Last year I wrote a post on the qualities you would like to express with your individual style. Looking back on the qualities that I aspire to, I wouldn’t change a thing. I still want my style to express that I am modern, trendy, professional, fun, and modest. But recently I have started to question the final quality I mentioned: practical.
By my own definition, I am for the most part a practical dresser. I wear comfortable shoes and clothes each day. I pile on the layers when it’s cold. I wear specs daily, and throw on an unflattering Winter hat in arctic temperatures because it’s the only way to prevent my ears from aching.
At the same time, I have a very unpractical side to my style because I love, love, LOVE cream and white wardrobe items. And let’s face it – cream and white does not effectively hide dirt and grime as well as other colours. I have a white pair of Dr. Marten 20 eyelet boots. I have two pairs of knee-high cream boots and three pairs of cream booties. I have a cream trench coat, a cream coat and a cream leather jacket. I have a few pairs of white jeans, several white blouses and shirts, and three cream handbags. That’s a lot of cream and white stuff for someone who lives in rainy Seattle and is outside pounding the pavement on a regular basis.
Well ladies, cream coloured clothing, footwear and handbags are my style indulgence. It helps that I don’t have small children, although little paw prints often make it onto my cream clothing. I will say that I am careful when I wear my cream and white wardrobe items. I won’t wear my cream coat out to the movies, or my cream boots in the pouring rain. And I don’t expect to wear my white jeans three times before laundering them.
The bottom line is that although white and cream wardrobe items are impractical (especially cream outerwear), I refuse to omit them from my style. I derive enormous pleasure from sporting them and will go to great lengths to keep them looking pristine and crisp. They will be the exception to my practical rule.
Do you have an impractical side to your style? If so, let’s hear about it.
