Do I need to get dressed today? - YouLookFab Forum

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Dressing

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Do I need to get dressed today?

modgrl

(website)

Veteran

Hi all, I loved reading about Angie's style goals today. The post is so hopeful and I love that Angie still gets dressed every day.

The pandemic has made fashion much less of a priority for me. I am working from home. Non-stop zoom meetings mean that I am mostly only seen from the chest up. I leave the house to walk the dog and work on my garden. Practical, comfortable clothes and sturdy shoes are all that make sense. Fashion feels cancelled.

I didn't come into this year with set style goals. But for some time now I have felt strongly that I need to continuously refresh my wardrobe, and if I buy something new, it needs to push my style in a new direction or out of my comfort zone. I also have silver/blue/purple hair now so I need to play with new colors. I'm not giving up on that, but the uncertainly of the pandemic and lack of need to dress to leave the house make me really not motivated to try super hard.

(photo is from a March photo shoot for work before quarantine, probably the last time I got dressed with joy and enthusiasm)

Does anyone else feel this way? And how do I get my zest back? I think my family is tired of seeing me in black leggings and nature sweatshirts.

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Dressing

23 replies

Latest reply was from cindysmith

Windchime

Veteran

I like your pre-quarantine style and love the hair color!

Are YOU tired of black leggings and nature sweatshirts? Dress in a way that you enjoy and that makes you feel good. I wouldn’t worry about trying to be fashion forward right now—you can address that when life becomes more public again. But I bet you can find a balance that works for now between ultra casual and fashion forward.

That being said, nature sweatshirts are a good choice if you’re enjoying them right now.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

SO LOVELY TO SEE YOU CHIME IN, RITA! It has been years

I'm loving your fun rainbow silver hair! Your skin looks healthy and beautiful too.

Windchime makes a lot of sense, and I echo every word.

Maybe ask your family what they want to see you in? It would be fun to hear their answers, which you can choose to process however you want to. They might love you in leggings and sweatshirts!

Failing that, go to your closet and pick ONE piece that excites you. Dress it down and strike a good quarantine balance.

Anonymous

Pretty hair! Yup, fashion feels cancelled to me too. Is it fashion that needs to be your creative outlet, or are you channeling that energy into other projects now. Its perfectly fine either way!

Cardiff girl

Veteran

Love the hair!I wouldn’t worry about the lack of fashion mojo at the moment,I would guess that a lot of us feel that way but it will gradually lift as the restrictions lift I m sure.

Anonymous

Raises hand. I very much feel this way. I can't imagine I will ever fall back in love with fashion again. My only goals in life right now are to be clean, healthy, and emotionally stable. Jewelry, make-up, hair, and clothes have all fallen by the way side. I wear jammies and lounge clothes. Lots and lots of tee shirts .... even for Teams calls.

CocoLion

(website)

Veteran

Great to see you! Fashion will come back, and your interest in it will return as well. In the meantime it's fine to go casual but I have found that a couple times a week I enjoy grooming and dressing nicely even if the foundation of the outfit is jeans and sneakers.

Firecracker (Sharan)

Veteran

It's really interesting to hear the different approaches to style during this time. I can understand the impulse to wear lounging clothes. Personally I find some joy in choosing something that I really want to wear, and for me it isn't loungewear. My outfits are generally jeans plus a top, plus slippers for indoors or sneakers for outdoors. I choose the jeans, top, and sneakers from my overly wide selections (I'm terrible at editing). I pick something that makes me happy to wear, even if no one will see it but me, my DH, and possible a few people on the street if I walk. I do my hair and makeup, minus lipstick (because if I go out I will wear a mask), put on earrings, my watch and rings. My style really hasn't changed from what I typically wear on my days off.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Your hair looks AMAZING!!

Having also gone silver, I find that in some cases the colours I like to wear have changed. So you might find some fashion happiness in continued play with colours and in editing out what no longer works.
Reorganizing the closet might lend a feeling of satisfaction and also expose some genuine wardrobe holes.

Anonymous

Back away from the nature sweatshirts.........

LOVE your hair ! The colour/s are amazing and absolutely suit the texture and cut too. Lucky you!

As to what to wear these days, I'm with Sharan in that I never did fall into the sweats and leggings trap. Of course I wore them once in awhile, but (and maybe this is misguided) I felt I almost owed it to my family not to wear the same crap everyday. Which is how I felt about my black leggings and sweatshirts ....
I agree that buying something new should bring a spark to your wardrobe, and at the very least inspire one to continue dressing well. I'm not making any sense. Lol.

The Cat

Veteran

You've got some great advice already. And this article might give you additional inspiration: https://insideoutstyleblog.com.....ishly.html

kellygirl

Veteran

So great to see you. You look fantastic. Love your hair. I think we've all had a bit of a fashion fall off. I still get dressed but only for work--that's more uniform dressing and FFBOs so not really very fashionable.

MsMaven

Veteran

I worked on fashion by rotating through clothes and jewelry and posting here, but in the last few days that has fallen off because I've been so busy. Also the weather is so changeable right now that it's hard to plan.

Great to see you here. I love your hair!

I'm trying not to give up on jeans and bottoms that button. So far I've avoided more than a 2 pound weight gain but there are days when the waistband does cut into the belly.

I also find it's a challenge on busy days when there will also be a Zoom session, and I don't have to do them for business.

How about experimenting with new colors? I've been doing that and there are so many sales right now, I don't feel bad about buying new things. Simple tees or tanks in a new color for me has given me some new ideas.

Who knows how long it will be before we can go out all dressed up again.Too bad we can't do some YLF clothing exchanges. The one we had in our area a few years back was so much fun. I've thought about how great it would be if we could do it again.

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

Your hair looks fabulous! I sort of go in and out but lately things have opened up and I have snapped back to getting dressed pretty easily. I find seeing other people is a necessary part of the inspiration process, even if I don't dress anything like them.

rachylou

Veteran

!!!Rita!!! Missed ya and yet it’s like you’re here every day! Love your hair. Wish mine would do light, silvery colours like that.

Dressier, ‘sitting fashion’ seems to have gone totally away. My eye is turning towards chore clothes... Like, maybe I could look more like I work in HRM’s Royal Gardens instead of gardening in my slippers... lol

Joy

Veteran

The change of seasons may ignite some fashion interest.

abby

From time to time, we need a rest. Consider this to be it in terms of your fashion. Skip the guilt, be comfortable, and enjoy this time. I am. Make the proverbial silk purse from this sow’s ear.

To get your zest back, do what you love. At our age, we know by now what that is. Get paid for it if you can but if not, do it with gusto anyway. That is what I am doing. Tho local food bank has 16 buckets of veggies donated from my garden and it is still May.

Bijou

Veteran

Yes you do need to dress up, because it's Dress Up Friday! You look wonderful, I especially love your colourful hair.

bella

(website)

Veteran

Good to see you Rita, welcome back! Your hair looks great.

Kate

Veteran

Great to see you, modgrl. Your hair looks gorgeous! It steals the show.

I work from a home office and have for years, so the pandemic has not really affected my daily style. Sometimes I entertain myself by dressing up in my going out clothing and envisioning a time when that will be possible again.

The cats get a charge out of it too, and play hide and seek in the closet while I’m playing dress up!

modgrl

(website)

Veteran

Thank you all... it’s so nice to feel your loving support and thoughts through this difficult time. It feels frivolous to think about fashion while there are people dying around me. But I actually got dressed to leave the house and wore real shoes that weren’t gardening clogs today. It felt good! I wore cute shoes and a real handbag! Yay! Thank you all for the encouragement! I was definitely starting to feel a little Jocelyn from Schitt’s Creek with the nature sweatshirts

Vix

Veteran

Hi Modgrl —

Nice to see you! Of course you don’t *have* to do anything but take a break, but I always remember you as such a GLAM, chic dresser that I do wonder if you’d feel a bit better ramping things up a little at home.

Totally hear you on the frivolous feeling, too.

Projecting a bit but while I love loungewear and not having to do anything other than basic grooming, I found even my Step 1 — make an effort with slightly cute exercise wear — was not cutting it for me.

I just found myself missing normality and “occasions” like basic coffee dates, then feeling guilty for the selfishness etc of hating how all the days blended together.

So I came up with a very low-stakes challenge that riffed on some of the style archetype philosophies out there. It’s making getting “dressed-dressed” interesting to me again and requires nothing but creativity.

As I firmly believe that creativity helps us cope with change and encourages the brain to help with creating solutions, I figured it was not a selfish way to spend time, not that that was really a factor.

Maybe set yourself something similar? Read over the past YLF challenges, have a “Wear Color X / Prints / Clothing Type” week goal?

I’m glad you felt good out of clogs and nature sweatshirts so would love to hear what you come up with!

Joy

Veteran

It helps me to have a challenge or a goal. For example this year June 5-7 is Wear Orange for a stand against gun violence
https://wearorange.org/
The first day is a Friday. My dress up day is usually Sunday rather than Friday, but dressing up one day a week may help you. Pre corona sah, I tried to wear a dress or skirt at least two days a week and looked forward to planning for these days my other day was Tuesday as I often had meetings to attend that day. I also started collecting more casual dresses and skirts like tee shirt or sweater dresses. Accessories can dress them up too. Good luck and work at varying your outfits.

cindysmith

Veteran

The coronapocalypse has had me reaching for the same few garments over and over. There has been nowhere to go and no one to see because nothing was open and everyone was stuck at home. Now, things are opening back up, far too soon, and I don't WANT to go anywhere because I'm afraid of catching coronacooties. Even on days when I'm home from work by midafternoon, I've been changing into pajamas or lounge wear. When I do have to go out and about, I'm wearing comfy clothes and not staying out long.

I'm bored with lounge clothes. I'm bored with pajamas. I'm bored with work clothes. I'm bored with being bored. Yet there's nothing that seems important enough to do, except for my 1w step meetings and I'm not doing those as often as I'd like because A) coronacooties and B) a screwed up work schedule has me too tired to go to a meeting most nights.

Yeah, I'm with you. I want to get dressed in something fab, but since I don't have to I'm sitting in my pajamas reading the internet.