I am not a fashionista…
Shocker!
There has never been a point in my life where I can claim I was “fashionable”; I have been grungy, hipstery, girly, and overly floral but rarely fashionable. My Mother will claim otherwise, as she will say when I was a child and she was buying my clothes, I always looked good.
But once I had an income, at 13 – shout out to all my fellow paper girls!- I was able to buy my own outfits. My Mother has been fairly disparaging about whatever I have chosen to wear ever since.
Recently I have discovered my dream style and were I not saving up to travel the world and teach (which will, ironically, require a very limited capsule wardrobe) I would be buying everything available. Of course, this is not aligned to my would-be minimalist idyll, so I am having to adapt what I currently own.
As this involves a bit of a declutter and the discarding of a few of my current clothing items, I will consider this a win and worth my investing the time I have spent writing various lists. Lists that categorise which of my clothes get to be part of the new and exclusive layering club.
Sorting my clothes = starting my declutter
Why my sudden interest in the world of fashion? Having gone this long with so little interest, what has changed? I discovered Mori Kei.
Mori Kei is the fashion I have wanted to wear, and at times I have worn accidentally, without even realising it was a thing. Now I know what I want, it has made my clothing declutter that much easier.
Posts you might like:
Trying out my first Capsule Wardrobe
Kon-Mari V Capsule
What is ‘Age Appropriate’ when it comes to clothes?
Midlife Fashion: 5 things we shouldn’t be wearing
I ‘Kon-Maried’ my wardrobe – and you can too
It starts with clothes
Marie Kondo is right; clothes are the easiest item to start with when you are decluttering.
They are generally all in one place (Not in my case, but normal people tend to keep their clothes in a wardrobe and drawers, so I imagine it is easy for them to do a sartorial round up) and they are the one item that is solely yours, so you don’t need the rest of the households input when you are getting rid.
Unless you have a communal sock basket AKA ‘The Dobby Bag’, but that might just be us.
Around about the same time I discovered Marie Kondo’s work, I read Courtney Carver’s website, as well as her book Soulful Simplicity”, which I received a few Christmas’s ago. It inspired me to discover more about limiting my wardrobe.
I have since made many attempts at a capsule wardrobe. There was my minimalist trial which limited me to 33 items for 3 months as per Courtney’s suggestion, which is expanded in her new book: Project 333.
Mori Pori
However, inspiration struck when I discovered Mori-girl. It is a Japanese fashion that involves layers of clothes. I have a Pinterest board – because of course, I do – if you want to check it out, and it is the style I always knew was out there waiting for me.
Now, many of the looks do not lend themselves to the more ‘mature lady’ but as Mori-Kei is adaptable, I have been able to utilise pieces I own to discover an exciting world of layering. One of my new favourite outfits involves wearing two skirts, a dress and a long jumper with another shorter-sleeved jumper over the top of it. If that doesn’t embrace Catherine Summers #IWillWearWhatILike mantra, I don’t know what does.
It is basically what I have always wanted to be brave enough to wear, and now I am at a stage of my life where I have literally zero cares to give and can wear what I like. I am legitimately buying myself a pair of lacy bloomers to go with my summer wardrobe…and possibly this dress below too.
A brave new (fashion) world
To research this piece, I typed “Wear what you want, middle age” into Google. I got a disappointing list with articles that had titles like “35 Clothing Choices That Are Making You Look Older”, or “What should a 35-year-old woman wear?”. In what world is 35 middle age!
Or my personal favourite: “At what age should you stop wearing hoodies?”
The best bit about being in your Forties, as far as I am concerned, is that I have nothing to prove fashion wise. I’m not trying to impress anyone, and no-one expects me to be setting trends, or wearing what ‘all the kids’ are wearing. Which leaves me free to wear exactly what I like.
I have received plenty of comments from my family, ranging from how my favourite stripy dress needs a belt and makes me look like a nurse, to how my hat makes me look like an old Japanese lady.
Well. Joke’s on them. That’s legit the look I am going for!).
When it comes down to it, as long as you are comfortable, and enjoying your look, the only approval you need… is your own.
Over to you
Has being older made you wiser? Are you now more accepting of who you are and what you can do? Do you still feel like others are judging you?
Let us know in the comments.
