a uniform life

I’m a uniform dresser, and I’m ok with that.

I'm drawn to dark colors, blush pinks and smoky grays, but I also have a tiny portion of my closet devoted to novelty prints (greyhounds!) and bright colors (who doesn't love a cinnamon-like red?). My daily wardrobe consists mostly of light colored capris with dark shirts in the summer and black and grey tees, jeans and black pants in the fall.

Oh, and sunglasses. Always oversized sunglasses. 

I’ll change things up every now and again with a statement piece, but then it’s back to my usual uniform.

I have a larger than life personality amongst my friends but am actually quite introverted. I need quiet time to recharge my batteries, and I love that my clothes reflect that.

It's really easy to get caught up in the literal part of paring down / minimalism: keeping things simple doesn't mean living like a monk. It means wearing everything in my closet, and loving each and every item...or, each piece has to perfectly function for its use: because let's face it, who really gardens in nice clothes?

Dinner with friends: black and white polka dot dress.  Working from home: black tee and white pants.

This is heaven.

For years, I used to follow all sorts of trends; hoping to find a new personality in my new clothing. When I look at my closet now, though, I feel like I know the person who bought these clothes, and I like her.

While I embrace this dichotomy now, I used to think it was something I had to fix. I was trying too hard. I loved uniqueness and originality, but also craved simplicity, but I didn't know it at the time. And I didn’t think it was possible to achieve it. Which led to the ill-advised sack dress incident: a million girls can look gorgeous in a sack dress, but sack dresses surprisingly look like...sacks on me. No matter how trendy sack dresses are, how many it girls are wearing them, or how cheaply I can buy them, sack dresses aren't for me.

This feeling of confidence and simplicity carries over to my writing: I may wish I could write about culturalism like Zadie Smith, or write with tension like Stephen King, or with the humor like Nora Ephron. I'm not Zadie or Stephen or Nora. I'm me. Some of my blog posts are instructional/informative and some are slices of life. Some poems ramble like those little afterthoughts we have before sleep. Some poems are little bursts of micro-poetry. It's all intentional. I've found my uniform, both in clothes and writing.

It fits me well.

What's your uniform?