The Clothes I Reach for When I Don’t Want to Think About Clothes
I have become increasingly interested in clothes that make my life easier without making me look as though I gave up on getting dressed. There is a difference. I do not want an enormous wardrobe, I do not want an outfit for every possible occasion, and I definitely do not want to stand in front of a closet at 8:15 in the morning trying to decide which version of myself I am supposed to be that day. I want a handful of pieces that already make sense.
At the moment, that means long-sleeve shirts, wide-leg trousers, black shoes, a good bag, and very little that requires complicated styling. Maybe this is simply what happens when you become more certain about what you actually wear. There was a time when I bought clothes because I liked them individually. A blouse was beautiful, so I bought the blouse. A skirt was interesting, so I bought the skirt. A pair of shoes looked incredible on a shelf, so somehow they ended up in my closet never worn. The problem was that beautiful individual things did not necessarily create a wardrobe.
Eventually I started paying more attention to repetition. What do I reach for when I have ten minutes to get dressed? What do I wear when I am working at home but might have to leave? What still works if lunch unexpectedly becomes dinner? What can look relaxed at 9 a.m. and polished at 7 p.m. without requiring an entirely different outfit? Those questions have become much more useful than asking what is trending.
A good long-sleeve top solves an absurd number of wardrobe problems. This one from Free People is exactly the kind of piece I mean. It is simple enough to disappear into an outfit, which is probably why I like it. I can wear it with trousers, denim, under a jacket, with flats, with boots, or with something more polished later in the day. There is something underrated about a piece that does not demand attention. I am increasingly suspicious of clothes that need an explanation.
The same is true of trousers. Wide-leg trousers have become one of the easiest ways for me to make a very ordinary outfit look more considered because the proportions do so much of the work. A long-sleeve shirt and trousers can look almost aggressively simple, but add a pointed shoe, a good watch, a structured bag, and suddenly it feels intentional. These Splendid trousers fall into that category. They are not trying to be the center of the outfit, but they make the rest of it look better.
What I like about this combination is that it does not belong to one part of the day. I do not want clothes categorized so rigidly that something is only appropriate for sitting at home, running an errand, going to dinner, or working. I would rather change the accessories. During the day, the trousers might be worn with a flat or ankle boot. Later, I could change the shoe, add jewelry, put on a coat, switch the bag, and go somewhere without feeling as though I needed to start over. It is less about dressing up or dressing down and more about adjusting the frame. The clothes stay. The context changes.
I think this is also why I have become much less interested in constantly adding to my wardrobe. There is an enormous amount of fashion available at any given moment, too much really, and I would rather identify the pieces that make the rest of my closet easier. The shirt that works underneath everything. The trousers that fix the proportions of an outfit. The black shoes I automatically reach for. The bag I carry until someone eventually points out that I have been photographed with it twelve times.
That repetition does not bother me anymore. Actually, I think it is beginning to look like a point of view. The uniform, currently, is becoming fairly obvious: a long sleeve, wide-leg trousers, black shoes, something excellent on my arm, and somewhere to go.
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