Theory:
I want to get back to the R in RATE in several ways.
1. I always like to be able to trace out what came from where. The same is true with my clothes: patina and a little bit of wear on my clothes is better than “ohh, shiny-new!” Not entirely worn-out, of course, but I think it’s great that one shoulder on my leather aviator jacket shows I used to carry a backpack on my right shoulder, for example.
2. I’m getting back to slightly tougher styles like my combat boots. I want to be careful though, so it doesn’t look like a costume. Part of that has to do with where I am. Those boots work well in Berlin, but would start the chatter where I grew up, so I doubt I’ll take them when I visit family.
3. I like to have one thing that’s a little bit jarring, whether it’s a different color, or something much more textured than the rest, etc.

Now for praxis:
Color
To decide on my palette, I looked at my wardrobe, what I enjoyed wearing and what felt wrong. I realized that my main color was more of a family of related berry shades, my secondary is blue, and red and green are accent colors for me. That was when I first started here, and those colors still work well for me.

For the last few years, most of my style moves have been around wanting to wear very berry shades from head to toe. Angie’s tonal matching outfits just seemed so sophisticated, I had to do that. These days, it isn’t a conscious thing, but if I look at wiw, there is at least one raspberry, cranberry, blackberry, blueberry item every day. Surprisingly, now that I have the items to dress head-to-toe in tonally matching colors, I don’t do it. It’s too much “same” for me, and I’m likely to break it up with a coordinating accessory, like my blue gloves.

Two changes crept into my color story late last summer.
1 I’ve gathered a small capsule of ice pink items—my puffy vest, NYDJ pink skinnies, “granny” cardi and a pair of workout shorts. I wear them a couple of ways: with the berry colors and red in an extension of the tonal matching, and with black. Black + pink is an old story for any ballerina, but is new for me. I haven’t worn it much, but want to work it into more outfits.

2 I also have quite a few pieces with black and white patterns. So far I wear them with bright colors for the “pow” of it. I’ve also worn them with black. I’m starting to experiment with other ways of wearing them, with darker colors and mixed with each other.

Shapes
Most of my life, winter clothing meant pants with a straight-ish leg and a banded sweater. Learning about boots, skirts, and warm tights was a revolution. Skinny pants happened while I was in a no-winter location. Coming back to a 4-seasons climate, I’m slowly getting back into other silhouettes. My “nice to buy” list includes longer toppers in several different shapes. I’m also moving in the opposite direction, tucking shirts in again after a long time of not doing it.

Footwear
I’ve been surprised to realize that most of my winter shoes / boots have a bit of a heel. Shoes I’m thinking of buying are loafers for winter and, probably sometime this year, replacements for my tall burgundy brown boots. In both of these, I’ll look for flats or heels under an inch. I need summer shoes too, am hoping for flat bracelet sandals with a little bit of sparkle.

I don’t think any of these are earth-shattering, but they are gradual evolution. Sorry the photos are not new or in perfect order—hard to remember where to reach in what order. They’re mostly to show the different color ideas, including berry everywhere, black/white patterns and how I’m working in pink.