these rags

[thanate]

astormorray is talking about purging her clothing of all the ancient, silly, trashy dress-up clothing of youth. And it's something other people talk about from time to time, and I tend to frown in confusion at as a concept... admittedly, my idea of worth-keeping (or more importantly, worth-wearing) clothing has changed over the years. I want things to be comfortable and fit in a way that I don't have to keep mucking with. I'm ok with showing more skin than I was as a teen, although I still want as much as possible covered if I'm going to be out in the sun. And I'm slowly becoming a natural fiber snob-- if it's going to be covering part of me that sweats, I want it not to smell icky when I sweat into it. So not so much on the poly/acrylic shirts and long-sleeved dresses. Which is a wardrobe revolution of sorts; now I just need to get them out of storage sometime so I can actually purge them.

But... some of my favorite bits of clothing are ripped to shreds. And I've developed an unhealthy fascination with cargo pants (which I used to despise on principle-- it's the look of bulgy cargo pockets with too much stuff in them that I can't stand) while my more respectable office casual stuff remains largely boxed up in storage. (Or as I tell people, "I used to have a corporate me, but I packed her up in boxes") And I have no desire to conform to "grown-up" clothing. I wear tanks and babydoll t-shirts now, when I didn't in college. I even own a hoodie. And the trashy goth stuff I don't wear to work (in theory I could; it's a t-shirt & jeans atmosphere in the lab, but rolly chairs and long skirts don't get on) lurks in my cedar chest waiting for me to find a time to wear it. And then, um, get all the stuff off the top of the cedar chest so I can open it... Anyway, I'm wondering if I should take this into consideration when contemplating another job. Or if it's too limiting? But the thing is, I will be subtly happier if I work in a place where I can wear steampunk vests or tattered silk skirts anytime I feel like it.

Comments

[astormorray.livejournal.com]

I have often thought that being able to wear skirts would make me happier about my job.

Also - I think you're skimming over the part where the clothes I am trying to get rid of don't actually fit me, and it's not so much that they are unsuitable to my current lifestyle, but also unwearable. :P

[thanate.livejournal.com]

yeah, most of my unwearable stuff is in storage, so it won't be got rid of until it gets out.

I guess the point I was trying to make is more... when people say they're going for a "new me" look, it's always so conformist. It's "I'm going to be stylish and trendy" and so you get out the books about what flatters you and what style you're supposed to like, and then you end up with a world where only certain styles of dress are acceptable in the workplace. And they're nearly all boring.

[grauwulf.livejournal.com]

I say be comfy. Within reason of course, but comfort is important. If you hate wearing suits and your job makes you do so for 8 hours a day five days a week, then that's an awful lot time spent disliking something. Life, as they say, it is too short.

[thanate.livejournal.com]

I temped in a formal business environment for about a week once, and hated every minute of it. Not only did I barely own enough suit-style clothing to make it through, but the dress code was a reflection of the formal tension of the office. It was ghastly.

[stanci.livejournal.com]

I think it would be fun to wear steampunk clothes to work. My only problem is that long skirts don't necessarily mesh well with rolly-office chairs :)
One of the things that I love about being a girl, is that I can wear sandals to work without looking more dorky than I do on a regular basis. And it's hitting about 80 under some of our desks at work already, so that's a good thing....

[thanate.livejournal.com]

I find that fairly a-line skirts that aren't longer than ankle length are usually manageable. Just my semi-non-respectable skirts are things like ankle-to-floor length circle-&-a-bit drapey silk haboti things, or the cotton/rayon equivalent.

80 degrees under your desk? Ugh! Can you rig up a fan, maybe?