Romper room

I was flattered when my friend Kristin Booker, the woman behind Fashion.Style.Beauty, asked me to be on her site. (You can read the story if you like!) Lately, she and I have been discussing authenticity and positivity — specifically within the realm of style, because it can so often shift our focus to just the exterior. Although there’s a lot to enjoy about dressing ourselves up on the outside, it’s not everything. Or even a quarter of everything. Maybe, like, five percent on a good day.

Still, I’ve found that the way I dress corresponds to the way I’m feeling. If I feel vulnerable, I tend to wear darker colors (gray, forest green) and ankle boots. On days when I feel confident and happy, I wear bright pink or orangey-red hues. Lately, I’m feeling content and peaceful, and so I’ve been wearing ivory and tan more often. Both my new romper and ugly Birkenstocks* fall into that category, and if sartorial choices can predict the future, it looks to be a carefree, easy summer.

* both bought with gift cards, which makes them pretty much free!

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June 1, 2014 | 4 Comments | style

Philip LaRose

That “read the story” link doesn’t work—I was able to navigate that site and find the article, and the URL doesn’t have the year and month in it. (Maybe that changed after you first linked to it.) But anyhow, I enjoyed that interview with you. The matter of personal style is something I’m still working on; I generally feel okay with whatever I’m wearing, but I’ve been very slowly making wardrobe changes and I’m still vaguely dissatisfied with where it’s at. That bit about what message you want to send to the world is something I do occasionally consider, though I’ve had middling success with that—for instance, just when I decided I didn’t want to be wearing printed tees all the time, I started freelancing, which left me little to no money to spend on new clothes, and at the same time I started organizing an annual gaming convention which of course includes a commemorative shirt, so ironically my collection of printed tees has grown. But at least in that case, I have the pleasure of knowing I’m wearing a uniquely-designed shirt that only around 30 to 40 other people in the world have, not like wearing a band tee that thousands of others also have.
- http://www.theglowhow.com/ Annie
  
  Thank you! Looks like the URL changed, but it’s fixed now.
  
  Honestly, if you feel okay with what you’re wearing, that’s half the battle. There’s no point in dressing a certain way if you feel uncomfortable (unless, say, your job requires a suit and tie or a jumpsuit or whatever). That’s so funny about the t-shirt situation. Of *course* your shirt collection grows right as you decide you’re thinking of something different — but, as you said, you have a rare shirt, and whenever you see someone wearing the same design, it’s a reason to talk to that person. I feel this way when I see someone wearing an old band tee.
  
  We are on a parallel path re: freelancing and clothing. Even if I had more disposable income to spend on clothing, I’d really have little reason to buy, say, a new pair of fancy sandals. I mean, where am I going to wear them — to the living room? I still get dressed and try to look presentable, naturally, but Dylan and the cats don’t demand the latest trends.
  
  I’m curious, though, to know how your food consumption changed, if at all, when you went freelance. I feel like we are constantly, constantly cooking.
  - Philip LaRose
    
    Didn’t mean to leave this sitting so long without a reply! Before I started freelancing, I was already cooking for myself regularly, so I don’t feel that there was any real change in my food consumption or cooking practices. I probably did reduce the frequency that I went out for dinner, due to finances, but I don’t think it was really a big change. Actually, I do have to take that back a bit: as an adult, whenever I’ve had a job with regular hours, I’ve always had lunch on working days, but often skipped a proper lunch on my days off; now that I work freelance, I usually have two proper meals a day, breakfast and dinner, and I may or may not also have a sandwich for lunch at some point, which may be later at night if I actually had a proper dinner earlier—like tonight, in fact. I know it’s not uncommon for people to have only two meals a day, but I think usually they skip breakfast, and I’ve never liked doing that.
    
    Back to the wardrobe issues, yes, I agree there’s no point in dressing uncomfortably if you don’t have to. One thing I like about living in Seattle and working in the software industry is that I’ve always been able to dress “business casual”, at the most, for work—so I’ve always worn (decent) jeans, and I haven’t had to wear button-down shirts if I didn’t want to, let alone ties. And that’s also had the effect of reducing my dislike of ties; I think it’s fun now when I have an occasion to dress up fancy, as in my current user pic (not that it’s easy to tell with that compressed photo). This autumn I should finally make myself clear out a bunch of old clothes I no longer wear, and hopefully pick up a few new things that suit me better.
    - http://www.theglowhow.com/ Annie
      
      Don’t even worry about replying! So you’re surviving on two meals a day, sir? Goodness. I wholeheartedly encourage the eating of sandwiches so that you get enough to eat. (With you on breakfast.)
      
      I’ll clear out my old clothes, too, in solidarity. I’ve heard that most of us wear 20% of our clothing 80% of the time.