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My dear blogger friend Alicia at Sea of Ghosts wrote a marvellous post yesterday that couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time. She lamented that due to work restrictions and lack of funds she has found herself in one hell of a style rut which is a frustrating and rather ironic place for a fashion blogger to be.
Like Alicia, I also have a ridiculous number of jobs and like Alicia many of those jobs are physically demanding, constantly changing and to be honest pretty filthy which equals Style Rut, population… me.
So far this week I spent Monday researching, writing and doing general admin for which I wore footless tights, a grey t-shirt dress and Mr Smaggle’s hoody. Sad but true. Tuesday was spent visiting suppliers and outsourcing some jewellery work and stressed up to my eyeballs I threw on a charming ensemble of an ugly summer dress with a giant poo-brown cardigan and my studio boots. Sexy. Today my hands were plunged elbow deep in poison so I wore my crud-covered jeans, industrial leather apron and my ever stylish OH&S clogs. I’m feeling Alicia’s pain.
She writes of discarding her sleek yet dark style in favour of a more relaxed aesthetic. I feel similarly in that, once upon a time I would never leave the house with out adding at least two more accessories yet these days I find myself wearing simple hoop earrings with an understated ensemble in neutral tones and little else. What’s up with that?
Is it convenience influencing this shift in me? Is it laziness? Maturity? I decided to write a list to pin point exactly what my beef is with my current style slump and the solutions to send me back into sartorial heaven.
Work
It’s messy, busy and unpredictable.
Solution
Not all jewellers dress like hobos and not all writers dress like Eminem. Note – consider these points and apply to self.
Being too fussy
I need to really love a piece before I’ll part with my hard earned cash.
Solution
Get over it. It won’t be the last grey t-shirt dress you ever buy dude.
Lack of time
I maniacally sewed leather for sixteen hours straight yesterday in my aforementioned ugly summer dress combo with a massive hunk of cereal in my hair that I didn’t notice until Roomy Smaggle got home from work. At 6pm. I ate the cereal for breakfast, you work out the time difference.
Solution
Would it have killed me to take the time to choose a less offensive dress? Comfort doesn’t always mean stretchy pants and giant knickers. Or the complete relaxation of ones personal hygiene resulting in the storage of breakfast food in ones hair.
Exercise
I’m a regular inhabitant of my local gym so at least three times a week I get dressed knowing that I have to change in to gym gear in the near future and I think – what’s the point?
Solution
The point is I look feral enough at the gym so there’s no need to book-end the gym feral with extra hours of feral, am I right?
What about you? Are you in a style rut? Is there anything you can do to change it? What are your problems and solutions? Would love to hear your thoughts!
I can’t guarantee that I can implement all of these changes because sometimes I’m cold, late, feeling lazy or simply out of clean clothes. You know what though? It’s completely acceptable because no one can expect you to wear a ball gown to work. You wear ball gowns to a ball, that’s what they are for.
For Alicia, my friend in cruddy fashion crime.
Love,
Carly
mail so send me one hello@carlyjacobs.com