Day 30: The Crone’s Closet

Here in Southern Ontario, the calendar changing to October can prompt a wardrobe switchover. I suppose some people with large closets don’t need this routine, but I live in an old house built in the 1920s, when wardrobes were much smaller than they are today. At first, it seemed like a storage problem. But I pack away the summer clothes and enjoy a “new wardrobe” each fall.

As I went through my wardrobe yesterday, I was thinking about how curated it has become over the past five years. I buy less. I’ve moved away from fast fashion in most cases. I try to shop for needs rather than wants. I buy secondhand when possible. And I genuinely need less.

I’m home a lot more, and comfort is my primary criteria for clothing. I still have a thing for shoes and bags, but I don’t scratch that itch as often.

I spoke to my mom, and she said she had put away her summer sandals and gotten out her shoes. She switched from T-shirts to long sleeves. She owns under 30 articles of clothing for the season, excluding coats and boots. At 88, she has become very practical.

I remember her cocktail dresses when I was a little girl. Watching her get dressed to go out for a drink or to a house party with my dad. It was very Mad Men.

Now she has her wedding/funeral outfit. She doesn’t need something new to wear to an event.

I remember the “Dress for Success” era. Like many of my peers, I watched What Not to Wear. Both of those ideas helped me internalize messages about the significance of what I wore.

It was cosplay before there was cosplay.

We were dressing for the part in life we wanted and internalizing some pretty flawed messages about how important our wardrobe choices were.

I think many of us appreciated Stacy London and Clinton Kelly’s new approach when they came out with Wear Whatever the F You Want.

Exactly.