Needing To Do Laundry Is Good for Closet Inspo
A new working theory.
Hello Costume Change—from TECH! For my CC friends who work in other industries: tech is a time in which actors (and designers, and stage managers, and creative teams and backstage crews and front-of-house crews and wardrobe teams and and and) disappear off the face of the earth in order to spend all of their waking hours inside a dark theater, slowly putting together every tiny detail and technical element that makes up our show. Very long days! And they are days made up of lots of meticulous, repetitive work. But much of the “theater magic” is cooked up in this very moment—I love tech, for all the times I’ve stood in the house and looked on as the world of the play came together onstage. Special!
This week (and for the next several), I will be treating my work schedule as an OPPORTUNITY instead of a challenge (lol). A Costume Change experiment! Where does the wind blow me—AKA what will I write about—during a season where I have less time to prep and plan? Can I, a woman with many virgo placements, keep it loose? Will things get weird? (Let’s hope!)
On that note, I would like to propose to you a theory that occurred to me last week, a week in which, for many days, my clean, folded laundry sat politely in the other room, waiting to be put away, while I stared at my closet every morning, lacking in its usual MVPs, and wondered what to wear. It was an interesting psychological experiment in which I could have, at any point, walked approximately six feet to my left, into the next room, and picked an item from the clean stack—but that would have highlighted the fact that I needed to do something with the rest of the clothes (put them back in their home), and I Did Not Feel Like Doing That. Instead, I wore other stuff! Groundbreaking! This led me to my new working theory, and the title of this week’s post: Needing to Do Laundry (okay okay I didn’t, I needed to put it away, but tomato/potato) Is Good for Closet Inspo.
A DEMONSTRATION:
Exhibit A
This black cardigan is an old favorite, but I haven’t worn it in months. She was hiding between the other black tops—yes, my closet is color-coordinated—most of which are summer tops, or lean a little fancy for my everyday wardrobe needs. The cardigan felt more unexpected than a t-shirt under this Brooklyn riff on a Texas Tuxedo.
Exhibit B
I’ve had these pants forever (old Uniqlo), and I like them because the cropped wide leg and smooth waistband makes them feel a lot nicer than sweatpants, even though the weight of the fabric is approaching sweatpant-territory. I actually wear these pants a lot, but I put them on this day because the leggings drawer was devoid of leggings. [They were in the clean stack, in the other room.] The more structured corduroy shirt made this Very Soft Outfit feel work appropriate. (If you don’t want to wear hard pants, try a hard shirt instead?)
Exhibit C
A semi-monochrome moment! Inspired by this flannel, which hasn’t yet gotten the love she deserves this winter, and the aforementioned lack of leggings. Not to sound ridiculous, but the little bit of black from both my biker shorts and socks make this a LOT more interesting to me. (Also, that’s two appearances now for my loafers this week.)
Exhibit D
Trenchcoat working very hard this week! (This was the third day in a row it rained, blegh.) I am serving a little bit of color via this vintage windbreaker, which I shamelessly matched to my socks like a toddler. If you must go out in the rain, I’d like to strongly endorse incorporating some color into the ‘fit. My hair looked absolutely insane by the end of this day (humidity is my mortal enemy), and this purple windbreaker was the only reason I had to go on!
Exhibit Last
Hard pants for our last day in the rehearsal room! These were my mama’s jeans. They are amazing, and I have had them repaired many times because they can never leave me. Pictured here with cardigan, vintage belt, loafs (a third appearance!), and my nectarine, which I had just washed. (It was a little underripe, but what can you do?) This outfit falls slightly outside of the prompt, but who’s to say I wasn’t inspired to wear real clothes to rehearsal because I was running out of soft pants? Hmmmm?
That’s it, that’s the theory in practice. IDK, what do you think? A laundry situation forcing you to wear other stuff: is it a blessing or a curse? Both? Let me know—I’m off to finally put mine away. Ta for now! XX.
Costume Change is a styling newsletter (vs. a shopping newsletter). There’s no spon-con in the above links. As always, I hope that Costume Change first and foremost provides you with inspiration to shop your own closet. Got styling questions? Reply to this email! Thanks for reading, and reminder to keep those comments kind <3