Inspiration and Capsule Wardrobes
Apr. 26th, 2021 10:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
evaelisabethThis post is brought to you by inspiration from the amazing Brenda Dayne of the Cast On Podcast https://www.patreon.com/brendadayne . Ifyou are interested in kitting even a little bit I would heartily recommend.
So Brenda in the interest of sustainability (who knew that the clothing industry was the World's No. 1 polluter) and lack of storage space in her house has embarked on a journey to create a capsule wardrobe that brings her joy and fits in with her ethics and lifestyle. Capsule wardrobes have been around for quite a while but they can turn into matchy office drone affairs with a black skirt, black trousers, a couple of blouses, a jacket and a coat. This idea however is much more interesting. You pick three aesthetics that you want to embody in your personal style and you create a Venn diagram. Some items will fit in all three circles some overlap and perhaps a few really popping pieces will be bold examples of one aesthetic. The important part is that you pick pieces that will mix and match with each other. For instance, Brenda's aesthetics are Informed Simplicity, Butch Dandy, and one other that I cannot for the life of me remember. So for instance in this case a knitted waistcoat from Butch Dandy can easily be paired with a pair of trousers from the Informed Simplicity aesthetic. An additional aspect of her goal is that all the new pieces will be made by her.
One last important part of the process is acknowledging the fact that clothes that go to charity shops that are not sold on directly by them often go into large shipments to 3rd world countries where they undersell the locally produced clothes flooding the market with cheap work cast-offs from our closet. So the final task is to make sure that this fate is not met by your own cast-offs. I find this process fascinating and inspiring. I've spent too many years lingering in the world of too fat and too short on cash to be really stylish.
So you may ask what are my three aesthetics? Well, the current candidates are:
Edwardian Librarian - tailored, lightweight wool, a-line skirts, waistcoats, lace blouses
Linen Simplicity - long flowing, airy, wide pants, tunics,
Bohemian Chic - colourful embroidery, embellishment, gathered skirts, poet blouses, glass beads
What do you guys think?
So Brenda in the interest of sustainability (who knew that the clothing industry was the World's No. 1 polluter) and lack of storage space in her house has embarked on a journey to create a capsule wardrobe that brings her joy and fits in with her ethics and lifestyle. Capsule wardrobes have been around for quite a while but they can turn into matchy office drone affairs with a black skirt, black trousers, a couple of blouses, a jacket and a coat. This idea however is much more interesting. You pick three aesthetics that you want to embody in your personal style and you create a Venn diagram. Some items will fit in all three circles some overlap and perhaps a few really popping pieces will be bold examples of one aesthetic. The important part is that you pick pieces that will mix and match with each other. For instance, Brenda's aesthetics are Informed Simplicity, Butch Dandy, and one other that I cannot for the life of me remember. So for instance in this case a knitted waistcoat from Butch Dandy can easily be paired with a pair of trousers from the Informed Simplicity aesthetic. An additional aspect of her goal is that all the new pieces will be made by her.
One last important part of the process is acknowledging the fact that clothes that go to charity shops that are not sold on directly by them often go into large shipments to 3rd world countries where they undersell the locally produced clothes flooding the market with cheap work cast-offs from our closet. So the final task is to make sure that this fate is not met by your own cast-offs. I find this process fascinating and inspiring. I've spent too many years lingering in the world of too fat and too short on cash to be really stylish.
So you may ask what are my three aesthetics? Well, the current candidates are:
Edwardian Librarian - tailored, lightweight wool, a-line skirts, waistcoats, lace blouses
Linen Simplicity - long flowing, airy, wide pants, tunics,
Bohemian Chic - colourful embroidery, embellishment, gathered skirts, poet blouses, glass beads
What do you guys think?