’ve had more fun getting dressed in my recent history than I ever had before, people here are just so open and accepting it is ridiculous and I will always be thankful for that.   I also work in a fun office that has been open to my style choices so that has made it easy too. As I get older I would like to present a slightly more professional image on my working days and again a slightly more grown up image on my days off.

How Old Do You Dress?

Oh and this outfit is an example of something that’s feeling too young 

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Thrifted Teal Sweater. Floral Skirt, Free from Swap. AA Socks. Espadrilles, Ebay.