Phew... self-evaluation is exhausting! Over the course of the last two days I have spent, oh, probably about 5 hours or more nitpicking through every garment I own--and I'll probably need at least a couple more hours for hosiery and accessories.
I am being really hard-core about this, no holds barred, and it's really, really hard. It is mentally and emotionally exhausting to try to see oneself through others' eyes, and physically--well, OK, it's not like I ran a marathon or anything, but you try putting on and taking off almost a hundred outfits, one after another, and then tell me it doesn't take its toll.
To be thorough, I tried everything on. At this point, I didn't fuss over creating complete outfits with shoes and accessories; I tried on every item at least once--every top with a bottom I might reasonably choose to wear with it in real life (and vice versa), every jacket or cardigan with a neutral, unobtrusive top--and I noted how it felt physically (does it fit? does it scratch? pinch? rub?) and otherwise (do I feel attractive? confident? sexy? does it make me feel like me?), then looked in the mirror...
The thing is, you can't really trust mirrors. At least, you can't trust just one mirror. Or maybe it's that you can't trust yourself to look objectively when you look into a mirror. Whatever. You know in the movie Clueless, our heroine Cher has a friend take Polaroids of her before she'll hit the streets in an outfit? It sounds ridiculous, but photos are really helpful in seeing big picture design features like line, silhouette, and balance (I don't trust them for colour, though). I set my digital camera to take three consecutive shots on a timer, and then I stood against my bedroom wall and did front, profile and back views in every outfit. There were quite a few garments I chucked in the discard pile right away, before even looking at the photos: anything stained, torn, frayed, or pilled beyond repair; anything that just didn't fit; and things that just didn't feel like they worked for the look I want. Everything else went into the "maybe" pile, pending viewing of the photos.
I was pleasantly surprised by a few of the photos--there were even a couple of things in the discard pile that I pulled out after seeing them in a new light--and surprisingly disappointed in a few other "sure fire" items. And, out of all the many, many clothes I tried on, only two garments really made me feel, instantly, like a babe: a shrunken one-button blazer in creamsicle orange, and a teal jersey dress. Everything else was just... OK.
My goal is for everything I put on to give me the orange blazer/teal dress "wow" moment. I want to feel like the real me, always. Two items isn't really much to go on, but it's a start.
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