Sept tracking wrap-up (9/16-9/30) - YouLookFab Forum

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Sept tracking wrap-up (9/16-9/30)

LaPed

Veteran

I haven't posted any tracking data for the last two weeks, but have been recording. Not many photos, but I wrote down every item of clothing I wore each day. Previous weeks here and here.

My grandmother passed away halfway through the month, and that has influenced my clothing choices a bit: simple, dark, unadorned. She always preferred brights and pastels, so I am not wearing all black. Her favourite colour was lilac, so I've been carrying my little lilac circle bag whenever I can (not tracking bag wears though).

Also, it is getting chilly! You'll see my shorts/sandals/swimsuits wears have tapered off versus the first half of the month, and dresses/skirts dropped off as well. I need to dig out my fall/winter dresses, the ones I wear layered with leggings/cozy tights and chunky knitwear. Most-worn items these past two weeks were loungewear, casual/gear footwear, and my new Everlane straight-leg jeans. Lots of items with just one wear, but many of those were carried over from the two weeks prior, and had more wears earlier in the month. I broke out quite a few more outerwear pieces in the second half of the month: a variety of lightweight puffies, a moto-style softshell, and even one of my wool coats on the chilliest morning (just above freezing).

ETA photos. Wear counts in comments.

1 -- last summer outfit. Gingham top, Levi's cutoffs, Everlane slides

2 --another duster outfit. With gear leggings and lilac circle bag.

3 -- super boring jeans and flannel outfit for a day of house/garden chores and a short hike.

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Dressing

19 replies

Latest reply was from Barbara Diane

LaPed

Veteran

Day 16 - Day 30 (for items also worn Days 1 -15, I have included a total monthly wear count in parentheses)

5 wears:

Allbirds loungers (10 wears total)
Grey patagonia joggers (lounge) (9 wears total)
Navy boden breton (lounge) (7 wears total)
Black altra running shoes (gear) (9 wears total)
Navy xero sneakers (8 wears total)
Blundstones (6 wears total)

4 wears:

Blush everlane hoodie (lounge) (7 wears total)
Grey everlane jeans (6 wears total)
Grey patagonia hoodie (lounge) (9 wears total)

3 wears:

Yellow graphic lounge tee
Blue floral lounge shorts (6 wears total)
Black softshell moto
Pink boden breton (lounge)
Blush boden lounge shorts (6 wears total)
Silver mary janes

2 wears:

Dark wash uniqlo boyfriend jeans
Striped cashmere sweater
Black watch flannel shirt
Chacos (7 wears total)
Burgundy lace-up boots (3 wears total)
Olive athleta tights (gear)
Black T9 tank top (gear) (4 wears total)
Striped patagonia flannel (3 wears total)
Brown prana yoga pants (gear/lounge)
Olive pata hoodie (6 wears total)
Navy uniqlo puffy
black/grey oscha scarf
black down vest
Rain shell (4 wears total)
Black wool duster (4 wears total)
Black teva flip flops (7 wears total)

1 wear:

Blue patagonia baggies (gear)
Blue uniqlo airism tee (gear)
Pink carve designs swimsuit
Black levi’s cut-offs
Short sleeve gingham shirt
Blue everlane sandals (2 wears total)
Olive taylor stitch chinos (4 wears total)
Blue st john breton
Charcoal uniqlo turtleneck (2 wears total)
Black TNF tights (gear)
Navy uniqlo t-shirt (4 wears total)
Coffee press graphic top
Turquoise patagonia puffy (gear)
Black stewart flannel
Boden blue leopard pants
Blue everlane oxford
Black wool coat
Madewell amber top (2 wears total)
Black everlane wide legs
Burgundy plaid wool shirt (2 wears total)
Burgundy plaid patagonia shirt
Black uniqlo tank top (3 wears total)
b/w uniqlo breton (5 wears total)
Black everlane jeans (2 wears total)
Olive field jacket (2 wears total)
Mint adidas (4 wears total)
White graphic tee (lounge) (3 wears total)
Grey cotton uniqlo sweater
Pink alligator lounge shorts (5 wears total)
Black lounge tee #2 (3 wears total)
White v-neck tee (lounge)
Long sleeve T9 top (gear)
Black uniqlo henley
Burgundy chukka boots
Grey Madewell field jacket

My most-worn item overall is my slippers (the Allbirds), at 10 wears. That's once every 3 days (and I didn't count days where I only slipped them on for a few minutes, because then they'd have close to 30 wears for the month). Honestly, I've worn them so much in the past year and a half that soon my toes are going to poke through the front. Probably due for new slippers, either Christmas or birthday!

66 items worn in the second half of the month, versus 59 in the first half of the month. Guessing that's due to increased need for outerwear.

rachylou

Veteran

I’m sorry for your loss!

That’s very interesting, you know, that you wore ~60 items in two weeks. 4 items of significance a day on average.

Cardiff girl

Veteran

Sorry to hear that your Grandmother has passed.Well done for keeping your tracking going under the circumstances.l hope that you have found it to be a useful exercise.

JAileen

Veteran

I’m sorry to hear about your grandmother. I do see a bit darker and warmer outfits. It’s to use your lilac bag to remind you of your grandmother.

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

So sorry for your loss. It's 29 years since my grandma died, and I still remember her scent, and think of how it felt to be with her.

Jenni NZ

Veteran

I'm sorry about your grandmother also and think honouring her with the lilac bag so lovely. I'm intrigued by your numbers as mine were much lower in number of items- my lifestyle is less varied as is my weather. Love your gingham shirt!

LaPed

Veteran

Thank you, everyone, for the kind words. Grandmother was a lovely woman, but after several years of severe senile dementia, I have a feeling she was ready to move on to something new. She was Dutch and I suspect her tastes and opinions are part of the reason I appreciate Angie's style so very much, even though it's vastly different from mine: colourful when I am neutral, polished when I am RATE. Yet my grandmother always insisted that my love of fashion came from *her* mother, who was apparently the real clotheshorse. Coming of age during WWII, my grandmother learned to be very frugal and pragmatic, but still always looked so put-together. Her emphasis was on good grooming and excellent posture; no matter what you're wearing, you'll command more respect.

I have to say, I find tracking somewhat soothing -- I just build it into whatever other journaling I happen to be doing. I like writing things down, doesn't matter what it is. Even when I skip a day, it's nice to look back at the calendar and figure out what I did and what I was wearing.

The number of garments seems huge, I know, but remember this really is everything (barring two bags and three pendant necklaces). I find it a good reality check to keep tabs on what I sleep in and do chores in, because, well, that is a good 50% of any given day!

And I do have a varied lifestyle and climate. Teaching outdoor classes to little ones requires some combination of gear and sturdy-casual (and non-precious footwear is non-negotiable); teaching Spanish classes to slightly bigger little ones (and subbing for all sorts of classes) is pretty much anything-goes, but I tend to opt for vibrant, comfy, polished casual, with nothing to dangly/droopy/snaggy/hard-to-clean. Then there's theatre rehearsals and set/props work, which really just means comfy, and, again, non-precious. And then there's trail and garden work, and hiking, and dog-walking, which is gear and more gear. Weekends are things like rock and folk concerts, birthdays (kid and adult), poetry readings, film showings, and seeing other people's plays. None of these things (in my region) require getting dressed up, but I do like to change if I've been wearing gear all day!!

And, yes, climate: layers, layers, layers this time of year. Today my basic teaching outfit was four distinct garments (top, leggings, dress, topper) but add raincoat, boots, scarf, and classroom shoes (the schools I work at do separate shoes for indoor and outdoor), and I'm up to eight pieces, and that's not including what I slept in and what I threw on to walk the dog this morning! I'll also say -- kids absolutely notice if I wear the same thing twice in a row even if I haven't seen them in a week (I do have a fair amount of distinctive garments, like bold stripes and graphics), so I do try to mix things up.

Greyscale

Veteran

I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother.

I really like all three of these outfits - they seem to capture the different sides of your style. That dark gingham shirt is great - I usually think of gingham as bright and cheery, but the darker plaid works really well on you.

#1 and #3 are the style I should aim for when I visit home. Almost black but not quite. I always feel overdressed when I go home, which is weird, because I grew up with such a practical approach to clothes, and if I could just relax and remember my most innate style, I'd be fine.

LaPed

Veteran

Greyscale, yes! Feeling overdressed in New England in is a very real thing -- just like Jenn mentioned about the conference her husband went to, where the people from New England were dressed very casually compared to those from other parts of the country. Sounds exactly like when my husband's company hosts conferences. I know people who literally have a pair of "nice jeans" and a "nice flannel" that they save for weddings and such.

jussie

Veteran

Sorry to hear of your loss.
My Dutch Ooma was an incredible clotheshorse! Maybe it is a bit of a Dutch thing?
I really like outfit number one. What a great plaid shirt.
I get what you mean about wearing a lot of items each day, I could easily rack up similar numbers. Work, walking the dog, and neat casual are often all required in just one day. Then if I go out in the evening there’s another outfit! Though these days I don’t go out in the evening much.
Plus I feel the cold so always cart a solid coat to work with me, plus the mandatory wide-brimmed sunhat. It’s crazy how many clothing changes I’m doing.

LaPed

Veteran

Jussie, I do think the Dutch have a culture of vibrant, polished, playful dressing that is very different from the way the other side of my family (Quakers originally from Scotland) tends to approach clothing -- simple, sturdy, dark, neutral, functional not decorative.

I did the math Jenn did in her thread. I wore 87 items total, out of roughly 200 (that's including all my gear and lounge/PJs), which comes to 43.5% of my wardrobe worn this past month. A lot of things get worn just once or twice a month, which is fine, since I keep almost everything for longer than 3 years. I actually prefer having three flannel shirts and wearing them for a decade, vs having just one and wearing it out in three years and hoping I can find a replacement that's as good (that's based on actual experience -- I had three flannel shirts all through college til my late 20s, when they all got holes in the elbows, one after another. I replaced them over the course of a year or two, and am now a few years into my next "round" of flannel).

LaPed

Veteran

And here is a compilation of my most-worn items, broken down into rough categories.

Footwear:

Allbirds loungers (10 wears total)
Black altra running shoes (9 wears total)
Navy xero sneakers (8 wears total)
Chacos (7 wears total)
Black teva flip flops (7 wears total)
Blundstones (6 wears total)
Mint adidas (4 wears total)

Lounge:

Grey patagonia joggers (9 wears total)
Grey patagonia hoodie (9 wears total)
Blush everlane hoodie (7 wears total)
Navy boden breton (7 wears total)
Olive patagonia hoodie (6 wears total)
Blush boden lounge shorts (6 wears total)
Blue floral lounge shorts (6 wears total)
Pink alligator lounge shorts (5 wears total)

Daily and Gear:

Grey everlane jeans (6 wears total)
b/w uniqlo breton (5 wears total)
Navy uniqlo t-shirt (4 wears total)
Olive taylor stitch chinos (4 wears total)
Rain shell (4 wears total)
Black wool duster-vest (4 wears total)
Black T9 tank top (4 wears total)

The new jeans were my most-worn "everyday" piece of clothing. Not surprising, since every pair of grey/faded black jeans I've owned I've worn to shreds. My other heavy-hitters in terms of making actual out-in-public outfits were very simple pieces (the olive chinos, navy tee, black and white breton) that coordinate with lots of other things.

I really fretted over splurging on those Patagonia hoodies and sweatpants a couple years ago, but wow, do they ever earn their keep. They are my at-home uniform for all sorts of cooking/cleaning chores in the morning and evening.

I really pushed myself to wear the long black vest, which is newish and a bit tricky for me to style. Also, the window to wear it is short (Sept/Oct and again in Apr/May). Hopefully I can get 16 wears out of it per year as a transitional piece. That seems reasonable.

All of my most-worn shoes are chosen for practical reasons rather than aesthetic ones. My "nice" shoes only get 1-3 wears each per month, and none are worn year-round due to climate/lifestyle factors. But, again, that's fine. I dislike replacing shoes because it's so hard to find ones that are comfortable and look the way I want them to!

Despite having a high *number* of wears, I'm not sure I would buy the Allbirds again. After 18 months they are getting threadbare at the toes. If they had a lot of *miles* on them, that would be one thing, but they don't have nearly the miles on them that my running shoes and Blundstone boots do, both of which are still going strong. This is one of those cases where number of wears isn't super reflective of usage. When I wear my running shoes, it's for anywhere from 3 to 15 miles, while when I wear the Allbirds, it's for maybe an hour of puttering around the house while the floors are cold in the morning. I only wore them outdoors for one summer into fall before demoting them to slipper status.

Greyscale

Veteran

Heh yes but in my case I’m talking about wearing jeans and a tee and still being overdressed! It’s a question of how prepared I am to tromp through muddy fields. (Specifically when I visit my parents, not visiting New England in general.)

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Sorry for your loss, LaPed. I like your way of honouring your grandmother! The lilac bag is so lovely.

You wore a lot of different items over the month! But that means your wardrobe is really earning its keep. I know what you mean about those items you really debate with yourself that turn out to be such great purchases in terms of CPW (and joy per wear, too, sometimes). Often for me those are the simple, around the house items like slippers, a cozy sweater for at home, and jeans.

karen13

Veteran

So sorry to hear of your grandma's struggles. Even when our loved ones are ready to move on, it is still a hole in the lives of those they leave behind.The lilac bag is adds such a nice bright touch to your outfits.

I always enjoy your posts because you have such a cohesive and stylish casual look - aspirational for me as I too live in a gear driven outdoorsy world. I haven't tracked in part because I sometime don't change out of my scruffies for a few days. But your posts are showing me I might find some value and insight if I do.

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

I am sorry about your grandmother. What a nice way to think about her by wearing the lilac purse!

Anonymous

I am also sorry that you lost your grandmother. It made me feel better to honor her by getting gifts for nursing home residents who have no one at Christmas, Mothers' Day and her birthday. Just call a local home and explain what you want to do. Don't be surprised if they have someone who wants a visitor once in awhile. You can take a flower in a vase or a milk shake.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

My condolences about your Gran.

Looking fably '90s YOUR way. The lilac bag is a meaningful and sweet addition.

Barbara Diane

Veteran

I'm sorry not just about your grandmother's passing, but about her decline.
I love that you wore the lilac bag in her honor/memory.