Wait for it—I have retired ! (sort of re-retired, as I had
retired and returned to work in a different specialty a few years ago) .

Did so just before the full awareness of the pandemic
hit, so had only a couple of weeks of “freedom”
before generally staying at home.. That is a whole separate discussion, stages of grief that could be done on that. So much for “don’t
hibernate, plan to get together with people”, do more at church, have lunches with friends, travel to see the grandchildren and to all the places I hope to go…trips and retreats and volunteer activities cancelled and so on. But, I am every day thankful for the huge blessings and still great opportunities I have in being retired. Fortunately, retirement was announced way in advance, which helped mitigate the later feelings of abandoning ship ( after 40 years in medicine ! ) just in time for the pandemic. However, I practiced in several specialties that are high-demand for COVID-19 , and so it is hard to hear about what my friends/former colleagues are going through.

This post, however is about wardrobe/fashion related to the
above! After deciding to retire I had planned to post about pre-retirement wardrobe stages and
planning, but for various reasons, never did. So most of that seems irrelevant now especially because even Fabbers planning retirement are in the “new reality”.

I can say that in pre-retirement, I started getting used to the idea that there would be no more quest for the perfect work blazer or pencil skirt or the cohesive work wardrobe and instead I would need items for more outdoor activities, travel. I would be dressing differently, in part due to fabrics and tailoring. I had actually compromised comfort, to some extent, with some work outfits. Over time this mainly was footwear that was JUST that bit too tapered or pinched by end of day or, face it, even booties need to be almost flat, if for all-day wear. I cut
back on shopping and buying but did buy some F/W items that were more casual and that could juxtapose. Still I had to keep reminding myself of what not to buy more of.

Pre-retirement, I had fun trying more SYC for new combinations, for work and other occasions. I found I had a lot of items that
had been really good choices, in part because my work wardrobe was not corporate, though not super casual either, and could still be worn. My issue was going to be, I no longer would need so MANY choices of the more business items, as would not need the “daily outfit,” only a few best business casual outfits for each weather-season for some ongoing interactions.

Moving to “updated roles and goals”, for retirement I had anticipated: a lot of gardening; apres-gardening loungewear/comfie casual for
fixing supper, evening; in-home exercise, church and related activities; errands; local
professional conferences /lectures I attend for CME and seeing former
colleagues and friends; “date nights’, theater; a range of friend-get togethers; volunteer work; travel in U.S., very casual including hiking, but needing cohesive capsules and learning to pack lighter; aspirational international travel.

But—hahahaha to most of that for now!

So for now, for gardening I have a pretty good capsule of tough casual items. However I had a footwear deficiency. I have Muck shoes but needed more support and need to tradeoff at times,
my terrain is rough and I do a lot of spading, very hard on my feet (I love theslip-on convenience but…). For years I had worn an old pair of full leather NB sneakers which eventually fell apart. So recently I added some Magellan leather hiking boots and Columbia leather+fabric boot-sneaker, from sales, and so far working ok. I also realized, my shirts are not too short, it’s my pants that are too low! So for future, would like higher waist “tough fabric” pants, but that is dicey for very active comfort, heading in to elastic territory.

Moving up one notch, I am sorting out a “loungewear”
capsule. Not aiming to be suitable for leaving home, but the goal is a degree of coordination.. Realistically likely to default to elastic/drawstring waist, easy tops, footwear likely include memory
foam slip-ons if I am to avoid slippers, but aiming for that elusive degree of “fit” and fun, that still is super-comfortable. This would be after-gardening shower/cook dinner capsule to avoid
going directly to PJ’s ! I have contenders including what might be “tailored PJ’s “but also pants that are more tailored than sweats , and “special “ sweats/joggers, with not-too sloppy tops.

Next, how to dress daily, for regular isolation day? Which in summer for me includes going outside
to feed the birds, harvest veggies (not full-on yard work), housework, and taking walks. One thing is how “cold” I run. I have still had to wear fleece items in May due to cool snaps! I had put some
things away for the season and then pulled them out again. I might change tops and comfortable jackets several times a day as day warms up, and different shoes for indoors vs my walking shoes. I think it is
because, well, if I’m at home, why would I stay in this top/jacket/shoes if I would like to change? So it has brought home needing to keep a range of items available.

I tend not to wear jeans if I have something more
comfortable—hence would need “more comfortable jeans” and other pants. I will likely do some as forms of, dare I say, Athleisure or maybe Sporty Luxe but for me that is because I like some of the features of technical fabrics, stretch, , fit and I feel energized. I am a fan of zipper
pockets in jackets and pants for travel, also. Plus washable, and can get warmer fabrics than washable wovens. However, I like my actual "exercise capsule" to be completely separate, to say, "now exercise!". Also, I wear long or cropped pants indoors even for much of summer--shorts more outside. So still working on all of that.

One thing the isolation re-emphasizes, as has YLF, is, what am I saving things for? I will miss the window on fit, weather, or preferences. So I try to remove “role blinders” of where/what for I USED to wear the item, and evaluate just on the fit and comfort and practicality. That means an EF sweater I “kept nice” for work, but bought because the fabric was great and a happy color, may be in my loungewear capsule. This is really nothing more than “what are your favorites and why”, but before pandemic, I had planned to set aside some special outfits/capsules for specific occasions because I wanted to be sure I had them ready to go. But I would have been actuallly wearing them occasionally so could tell if still fit, worked right.

Thanks for reading. Hope to update with some results of try-ons
and re-imagining the wardrobe !