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6/10/15

The "second wardrobe"

"Do what you can
with what you have
where you are."
(Theodore Roosevelt)

I've been really into reading blogs about minimalist fashion and capsule wardrobes. (The first one I came across and really enjoyed was this one.) I've started to notice that people tend to treat their entire wardrobe, every article of clothing that they have, as if it were two separate wardrobes.

One that goes on the blog.
One that goes to the gym and/or the bed.

I find this fascinating, because I don't think I've ever done that. Stacy and Clinton from What Not to Wear would be horrified to learn that I wear the same clothes to class, to the grocery store, to work out in, to sleep in, to go shopping in (they do get washed in between, so... yeah)...

I do have a few items that stay strictly in certain wardrobe "zones": obviously I don't wear my jeans to work out, and I have a few t-shirts that are only worn for sleeping.

It's definitely good to have clothes that can work in multiple ways and in multiple parts of your life, but when ALL your clothes can...well, it gets very boring.

Although I still love reading fashion blogs and even writing on this one, the act of getting dressed in the morning has become just something I have to do. It's not exciting.

And I want to change that; I want to look forward to picking out my outfits every day. Unfortunately, it seems like it's not something I can do right now. Partly because I don't have a lot of money (thanks, school) and therefore cannot buy any new clothes; and I can't reach back to some of my older clothes that I still love because they don't fit. I got sick this spring and one of the medicines I take from that is a steroid. Look, I don't know if you have ever had experience with these devil pills, but they make it really hard to not gain weight. They just make you want to eat. It's not a physical urge; you don't feel hungrier than before. It's a mental urge, just constantly feeling like eating, but not actually needing to but then still doing it anyway.

Anyways, all this has led me to a fashion standstill, one that consists mainly of leggings, sometimes jeans, graphic tees, and flip flops. Seriously, not the ugliest outfits you might see, but definitely some of the most boring you will see. Total snooze-fest.

So here is where I'm asking for help.

Has anyone experienced this before? Been stuck with a mundane wardrobe due to random circumstances that aren't changeable at that moment? How did you get yourself out of that rut while spending minimal to no money?

I think, if I had some extra money and I was not up in (hopefully temporary) weight, this would be a fantastic opportunity for me to really examine my lifestyle and how I want my clothes to work with it, not to mention being able to play around with my style and start to figure out what style, etc that I love not just in magazines or on Pinterest or on other blogs but on my body.

Sadly, this is not the case right now. Which just gives me an even bigger challenge. And that's okay. I think fashion wouldn't be as interesting and entertaining to me if it were easy. Having lots of money, buying whatever I want, looking good while wearing anything...they're dreams we have that could result in an end product that might not be so...enjoyable. It sounds backwards, and maybe I'm wrong, but to me, anything I accomplish is much more satisfying if I had to put at least some thought and work into it. I think, for me, fashion is not an exception to this.

But still, I could use your help/advice/wisdom/experience if you'd like to give it.

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