Finally, someone is writing about the tyranny of women's clothes. I've been held hostage to "dressing for who I want to be" for years. Perhaps it was the pandemic when my work clothes never saw the light of day, or perhaps it's just getting older and tired of trying to fit my foot into the glass slipper. Thanks for giving voice to the journey from stranglehold to liberation.
I remember reading a piece from a woman who had worked with architects and high-end advertising folks at one point. Wherever they met, in whatever corner of the globe, she noted that they all (male and female) wore muted colors and similar pieces of clothing. (Think Steve Jobs with his black turtlenecks and jeans.) The individuality was expressed through everything else--from earrings and eyeglasses to shoes and socks. And they didn't overdo it with those accessories, either.
I'll confess, I feel somewhat outside of this conversation because, having lived barely inside the middle class for most of my life, I've always shopped in thrift stores. So, "currently fashionable" was always outside the confines of the possible. Living that way has, however, made me clearer from an early age that I like what I like and everyone else can sod off about it. As I've gotten older, the list of what I like has also gotten shorter (as well as my willingness to manage the chaotic realities of being a clothes horse. I have shit to do. I don't have time to wade through piles of unnecessary clothes and shoes.), so I have evolved a uniform of sorts. Definitely for winter, when I spend a fair amount of time outside. That winter uniform is: comfortable pants, preferably with pockets, a comfortable, sometimes colorful sweater, an enormous scarf, and Blundstones, which are simultaneously comfortable and stylish leather ankle boots made in Tasmania. Oh, and lovely, often large earrings.
Summer is a little bit more of a free-for-all. I do love a kicky dress and a pair of knee-high boots, but 9 times out of 10 I'm still gonna choose the simple uniform-- comfortable pants with pockets, a fitted shirt or tank, and my faithful Blundstones. Why mess with perfection?
I’m the same… always wanted to shop in menswear for its simplicity. If I find something that doesn’t hate me back I buy multiples too. Wish I’d started sooner. Plus I try and repair everything including my most loved jeans! I adore and am getting more uniform!
I’m very late to discovering the joy of the shirt! For the last decade I have defaulted to a dress but was starting to feel a bit like Mrs Doubtfire with my menopause boobs. Lovely husband got me a personal shopper for my birthday and she opened up the wonder of separates! Everything goes and I have half the clothes. Amazing! Also a midlife problem page sounds ace x
Sam, you have a gift! As ever, you managed to pick a seemingly random topic (uniforms) and turn it into a properly funny, honest and truly insightful piece - in awe of your scribey-brilliance!!!!
Haha! Ahhhhhh yup.., at 62 I can still spend wayyyyy too long in front of my closet, wondering what to wear. Whether going to work or worse a social get together with friends… for whatever reason, I’ve never been very great at dressing myself so that I look and feel good… , however when I look back at old photos I realize that I actually looked really pretty great, don’t know why I worried so much… Now that I’m well into menopause, I’m really flummoxed, as my waist no longer exists and I resemble more of a “chubby tube” as one writer recently described her menopausal body. So I resort to wearing a lot of Seasalt Cornwally type tunics to cover up my tubular shape, I recently gave away 6 pairs of jeans that I’d never worn, preferring the man jeans I bought years ago that have worn through the knees and ripped…. I guess I veer towards my old jeans and baggy tops, I’ve made comfort a priority over worrying about fashion or sexy looking.
I have noticed that as I age I give less and less of a hoot about what others think, and that is a fine thing.
Yes. All of this. Over the past four years, living with a debilitating illness, I resorted to a big hooded sweatshirt, black leggings and a tee shirt which was completely hidden. Hair either loose or a messy bun. I hung out at home, bedridden in comfy clothes, wore them to travel for surgery, and to MD appointments when I had to.
Now that I’m healing, I must once again turn the tumbler of my closet and find the “next thing.”
I’m thinking black or khaki slacks, oversized blue / white or striped man’s shirt, a vee neck tank/ halter and either low slides or sneakers depending on my mood.
I’m 50% too fed up with fashion to be cool, 20% too old to care for anything other than classy, and
Nodded along with all this! My other half has two suits on rotation for work - one in the cleaners while the other is worn… black jeans, blue jeans, three t-shirts and a couple of shirts… I mean honestly, he’s been capsule wardrobing before it was even trendy!!
The missed busses and the wardrobe on the floor is too relatable. Getting dressed is the bane of my existence most days. Everything in my life just perfectly aligns so the daily uniform that I'd like to have (the one that's best suited to my lifestyle) right now is not what's in my closet, but I'm not really in a position to change that at the moment. I look forward to the day that getting dressed is FUN again, or even just slightly less painful.
I think I need to start slowly collecting my uniform!
I’m plus sized so if I find something that fits, is comfortable and feels like me I need to have it in every color. Add the fact that I’ve worked from home for 8 years then I’ve got a uniform by default. Winter is mostly an oversized sweater and jeans or knit pants. Summer is loose cotton or linen dresses. I dress for comfort - physically and mentally - and if I look cute (and my 17 year old nieces gives me a thumbs up) that’s just bonus.
Katherine Hepburn laughed when told she was on the best dressed list (after a couple of decades of being called boring and frumpy). Uniforms are great. I’m into dresses at the moment. Especially linen dresses. Worn with boots and a cardigan in autumn and spring. Worn with tights and boots and a sweater in winter. Worn with sandals or sneakers in summer. Maybe a light shawl on cooler days. I don’t iron either, I embrace the natural texture of the linen.
I love the idea of this. I do wear the same things from the wardrobe over and over. The hardest part is actually getting rid of the stuff I don't wear, you know....just in case...
Finally, someone is writing about the tyranny of women's clothes. I've been held hostage to "dressing for who I want to be" for years. Perhaps it was the pandemic when my work clothes never saw the light of day, or perhaps it's just getting older and tired of trying to fit my foot into the glass slipper. Thanks for giving voice to the journey from stranglehold to liberation.
I remember reading a piece from a woman who had worked with architects and high-end advertising folks at one point. Wherever they met, in whatever corner of the globe, she noted that they all (male and female) wore muted colors and similar pieces of clothing. (Think Steve Jobs with his black turtlenecks and jeans.) The individuality was expressed through everything else--from earrings and eyeglasses to shoes and socks. And they didn't overdo it with those accessories, either.
I'll confess, I feel somewhat outside of this conversation because, having lived barely inside the middle class for most of my life, I've always shopped in thrift stores. So, "currently fashionable" was always outside the confines of the possible. Living that way has, however, made me clearer from an early age that I like what I like and everyone else can sod off about it. As I've gotten older, the list of what I like has also gotten shorter (as well as my willingness to manage the chaotic realities of being a clothes horse. I have shit to do. I don't have time to wade through piles of unnecessary clothes and shoes.), so I have evolved a uniform of sorts. Definitely for winter, when I spend a fair amount of time outside. That winter uniform is: comfortable pants, preferably with pockets, a comfortable, sometimes colorful sweater, an enormous scarf, and Blundstones, which are simultaneously comfortable and stylish leather ankle boots made in Tasmania. Oh, and lovely, often large earrings.
Summer is a little bit more of a free-for-all. I do love a kicky dress and a pair of knee-high boots, but 9 times out of 10 I'm still gonna choose the simple uniform-- comfortable pants with pockets, a fitted shirt or tank, and my faithful Blundstones. Why mess with perfection?
I’m the same… always wanted to shop in menswear for its simplicity. If I find something that doesn’t hate me back I buy multiples too. Wish I’d started sooner. Plus I try and repair everything including my most loved jeans! I adore and am getting more uniform!
Love this ~ love the simplicity of a uniform as not a “disguise” but of being my “best self” too.
For me that means: turtlenecks (mostly white), cropped jeans and clogs in different colors - because there’s always room for more.
I’m very late to discovering the joy of the shirt! For the last decade I have defaulted to a dress but was starting to feel a bit like Mrs Doubtfire with my menopause boobs. Lovely husband got me a personal shopper for my birthday and she opened up the wonder of separates! Everything goes and I have half the clothes. Amazing! Also a midlife problem page sounds ace x
Sam, you have a gift! As ever, you managed to pick a seemingly random topic (uniforms) and turn it into a properly funny, honest and truly insightful piece - in awe of your scribey-brilliance!!!!
Winter uniform: jeans, Birkenstocks clogs, black Banana Republic cotton vneck t, Nordstrom v-neck cashmere sweater or hoodie (watch for clearance sales!).
Summer uniform: linen skirt or wide-leg pants, linen t, cotton cardigan, Birkenstocks sandals
Haha! Ahhhhhh yup.., at 62 I can still spend wayyyyy too long in front of my closet, wondering what to wear. Whether going to work or worse a social get together with friends… for whatever reason, I’ve never been very great at dressing myself so that I look and feel good… , however when I look back at old photos I realize that I actually looked really pretty great, don’t know why I worried so much… Now that I’m well into menopause, I’m really flummoxed, as my waist no longer exists and I resemble more of a “chubby tube” as one writer recently described her menopausal body. So I resort to wearing a lot of Seasalt Cornwally type tunics to cover up my tubular shape, I recently gave away 6 pairs of jeans that I’d never worn, preferring the man jeans I bought years ago that have worn through the knees and ripped…. I guess I veer towards my old jeans and baggy tops, I’ve made comfort a priority over worrying about fashion or sexy looking.
I have noticed that as I age I give less and less of a hoot about what others think, and that is a fine thing.
Yes. All of this. Over the past four years, living with a debilitating illness, I resorted to a big hooded sweatshirt, black leggings and a tee shirt which was completely hidden. Hair either loose or a messy bun. I hung out at home, bedridden in comfy clothes, wore them to travel for surgery, and to MD appointments when I had to.
Now that I’m healing, I must once again turn the tumbler of my closet and find the “next thing.”
I’m thinking black or khaki slacks, oversized blue / white or striped man’s shirt, a vee neck tank/ halter and either low slides or sneakers depending on my mood.
I’m 50% too fed up with fashion to be cool, 20% too old to care for anything other than classy, and
30% go away if I no longer appeal to you.
Nodded along with all this! My other half has two suits on rotation for work - one in the cleaners while the other is worn… black jeans, blue jeans, three t-shirts and a couple of shirts… I mean honestly, he’s been capsule wardrobing before it was even trendy!!
There’s SO much to be said about this idea starting with freeing up time and emotional energy agonizing about our wardrobe.
The missed busses and the wardrobe on the floor is too relatable. Getting dressed is the bane of my existence most days. Everything in my life just perfectly aligns so the daily uniform that I'd like to have (the one that's best suited to my lifestyle) right now is not what's in my closet, but I'm not really in a position to change that at the moment. I look forward to the day that getting dressed is FUN again, or even just slightly less painful.
I think I need to start slowly collecting my uniform!
I’m plus sized so if I find something that fits, is comfortable and feels like me I need to have it in every color. Add the fact that I’ve worked from home for 8 years then I’ve got a uniform by default. Winter is mostly an oversized sweater and jeans or knit pants. Summer is loose cotton or linen dresses. I dress for comfort - physically and mentally - and if I look cute (and my 17 year old nieces gives me a thumbs up) that’s just bonus.
Katherine Hepburn laughed when told she was on the best dressed list (after a couple of decades of being called boring and frumpy). Uniforms are great. I’m into dresses at the moment. Especially linen dresses. Worn with boots and a cardigan in autumn and spring. Worn with tights and boots and a sweater in winter. Worn with sandals or sneakers in summer. Maybe a light shawl on cooler days. I don’t iron either, I embrace the natural texture of the linen.
I love the idea of this. I do wear the same things from the wardrobe over and over. The hardest part is actually getting rid of the stuff I don't wear, you know....just in case...