Going Back to Basics

I've decided to reassess my wardrobe today. I have one up in Leeds too but I did that before I left for the summer, so there is a wide gap in my uni closet for new clothes and shoes. Here at home, things are even worse. I have got tons of mismatching socks, ugly-ass PJs, and a LOT of Tshirts from back in my emo days. Yeah, nothing that can be worn without hearing some sniggering or grave mocking from my housemates Jon, Tash and Vicky (especially). I have a top which has a velvet applique at the front of a vampire that looks like the Count from Sesame Street, with 'HOUNDS OF HORROR' plastered across. I don't know what I was thinking when I bought it, but it is so not me anymore. I don't think it ever was. I was never really that gritty and rocky. If that wasn't disgraceful enough, the fact that it was a faux-band tee purchased at Primark just adds more insult to injury. This is definitely unbecoming, especially when I constantly give notes on style et al. It makes me sound like a fraud. 

The good thing is, for the past year, I have been investing on more basic pieces, so all is not lost with my wardrobe. I have set aside my outfits for Paris, and they are all good. But while they are there on one side, not to be touched, what am I left with? A lot of black for work, and not the good kind. I work in a kiddie clothes store, and to be quite honest, as long as I look decent in an all black ensemble, I don't really make that much of an effort. It's a waste of my creative juices. I can't run around sockless, with a pair of Church's on, chasing after kids who run amuck throwing things around. No. I refuse to wear my nice things at work. Maybe if I worked somewhere else, like a retail store for adults where I can both exercise my taste and use any kind of staff discount on myself and not my godchildren. But for now, the relatively blah black pile stays where they are. 

What else? I have jeans, but most of them either don't fit anymore or are too big. Again, this is the main issue I have with being in between sizes, and it always discourages me from buying them. I always feel fat when they don't fit, and the ones that are 'stretchy' just makes me feel worse. Men's jeans are very unforgiving and narrow around the waist. Women's skinny jeans, though perfectly fine for boys with hips like me, can be a bit too baggy around the thighs. ARGH! I think I trip to the Gap is due. Or Zara. But we have neither in Peterborough, so that means I have to wait until September to do some shopping up North. That gives me enough time to try and drop a jean size and tone up. Fortunately, chino cut-offs are saving my life right now, so I'll stick to those in the meantime. Plus it's summer! Jeans are just simply be too hot for the muggy English climes. 

So that leaves me here. A list of things to buy in order to create a basic, yet extremely flexible wardrobe that are not only flattering but also sustainable in the long run. Sustainable fashion is key for everybody I think. Basic pieces that are well-made, despite a slightly gasp-inducing pricetag, are all investments in the end. They will last you long and they will serve their purpose in making you look and feel good. Personally, I feel like its time that I take this challenge on, especially with the prospect of jobseeking and work coming up. But rest assured folks, I will still spice it up! There is basic and boring, and there is simple and chic. Definitely gunning for the latter. 

WARDROBE WISHLIST

Scott Schuman of The Sartorialist, for The Gap

A crisp, White Shirt (or twenty). As it is, I only have one, slightly colour-stained and kinda mank white shirt. So really, once I go out for some new ones, I'll be buying them wholesale. I don't like long sleeved shirts so I always look for either short-sleeved ones or those with three-quarter length sleeves. At the moment, grandpa-neck shirts are looking cute, but any one will do. As long as they're not as thin as rice paper, they're good to go. Whenever somebody says "when in doubt, go back to basics", this is a look that comes to me time and time again. Can't go wrong with a crisp, white shirt paired with some nice-fitting blue jeans and loafers. 

B Store A/W '11 via The189

A nicely tailored Blazer. And one with good shoulder padding too. I don't have broad shoulders so I need all the padding-out I can get.  Ideally, I would like a couple in black and bottle green velvet a la Dolce and Gabbana, a nice heritage tweed blazer and just a well-tailored black dinner jacket. They just polish any look no?

Lanvin for H&M, via The Coveted

A selection of Bow Ties. I'm over neck ties. The other day I got a vintage velvet bow tie in black from the 1920s and I was sold. It was just so Brideshead-Pretty-Young-Things, and they just evoke decadence without even trying. I'm not keen on people referring to them as 'Dickie Bows' because it makes me sound like a dick when I wear it! Ah well. Is it because wearing it makes you look snooty and rich? Surely nobody wants to look poor when they dress up?

Zara Lookbook A/W '11

An Overcoat. This is a tricky one. I'm quite short at 5'7" that getting an overcoat, which traditionally comes quite long, could make me look like a midget. Hmmm..perhaps I will have to really look and search for the right one. Some High Street labels like Zara do make clothes that aren't always for tall Scandinavians, so maybe I'll get lucky in there. Or Japanese label Uniqlo? Reasearch. 

Tommy Hilfiger A/W '11

Denim. Ah, the bane of my existence. Talking about it even depresses me. I need more pairs, but the ideal one seems to be eluding me time and time again. Is it wrong that the only reason I've started working out this year is to fit in a nice pair of jeans that are not of the stretchy kind?

Dolce and Gabbana, Finale S/S '11

A Suit. It is a necessity, not just for men but for women too. End of.

...oh and lots of basic T shirts in navy, gray, black and white.

I really should start making a list whenever I go out to shop.
xoxo