2024 outfit diary (#2)

Style evolution, chopping the bob, witchy dresses

At the beginning of the year, I decided that I was ready for my style to grow up. Whereas I used to wear more prints in soft colours, or clothes that some might call “quirky,” I’ve found myself gravitating towards (and feeling at ease in) styles that are more decisive, maybe a little bit harder, more silhouette-driven, more masculine.¹ I have always loved anything oversized, plus suits/blazers, and witchy longline skirts and dresses, so a lot of this was already in my vocabulary, but it has still required some fine-tuning to make things feel properly ‘me’. I’ve also instituted several no-buy periods throughout the year, and all in all, this has made me more conscious about what I wear and why I want to: between January and May, I bought no new clothes, which made the things I eventually saved up for items to really covet and savour.

A few other steps along the way: first, in early July, I cut my hair to a bob. After a longtime humming about this—and pre-emptively mourning my waist-length waves—I had the Big Chop and I haven’t looked back. I feel like the bob makes outfits more interesting, more edgy or cool, adding personality and texture to even basic looks. This has also allowed me to revive certain pieces in my closet that I had been neglecting or feeling ambivalent about, especially those that maybe felt too cutesy or basic.

Second, in August I did a major clean-out of my closet and dresser, giving away loads of things and inventorying everything else on a spreadsheet (tracking where it was stored, what vibes it brought to mind, what it pairs well with, and whether I’m on the fence about it—those selects will be back on the chopping block in the winter or spring). I also made rules for myself about what I know I do and don’t feel good in: tight clothes are decidedly out, for example. I also like the idea of, but in fact never wear, pastels or colours like purple, mint, and peach—so, goodbye!

Finally, before my trip to New York, I was feeling wardrobe insecurity/paralysis, but as luck would have it, I happened upon

Allison Bornstein

’s “Three Words” method of articulating personal style (and packing for a trip).

I usually find these kinds of things (describing/naming personal style) to be constraining and gimmicky, but I really like how she breaks down each word: one is pragmatic to how you already dress, another is about what you’re inspired by/how you want to dress, and the third is about how you want to feel or present yourself to others. The ideal outfit that will make you feel confident should sync up with all three terms. This exercise also led me to make a style moodboard, culling my favourite images from Pinterest (a mix of fashion week street style with pap shots of Suki Waterhouse, Zoe Kravitz, Debbie Harry, Chloe Sevingny, Florence Welch, Francoise Hardy, and Bella Hadid), and then as Bornstein suggested, made a list of all of the items I saw repeated. I realised that I already have most of the things in these pictures and that I do feel really good in them, plus the moodboard showed me some generative styling methods.

So, without further ado, here are my adventures in outfits from June to the end of September…

P.S. It’s funny to write about fashion again after quitting the industry more than six years ago, but I’ve never given up on my love of dressing up, even if I have decidedly divorced the industry (and most of the status/wealth-obsessed people with whom I worked). Since this newsletter is called No Outlet, it seems appropriate that it can be a place to put my stray affinities—I hope you don’t mind the departure from my typical beat. And if you do, I’ll be back with regular programming in two-weeks: a little October list and a special film review/essay are both on the schedule right now.

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Lunch with family

When I was in the UK earlier this year, I treated myself to a little shopping from Damson Madder—enter this pink shirt with a high ruffled collar and vertical stripes. I think it looks cute with a shorter skirt and loafers to amp up the geek energy but also make it look sharp and chic. It’s a challenge to balance the prints and textures here, but fun when it works. This shirt is the kind of thing that transcends how I used to dress and works with what I still want to wear now.

Farmer’s market + a movie

After a bumpy week, I scheduled a bunch of fun things for a sunny Saturday: going to the farmer’s market, seeing a movie, doing yoga, and eating outdoors. To make it even better, I dug out one of my all-time favourite dresses: a white vintage nightgown that I style with a sash as a kind of 70s prairie girl/phantom look. I thrifted these cowboy boots in the Lower East Side for $17 six years ago and wear them at least once a week—they’re still in perfect condition. Probably my best secondhand buy of all time.

Bar concert

To watch my friend’s boyfriend’s band play, I initially planned to wear something more typical for a dive bar: baggy jeans, a vintage t-shirt, maybe with loafers or docs. But I ended up having fun subverting habits instead. This vintage dress (L Train, 2019, $8) was in my “maybe give away” pile for a long time and I was happy to resurrect it at long last, dressed down in a more grungy way with heavy black boots, messy hair, and thick eyeliner. When one of my friends saw me at the bar, she said I looked like Jackie Kennedy on a night out (this was meant positively).

Work reception + gallery opening

It’s been so hot through September, and I was eager to finally have a chance to wear this Damson Madder checked brown dress with velvet ribbons—a piece that feels very fall, and also very me. I like that it goes longer than midi length, which might have felt too twee or obvious, as well as the gathering around the waist and wrists. Someone at the work event described it as a “witchy look”—a high complement, in my books! I went from the reception to a gallery opening with a friend, so wanted to make things look a little more undone/cool for the art scene: originally, I just added my Paris Review cap, but while I was waiting for them to meet me, I stepped into a thrift store and happened to find my perfect French girl leather jacket (readers of the Paris travel diary will know that I saw lots of Sorbonne students wearing massive vintage leather this spring). I love the idea of wearing this big jacket with softer dresses or more tailored pieces underneath, while saving my sleeker leather trench coat for baggier looks—the strategy is contrast! I am also going to experiment with layering underneath of it for winter days too.

Film festival

I went to a weekend matinee on the last day of TIFF, preceded by drinks at Varda upstairs. The look is casual but featured a lot of my favourite things: my new Paris Review hat, vintage Polish bucket bag (to hide my snacks and water bottle), vintage dress from Courage My Love, and the same cowboy boots.

Concert

As I’ll write more about in my next dispatch, I saw Luna Li’s hometown show last weekend, and I can’t stop listening to her new album, When a Thought Grows Wings. I love the idea of dressing around an artist or album when you go to a show: Luna Li has previously described herself as a “moon fairy,” and the album features her on the harp, violin, and flute in addition to guitar and vocals, all instruments that feel equally ethereal. I opted for one of my all-time favourite dresses, which has loads of asymmetrical frills and trails of floating fabric down the side and back—quite frankly, this dress looks like it was conceived by a designer, but I found it on Asos for $40 in 2018. I’ll never get over how good it is (this was also my first time wearing a high neck with the bob…. and I love it).

Teaching

Dressing to lead tutorials is a balancing act between trying to impart professionalism and authority, and for some, also using wardrobe as an extension of a scholarly personae (a friend in my program has referred to style as a part of his pedagogy, which I love—it can be a way of modelling who you are or want to be to/with students). Last year, I set myself the uniform of wearing all black to every tutorial, but this year has been too hot for that so far. I wore this outfit to my first class: an asymmetrical white denim maxi dress, my Baggu x Collina Strada carry-on for a full day of work, and a selection of interesting rings to offset the cleanness/minimalism of the dress (I feel that the big faux-stone one visible on my left hand here lends the look more maturity…. this ring gives elegant, funky elder…).

Errands

The day before this newsletter is expected to drop, the temperature is finally feeling like fall—so you’ll have to forgive me that this one of the only looks to feature any kind of layering or jackets. My go-to look on a day where I don’t have to be anywhere important is a button-up (this one via Odd Thing Vintage) with jeans. If I leave the house, I’ll add a belt and cowboy boots (for the pointed toe) or loafers to make it feel more put together, but here I am trying to break in my Docs (it’s been two years…. what is going on….). I forsee doing this thick 60s black headband quite a lot through the fall and winter, especially since it partially covers my ears (warmth!) and keeps most of my hair in place (wind!).

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Currently:

What I’m Reading

• On the Inconvenience of Other People by Lauren Berlant

• Chalk: The Art and Erasure of Cy Twombly by Joshua Rivkin

• Whose Names Are Unknown by Sanora Babb

What I’m Watching

• Nothing worth recommending (I am catching up on Industry and Only Murders in the Building, both of which are utterly mid—maybe even pretty bad!)

What I’m Writing

• Lots of things and I feel am behind on all of them!

• I am thrilled to have had my second academic article published, an essay on Mike Mills’ film 20th Century Women and the phenomenon of ‘surface reading.’ You can find it in Camera Obscura if aesthetics and ethics, literary theory, or the philosophy of colour are your thing.

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Thank you for reading No Outlet! If you liked this, you might enjoy Part I of my 2024 outfit diaries:

1. So sorry, gendered terminology for clothes is kind of evil!