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I've spent the past few days packing everything my family owns into boxes, sorting out what we will need between now and Saturday and what we can live without until the weekend and and what we didn't really need in the first place. I made all the wrong choices about my own clothes, it turns out, and have been wearing the same hoodie for three days now (complete with a coffee stain from last Saturday, which was NOT RECENTLY in case you are counting) because everything with long sleeves is packed up in a box I am NOT opening until it finds its way to our new house. Of course, it is colder here than I thought it would be and all I have left in my closet are tank tops and polo shirts.
I hate not having any choice. It makes me nervous.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Alex Martin's Brown Dress Project. For an entire year, Martin wore the same brown dress, every day. I love the idea of wearing only one thing, every day; after all, I am all about simplicity. I believe that when we talk about clothes, less is more, and a small, carefully chosen wardrobe of really lovely pieces is more versatile than an apartment-sized closet filled with every imaginable option.
More choices doesn't lead to better dressing. Still, I'm a little tired of this hoodie.
I have found myself wondering, this week, what I would wear if I could only choose one thing--one garment or one outfit or one look--for an entire year. In some ways, it seems so simple--after all, I wear virtually the exact same jewelry every single day, which is an outfit in itself. But what trips me up is the knowledge that while I am not a slave to clothes or fashion, I use my wardrobe to create a persona, and at this point in my life, I am feeling like a lot of different people (wife, mother, daughter, writer, blogger . . . ). To choose one outfit that encapsulates all of that is hard.
Then again, perhaps the point of Martin's project is that we should NOT use our clothes to illustrate the deeper parts of our soul. Perhaps the point is that in choosing not to change our outer appearance every day, we can find our inner self more easily.
Maybe.
What about you--what would YOU wear if you could only wear ONE thing for the next year? Why THAT and not something else? And--more importantly--what would that one piece say about you?
I will come back later and tell you, in the comments, what I think I would choose. But it certainly won't be this hoodie, I know that much.
Susan Wagner writes about fashion at Friday Style and about everything else at Friday Playdate. She is considering burning that blue hoodie when this week is over.
