Is anyone else thinking about wardrobe goals yet? I’m going to post mine right now, since I’m heading into two weeks of festivities with family and friends and won’t be around too much. I’ve already gotten pretty picky about where I shop and I’m far from being an over-consumer. However, I do buy a lot of basics that I feel less-that-great about from a sustainability/labor practices perspective (Uniqlo, I’m looking at you!). I fully acknowledge that being able to buy decent-quality basics for prices that rival secondhand is pretty awesome; I’m not going to feel guilty about buying things that work for me — sizing, pricing, quality, colors, etc — but going forward I still want to push myself to buy better. I like Sally’s criteria over at Already Pretty, so I’ll try to keep these in mind and make sure the majority of what I buy ticks at least one of these boxes:
- Made in the U.S.A.
- Secondhand/used
- Handmade
- Created using sustainable materials
- Created using fair trade/transparent labor practices
Other than continuing to shop consciously, my big goals are:
- Finding pants with structure that don’t flatten my derriere! I’ve never liked skinnies — the calf-sucking, the waistbands that creep down, the thighs that get overstretched and puckered. Plus, a lot of pants that are “slim-straight” on others are too tight to get over my calves. So, for the umpteenth year in a row, I’m going to gently remind myself to not force myself into clothes that I don’t like just because they’re what everybody else wears. I do want crisp-looking, tailored pants though. Tall order! I’m hoping that the swing back towards wide legs will give me some more options.
- Upping my accessory game. I think this is a perennial goal too. It’s hard, being a pragmatist and very hesitant to invest in non-essentials. I like the idea of things like scarves and belts, but I have a hard time convincing myself to buy them. How do I break this mindset?
- Avoid jersey-type knits. Especially for my S/S shopping, I plan to focus on lightweight wovens. I’m tired of t-shirts that look “blah” after just a year or two.
- Figure out what “my” dress shoes are. Sheepish admission: I don’t really like the look of most women’s shoes. I don’t see myself as an intentionally androgynous dresser, but pumps, d’orsays, stilettos, etc have never made my heart sing. Oxfords and monk straps on the other hand… I rarely need to dress for truly formal events, so I have some latitude here, but I do want to add some options that are, at the very least, expressly not-casual. I’ll probably do a whole post fielding ideas about this.
That’s about it, I think — and plenty to work on over the next twelve months.
