Back in my teenage and early adult years, I was more of a tomboy – clotheswise. My favorite pants were army pants and pants with unusual stripes or checkered patterns. I owned a pair of blue suede Dr. Martens
– which were no doubt my favorite pair of shoes! – please disregard how old and battered they look in this picture.
And, gosh, do any of you still remember the era of “creepers”?
My first boyfriend owned a pair (black and purple – I loved them!) and I owned blacks ones (with a buckle, instead of shoes strings). Back in the day they were considered way cool. Now they’re considered “punk” or “goth” style.
This also is a clear sign for me: times have changed.
When I was 18/19/20, Dr. Martens were cool! Nowadays girls in their early twenties have to wear high heels. What a shift in the universe. Or maybe it’s just my distorted perception.
No doubt, I’ve become more of a woman over the years and I do like to dress up, wear pretty skirts and strappy sandals, but I still feel most comfortable, most “me”, with a more casual look. But casual doesn’t have to be boring, right?
I think I have some decent looking shirts, pants, and dresses in my closet, I am just not sure I have a particular style.
Most of the time, it’s jeans and shirts for me. We don’t have a dress code in our office and I love the fact that I don’t have to dress up for work and can mostly wear jeans and shirts on a daily basis. But even with that, in our office I am the total fashionista (and if you know me, then you know that this is the greatest overstatement of the century!).
Since I work in a scientific work environment, most of my co-workers wear mostly casual clothing. And when I say casual, I mean way more casual than what I consider casual when I describe my personal style. We’re talking hiking boots/sneakers/sandals, cargo shorts, (men) t-shirts, and fleece jackets (in the winter). Most of the lady co-workers around me don’t really know what a fitted t-shirt looks like, let alone a buttoned shirt or fashionable top. I am not even kidding.
So despite the fact that I am really not dressing up for work at all, save for the days when we have official meetings or presentations, I almost always feel overdressed compared to all my co-workers.
So, do you have one? A certain style, I mean. Does a woman HAVE TO have a certain style?
In all honesty, I feel pretty style-less.
Even though I do like looking at fashion magazines to see what’s “in” this spring/summer/fall/winter, I am definitely not a person who goes along with every new fashion blurb.
I mean, skinny jeans? SO NOT for me. I look ridiculous in skinny jeans.
Ballerina flats? Do not like the style at. all.
My wardrobe basically consists of randomly picked out single pieces that I fell in love with, but that rarely go together with other things in my closet, and sometimes I really think I need to get much smarter in buying pieces of clothing that actually ‘mix and match’.
I am one of the typical cases that has a dresser full of clothes and nothing to wear. Literally. I always feel like there is no substantial amount of “presentable” clothes in my dresser, even after I just returned from a shopping trip. I am also ALWAYS drawn to the “casual styles”. I can’t help it. It is what makes me comfortable, and in the store I usually like things much better than after I’d taken them home, because I end up feeling like I bought “just another piece of “casual, “ok”- clothes”, but nothing that adds substantially to my wardrobe.
Also, what’s up with the fact that lots of clothes look so “cool” on other people, but totally boring and featureless on me?
Maybe I need to go on one of those “makeover”-shows… that would be fun. Getting a credit card with $5000 to go shopping. I wouldn’t mind that. (I would happily pretend that I don’t have any fashion-sense at all and that I have no clue what to do in a clothing store – hey, you gotta play along. The show must go on.)
Unfortunately, I don’t think I am style-less enough that they would actually take me on the show, so there goes that.
But I am still very open for suggestions. What are your favorite fashion pieces? What does or does not work for you?
Susanne
November 5, 2009 at 3:51 pmI had a pair of Dr Martens too. In red. And they were so expensive, I remember that my mom saved about two weeks before we could get them for me. I loved them.
My favorite fashion piece are ear rings right now. Who would have thought that three years ago, that is when I got my ears pierced. And I am not regretting it at all.
Ps: Sandra, hop over to my page and leave me some advice please
Marianne
November 6, 2009 at 2:43 amHey, Dr. Martens is back in the game – at least in Europe!
I’m just started to wear girly stuff like skirts and dresses – but the best fashion advice I can give is only to buy things you can use with at least two things already in your wardrobe.
.-= Marianne´s last blog ..At blive snydt. =-.
Irene
November 6, 2009 at 3:35 amI had Martens too, they had Flowers on them and I remember that I begged my mom to bring them with her from her weekend trip to London because you couldn’t get them in Germany. I used to be a Grunge/Independent-Girl back in the days…red hair, torn Jeans, Cobain-TShirts and Flanel Shirts. Gosh, do I look stupid in those old pics! LOL
I totally agree with your experience of only buying “OK-clothes” all the time, even if they look stylish in the store, at home they turn out to be “just another casual shirt like the 15 others I have” I don’t have a certain style either, I wear what I like or now, after two pregnancies, I wear what still fits me. I have a lot of dresses in my closet that I don’t wear anymore but won’t give away because of the memories. I am totally clinging to things I absolutely don’t need or wear anymore which is a bad thing because my closets are packed, I always buy more stuff and still have nothing to wear.
And I also noticed that a lot of clothes or styles look cool on others and totally ridiculous on me…I also noticed this effect with certain hairstlyles. See them on others or in a magazine, have my hair cut that way and it still looks totally boring/weird/not stylish on me… *sigh*
My next big problem will be: We are going to the States for vacation before Christmas and I already know I will buy WAY to much stuff! I should try to sort out some old clothes/things before that to make room for all the things I will buy in all those damned Outlet-Stores. :)
Maribeth
November 6, 2009 at 5:15 amI knew what to wear when I weighed 200 pounds. Tents and anything that hid my girth!
Since losing all the weight, I am still unsure of how to dress. So I could use “Clinton and Stacy” to pull me together.
Shoe wise, I love my Merrells! They are the only shoes that don’t hurt my plantar faciitis.
God, I’m old!
.-= Maribeth´s last blog ..Oh, How They Have Grown =-.
Tanja
November 6, 2009 at 5:59 amSo funny – everything you wrote fits so totally with me ;) I had Doc Martens, I wear most of the time casual clothes and I like to dress up sometimes but don’t know really what fits me…would love to get my personal makeover ;)
.-= Tanja´s last blog ..Trick or Treat – a lot of candys for us ;) =-.
Stefanie
November 6, 2009 at 10:57 amDo you still own those shoes?! :) Because that would be awesome.
I think we have a lot in common. While I adore all those women that dress up so nicely, I am, on the other hand, always feel like I can’t pull off any of their styles. I love my casual clothes but I do dress up every once in a while. I always go back to the same color of clothing and the same conservative/plain/normal “style”.
However, I recebtly discovered my love for skinny jeans and I love ballerina shoes (the make my long-ass feet look shorter).
.-= Stefanie´s last blog ..That beloved waiting game. =-.
Andi
November 6, 2009 at 6:40 pmFinding a “style” is really hard, but I mostly stick with classic clothes in black, white and grey. Every time I try to get something trendy it doesn’t work out. I have nice dressy clothes too, but I never feel comfortable in them. I can’t stand skinny jeans or ballerina flats, they just don’t look good on me. I just bought jeans recently and it was a royal pain to find something that I was comfortable in – ack, it sucks!
Carolina
November 6, 2009 at 10:40 pmomg DOCS! I had a brown pair that had to literally be chiseled off my feet…I loved them that much!!
I also feel the same way as you and I also struggle with the whole “I’m 30 now” thing. I mean..for the most part I think I still dress like I did 6 years ago..and is it OK? Should I dress differently? I don’t know.
I always feel that trends look horrible and ridiculous on me..but great on everyone else.
ugh..its so frustrating! I definitely have a style that i gravitate to (the more color..the better) but I just don’t know how to pull it together to pull it off. *sad face*
.-= Carolina´s last blog ..“Half of My Heart” =-.
Terra
November 8, 2009 at 5:48 amI had a pair of Doc Marten’s too and I LOVED them…
I feel the same way about how clothes are always so much more fabulous in the store. I think recently though, I’m almost fallen into my personal style.
.-= Terra´s last blog ..Lesson Learned: Sometimes it’s better to be an asshole =-.