The day before I went on holiday to Tallinn, I looked around at my room and thought to myself: “something has to change”. I had way too much stuff, and it was making my pleasant, well-lit room in a nice flat feel oppressive, and a place I didn’t want to be. I had spoken on Twitter before about my desire to sort my life out and stop being such a messy troll, and various people had recommended me this book by Marie Kondo so I downloaded it to read while away. The weekend I got home, I had a complete clearout. I got rid of 2/3 of my clothes, either selling them via Depop or sending them to the charity shop round the corner, and so far, I regret nothing. I took on my clothes, makeup and jewellery, and have turned my room into a tidy, manageable space. I’m not saying the book is life-changing, but it really helped me single-handedly dispose of so, so many clothes that weren’t right for me anymore. I was able to clearly and quickly establish which clothes made me happy (whether because they were beautiful or they really suit me or whatever) and which didn’t, and to be able to dispose of those that didn’t guilt-free.
One of the most important side-effects has been seeing what I kept and what I got rid of, and using that to inform what I’ve been drawn to since then. I realised, for example, that I don’t have any use for more than one short-sleeved formal dress. I can’t wear short-sleeved dresses to conferences or meetings anymore because of my tattoos that I’ve got in the past year, so keeping one I particularly liked makes sense for nice dinners etc, but I don’t need any more than that. I also realised that I don’t have many casual dresses, and given I generally prefer wearing Sensible Flat Shoes (just bought a pair of cherry red classic Dr Martens with birthday money, for example!), when I want to wear a dress it’s probably useful to have something casual rather than a whole wardrobe of chic wiggle-dresses that would be ruined with those kinds of shoes.
So! I’ve picked up this month’s Elle because it has a 20% ASOS discount code and feel like I’m in a really good position to know what I really want that will make a difference to my wardrobe. I’m currently down to only one pair of black skinny jeans, which will simply not do- especially in winter- so decided on a new pair of ASOS Curve Ridleys (which are just perfect), and various cool, casual tops and skirts. I threw in the striped dress because even though I don’t need it and am not going to order it, I love the boldness of the print and how blatantly it says ‘hell no’ to the wisdom that fat girls shouldn’t wear horizontal stripes. I was originally going to save the code to use on the pink shaggy faux-fur coat that’s going to drop in Curve sizes in September, but realised I have a lot of outerwear I already really love, and there’s no point in just continually adding to it. So yes, it’s extremely cool and extremely me, but I think my $ is better used on other stuff. Such as…
Polo midi dress // Printed shirt dress // High-necked black top // Midi skirt // Split side maxi t-shirt // Stripe dress // Black skinny jeans // Leopard-print belt // Denim midi skirt
Although I haven’t committed to it yet, I’m also obsessed with this playsuit. I’m DJing at a party where all the guests have to wear white, and even though the performers don’t, this really caught my eye!
And knowing what my wardrobe / style interests are like, I would probably never buy this dress for myself, but it’s so gorgeous and such a beautiful colour that I had to show you lot, just in case anyone with a more ladylike dress sense has still got their 20% off code…
