Wardrobe malfunctions
...and by malfunctions I mostly mean malexistence. As in, lack thereof. Void.
I was a preschool teacher for one year. Last year, to be exact. And while it was a really fun, high energy, rewarding job, I was mentally and emotionally exhausted when I left. But the beating my closet took was worse than anything that was done to my poor little feelings. My clothes were pretty much entirely decimated by dirt, snot, all manner of non-washable art products (Crayola "washable" markers and finger paint can SUCK IT), blood, and the general grime that four-year-olds tend to collect.
I am not a fancy dresser. My greatest desire is not for Prada and Gucci or even Banana Republic and J.Crew to throw up their wonderfulness all over me. I am most comfortable in jeans and casual shirts. For my current [office] job the dress code is business casual, so I can even buy nice t-shirts and wear them with dress pants to work and nobody gives me the side eye. Due to the severe decline in my wardrobe options after last year's devastation and a lack of funds now, I am caught in a pretty awful cycle: I buy a few [cheap] items as we can afford them (or as the special occasion dictates) and am then able to retire some of the limp and stretched out pieces that I've been suffering for months, only to overwear and overwash the few new items, which fast replace the wilted ones it feels like I finally just got rid of. It seems that faded, misshapen, and hapless is my current style and I frankly couldn't be sadder about it.
What to do, friends? What to do?
Last week I came into a little money (bwaha, I feel very gangsta saying that, but really it was just a work award whose prize was some cash) and I would like to use part of it to bulk up my closet. Out with the faded and in with the fashionable! And the not-too-expensive! Because it wasn't THAT much money.
I think that with some careful planning regarding what to buy on the cheap and what to, shall we say, invest in, I can create a wardrobe that I am happy with, or at least satisfied.
Things Which Shall Continue to Be Bought On Sale and For Cheap:
- T-shirts
- Socks
- Underwear
- Summery skirts
- Sun dresses
- Cute accessories with which to glam myself up as needed
Things Which Shall Be Considered An Investment (shut up, Zack, I NEED IT):
- Jeans
- Bras
- Dress pants
- Nice dresses
- Shoes
- Work skirts that are more professional than summery skirts even though I wear them both to work
- Dress shirts
Buy yourself a couple GOOD pairs of jeans. Splurge on those. They'll last you longer and the aforementioned over-wearing and wearing out won't happen quite as soon.
Goodwill and Slavation Army, of course! Go to the ones in areas where fewer young and hip people live. I used to find GREAT stuff at a Goodwill on Lawarence, up off the brown line. It was in a very Latino neighborhood, very few hipsters to compete with.
Megan G