Ideas Explored in Personal Style : 2024 Edition

Out of post-election hibernation and onward

Wishing you a happy new year !

Personal Style writing talent on Substack

Having lived as a small sized fish in a tiny pond on the blogosphere, Substack is a treasure trove. In this big ocean, I am krill … the whale food and nothing else…. and am here for it. Yesterday, I was mindlessly browsing on TRR. A craving for Substack reading kicked in. I rather read than shop. A good story about ones relationship with a garment, is more attractive than a potential new garment. This space is a turning point for me.

The creativity and the intellect on Substack makes me thankful for this medium.

( I have re-stacked all my favorite fashion posts.)

The middle way, by Lin

Rule of 5 and No-buys are hard if you live in a modern day society. Neither techniques are ways to shame women into abstinence or to be used as a stick to beat each other up. It’s a personal journey with hurdles to jump and an exercise in building one self up. Lin’s writings, have been all that for me. When you look up to a thought leader to emulate, it helps when she isn’t an headmistress from the convent with a ruler or a monk in a monastery. It helps to learn the thought process of a peer who lives in today’s world and is exploring it, just like you are.

Focus on wear

The number of women who catalog their closets on Indyx and discuss wearing their own clothes has surprised me. Aren’t you impressed with confrontation with inconvenient truths and the bravado in sharing these vulnerable findings online ? Suddenly, we are discussing very important ideas : the craft of wear and mental health, not just outfits/what to buy. Doesn’t it make you take a step towards the goal too ?

Some of us learn philosophy first and then grow up to become queens of our lives. I have friends with well developed ideology on material needs developed since childhood and their adult lives reflect those values. Be it for discipline, be it financial independence, be it not tying happiness to pleasure, be it mental fitness, be it a religious upbringing, Buddhist understanding of desire, be it having lived through financial insecurity, ……

Some of us become queens first and then understand that we need to learn philosophy to effectively govern our thoughts and desires. In my 20s, I used to buy what ever as long as I can afford it and have a place to store it, aka the philosophical depth of a tea spoon. There was nothing intellectual about my closet beyond “look cute” and the dopamine from acquisition. When intellect stops at ones senses : “Fashion is frivolous”, they accuse and maybe rightly so. Since my early 30s, I have been playing a catch up on philosophy given the current world we live in and how I want to live in it.

To grow into an adult and never into the philosopher, is a tragic loss of human potential. How do you have great conversations ? One can discuss people, events, and ideas. To only discuss people is too much gossip. To only discuss people and events, is the beginning of community building. Ideas, on the other hand, ….. builds something bigger than the sum of our parts.

Sartorial equivalent for me : OOTDs ( the low rung ) , buying for life ( the middle rung ), craft of wear ( the high ideal ). We have to evolve beyond thinking in terms of outfit-of-the-day. We cant *just think for the day and for the reflection in the mirror. The greater ideas have entered the chat room. Fashion is not frivolous. It has never been just clothes for me.

Cheers to philosopher queens and queen philosophers !

End of glorification of mass decluttering followed by shopping sprees

I care about my cumulative consumption for the sake of the environment. I don’t care about how small one’s closet looks in between a decluttering session and the next few months of shopping. That is pretend minimalism.

My husband emerged to be my chief inspiration. The man once bought 8 pairs of denim in one go in 2010 because they were on sale. I protested. If sustainability was an aesthetic instead of a philosophy, he wouldn’t have made the cut in that moment of time. He is now down to his last 3 pairs having worn-out the rest. I use his tattered clothes for sheet mulching our yard and as cleaning rags. If he bought it, it will be truly worn.

Depending on the year, his closet sometimes looks bloated. Over the years, it shrinks to its bones organically and not from a decluttering spree. He buys 2-5 garments a year and cherishes them. This behavior is in line with Paris Agreement and Rule of 5. He does it not for environment but because he is frugal and disciplined.

“They have never been just clothes for me”. You see this line used to justify consumption and ownership of excess. I see him neatly fold his oldest faded garment with care at the end of the day and put it away in its place. I see him wear clothes with holes without wanting to throw them out. They are not just clothes for him, in a very deep true sense of the term.

Me on the other hand, writes voluminous words about sustainability, while not wearing out my clothes beyond repair. I ran in circles around the internet and in my own head, only to find what I am searching for in my own home. He is my inspiration. I am joining his team.

Personal style got more personal and less prescriptive

Women let go of the prescriptive set of items as shown in capsule wardrobe templates and have found their own capsules.

Color made a return.

WFH set some of us free of the corporate staples and we could learn our own preferences.

Office attire has become cooler and more relaxed ?

Some of us let go of skinny jeans for comfort. Flattering as implied by what ever makes our bodies look the smallest, has been challenged.

Some of us who really like skinny jeans are wearing them in-spite of all silhouettes of pants that have entered the market. Some of us who like thick vintage denim, are still hunting them down and wearing them.

Sculptural shapes have become mainstream.

TIBI style lessons and principles of a capsule wardrobe, are the closest I have seen of first principles thinking when it comes to building a closet.

Sensible bags and shoes over run my feed.

Oversized, don’t look sloppy anymore. Everyone looks cooler somehow. I finally get Copenhagen fashion.

Female superheros in the movies wore clothes that were more “androgynous professional” than sexy. They didn’t meet the standards of male gaze as evidenced by conservatives complain about “sexless heroines hungry for power” in their movie reviews. Nobody likes the girl boss anymore ?

If we wore sweatpants to WFH, that is what we wore unapologetically.

GenZ fashion choices, are a league of their own.

Underconsumption core, is a trend ?

Young leftists want walkable cities and city boy style is being discussed.

Peak sneakers has happened and other kinds of shoes are visible again.

Wrong shoe theory. 3 style words.

Amidst all the chatter of micro trends, it almost felt like there were no trends and we all were left to make our own choices.

We got to think about what quiet luxury and timeless style meant to us.

New thought leaders

We used to be mile long and an inch deep. Buy, buy, buy, OOTDs, sales, wishlists.

New view points have space on the podium. The depth of the ideas is increasing.

Financial literacy, mental health, contentment, craft of wear, environmentalism, climate, resistance to being marketed at, critical thinking at gift guides, the joy of not being sold anything, very personal outfits that aren’t popular, clothes from a decade ago, essays on lived in well worn clothes, speaking up in defense of uncool clothes that are beloved, criticism of discourse on over-consumption being overdone, influencers doing no-buys !! ….

This community is miles long and miles deep.

Tuning out pro-consumerism pitch from influencers

Even I am tired of conversations about over-consumption.

However, I still seem to get triggered when I see reckless promotion of consumerism. I want to jump into arguments and spew climate facts. As it turns out, any citizen who doesn’t like the vehicle of communication of a progressive idea, will go vote against it at the ballot box. As this election has taught me, to shut the fuck up and deal with my perceived ecological wounds privately. As the Bhagavad Gita says, there is action in inaction and inaction in action.

Instead of being caught up in internet comments, I channeled this angst into becoming a student of philosophy. Daoism. Buddhism. Neuroscience. Addiction science. Mathematics of Explore-Expoit fallacy. Science on Dopamine. Climate Science. Environmentalism. Stoicism. Epicureanism. Greek mythology. Every religion ever conceived. Nationalism. Capitalism. They all have something to say on this topic.

Every single though leader through the history of mankind has examined the impact of consumerism on mental health of individuals and on society. Any influencer screaming “there is nothing wrong with consumerism. Nothing to see here. Case closed” is not looking for a discussion with me in the comments section. She is seeking others who nod along and praise her for her positivity. Banging on this closed door is not what I plan to do with my one wild and precious life.

My own experience with Rule of 5

The number of women trying out a way to tailor this challenge to their lives, is very inspiring. If you work in climate, there is plenty of bad news to dampen your spirit and forces you to crawl into a hole. Then, there are people who will give you reasons to be optimistic. Every single account on Rule of 5, is that for me. The Dept of energy, Dept of Interior and EPA appointments to cabinet of President Elect fill me with dread. The budget cuts have kicked in. So did the lay-offs, hiring freezes and early retirements. Ecology majors are pivoting. All of us are scared for our careers and future of laws. I will not be buying like I did, as fear of wasting money has set into me. Amidst all this, any private citizen who is doing something for climate, makes me happy. Like Tolkien writes, it is not strength that overcomes darkness but light. If you grew up with the anime series Avatar, the last airbender, it’s time to embrace one’s inner Uncle Iro energy and let go of Prince Zuko-esque angst.

I have added 5 more pieces to my closet since my last reporting.

The expected triumphs : A vintage black leather jacket. A pair of COS chinos. A vintage brown suede leather jacket from Poshmark (that hasn’t been shipped yet) in lieu of me being unable to afford this jacket. These Made in Japan selvedge Levis denim during F&F sales.

A surprising detour : A silk skirt from Ulla Johnson, which reignited the allure of the feminine.

This concludes the year. I have added 11 garments since April when I started this challenge. Any habitual progress made, is fragile and barely rooted. (Am currently pining over a certain leather jacket and waiting for Sezane to release it. ) The shopping gene is well, alive and kicking. Thankfully, the culture created around Rule of 5 has stepped in and is helping me focus. I am leaning in.

OOTD : In An Oak woodland, you never walk alone. Coyotes, bobcats, woodpeckers, scrub jays, regenerative grazing cattle, mushrooms, … keep your company.