these rags

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.