Some Upsides of Social Distancing, Part IV

A toddler pushing his stroller on a wooded path

Here in Tennessee, businesses are starting to open back up again, but my behavior hasn’t changed. I’m still very much isolating at home, and probably will be for some time. I don’t think we’ve seen the worst of this pandemic yet, at least not in our region. Given my pregnancy and autoimmune disease, I’d rather be as cautious as possible for now.

While it’s hard not to see my friends and do some of the things I used to do, I remain in good spirits. Below are a few more benefits of this new lifestyle that I’ve noticed.

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Defining and Refining My Style

The author standing in her office wearing a black dress, light gray blazer, and black pointy-toe flat shoes
An outfit from the capsule wardrobe I’ve been wearing this fall.

I have about two weeks left for this fall’s capsule wardrobe, and I’ve reached the point where I’m getting pretty tired of wearing the same few outfits over and over again. It’s nice not to have to put much thought into what I’m going to wear, but on the other hand, I’m a little bored. I’m craving more variety and missing some of the items I packed away. Now that the weather has gotten cold, I’m wishing I had more sweaters to choose from. I’ve also had to attend more trials than usual this fall, and wearing the same two suits week after week is getting old.

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A New Season, Another Capsule Wardrobe!

Clothes hanging in a closet - a selection from the author’s fall 2019 capsule wardrobe

After about a six-month break, I’m ready to return to a capsule wardrobe for this fall. I’ve enjoyed some added variety in my outfits, but I feel like I’m spending too much time thinking about my clothes again, and I’ve also bought more things than I’d like over the past several months. So I’m returning to the Project 333 concept, but I’m modifying it a little this time.

When I did this last fall, I found that my wardrobe didn’t fully account for extremes in temperatures, which ranged from the low 20s to the high 80s here during my September-to-December capsule wardrobe challenge. At the beginning, I wished I’d had shorts and a pair of sandals, and by the end, I could have used some gloves and a coat that was more substantial than a trench coat or wool blazer. I also missed having a few items available to me, like a necklace.

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Work Wardrobes: Follow-up & Further Reading / Listening

Photo of the author standing in her office

I write about many different topics on this site, but you all must be particularly interested fashion, because my recent piece about dressing professionally quickly became my most-viewed post ever. I certainly don’t consider myself a fashionista, but I do frequently think about what I wear, how I present myself, and what I buy. For me, these topics are not just about image but also touch on issues of feminism, sustainability, and ethics, and they raise questions about my priorities for my time, money, and mental energy. Read more

Why We Buy Things We Don’t Need (And How to Stop Making Impulse Purchases)

Close-up of twenty-dollar bills

Despite my stated intention to embrace a smaller wardrobe and buy less apparel, I’ve been been doing a good bit of online clothes shopping lately. Much of the browsing and clicking feels more habitual or impulsive than intentional. In order to feel more in control of my spending and acquiring, I wanted to try to understand what is driving this behavior, both for me individually and for modern consumers in general.

Lately, my impulse purchases have all been clothes and shoes, and they’ve all been made online. I rarely shop at physical stores anymore, and I don’t feel much of a desire to buy, say, home decor items, sporting goods, or kitchen gadgets. I’ve embraced a less-is-more mindset when it comes to the objects that surround me and fill my physical environment. Why, then, has this mindset not expanded to the objects that adorn my body?

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