I recently finished the book How to Get Dressed by Alison Freer. Lately I've wanted to learn about clothing and style and really what body type AM I anyway?
How do I do clothes?!?
I have clothing and style questions, how and where can I find the answers and actually learn -- and possibly solve once and for all -- my clothing conundrums? Because I feel like I have many of those. In an attempt to learn and broaden my view of style and clothing I went to my go-to source when I really and truly want to learn about something: The Library. I checked out a few books on style and Freer's book was one of them, and honestly, the only one I actually read from start to finish.
Clothing has always been somewhat of a mystery to me. I mean, clothing at the most basic level is something to cover our bodies; keep us decent, protect our skin from the elements and keep us warm in winter. Right?
Clothing can be very basic.
And clothing can be very complicated.
Kendra Adachi, in her book, The Lazy Genius Way, states that she wears black, white and denim and for the most part wears a version of the same outfit every day of the week. That's it; white, black, denim. She keeps it simple and that's the way she likes it. I don't know about you, but for me, I need more variety. And I like color. Besides, barring the denim, black and white aren't really my colors. I'm not Kendra Adachi, I'm Hannah Hon, and I like color and variety. I am a different person than she is and that's ok. However that means my clothing automatically becomes more complicated. I realize that wanting more variety in my clothing diet it is a choice I am making and I am ok with that because that's who I am.
I'm also not Alison Freer, costume designer extraordinaire, knowing everything there is to know about clothing, style, fit and hacks because it's her job...plus she's just always loved clothes.
I think that some people have a natural, God-given interest in clothing and they always look good because they invest time into something that they enjoy. My cousin Rachael was like that. She loved clothing, absolutely loved it, and she always looked good because she took the time to learn and invest in her clothes. She went to school for fashion merchandising and while the degree turned out to be different than she had originally expected, she learned all she could about fashion, clothing and how to work the system. She had a tailor. She knew about color and skin tone and body types and style and fit. She knew what she was doing. My aunt, Rachael's mom, said recently that Rachael's dream was to own a clothing boutique. She would have been good, very good, at it. She loved to help people find their best colors, style and make them look and feel amazing.
In contrast, her 'best cousin', ie, yours truly, was, and still is, the total opposite. When we were growing up Rachael was the one who was always cool as a cucumber, never seemed to get hot or sweaty no matter how much we ran around and played, and she took care with her hair, make up and clothes. I, on the other hand, sweated a lot and my cheeks always looked like they were 'on fire' as I was told so many times. Not to mention my hair never looked like it was brushed (Which is still a problem). My clothes were mostly hand-me-downs and sometimes had holes in them, but I wore them anyway. I had different interests in life than my cousin. She cared about clothing and I cared about creativity, playing hard and being outside. Who cares how sweaty I got, I was having fun.
Growing up I was also taught in no uncertain terms that 'beauty is on the inside and not the outside'. Playing with Barbies' was something my mom was reluctant for me to do because she felt they focused too much on outward beauty. I played with them anyway. But the message was strong: Beauty is on the inside. Clothing, hair, make up and style are not something that is important in life.
Now, many years later, I agree and I disagree. Yes, the 'hidden person of the heart', the inner man, our spirit and soul life is the most important, but clothing and style and hair and make up are also extremely important and needed and worth much. Over the years, since being an adult and living on my own I have paid much more attention to my hair, style and clothes. I will be honest in the fact that I don't wear make up because for me personally I feel like it is a time waste -- I would rather have ten more minutes in my day to bind a book or do something creative than put on make up -- but that is just my personal choice and preference. Oh, and by the way, a workplace can not force you or require you to wear make up. A workplace can have a dress code, yes, but as far as requiring someone to wear make up as part of the job, it's simply not legal (Ask me how I know. I guess the caveat to that statement would be 'Unless your an actor or in the performing arts business').
Back to my original thought that clothing can be simple and basic or clothing can be complicated. Even the simplicity of 'jeans and a t-shirt' can get complicated.
For exaple: Take jeans. Do I go with high rise, low rise, mid rise, ultra low rise? Do I go with boot cut, straight leg, boyfriend, regular, bell bottoms or skinny jeans? How about color? White jeans, light jeans, dark jeans or black jeans? That's just the beginning; the possibilities are endless. So how about the t-shirt? Color is one thing and a personal preference, but do I go with v-neck? Scoop neck? Crew? Square? Short length or long length? Fitted or loose? Again, the possibilities are endless. One day I could wear dark, low rise, boot cut jeans with a white scoop neck fitted long length tee, and the next day I could wear light, bell bottom, high rise jeans with a soft blue, v-neck, short length loose tee. I am just saying. And I'm no fashion expert so the combos listed above may be something a person wouldn't really wear, but the point is, even jeans and a t-shirt can be complicated.
In her book Freer outlines the rise of pants and jeans and what would look best on your body type based on where your natural waist is, which helped me to demystify what rise of jean I personally should be wearing (Mid-rise. I've been wearing low-rise for 20 years because I was laughed at once because I didn't realize that wearing low-rise pants with granny panties wasn't the best idea. I've also never worn granny panties since then, fyi). The whole point of me reading her book was to learn and help myself out with this whole clothing thing. So that was super helpful.
The other thing I learned from her book was fit. Fit, fit, fit. How clothes fit you and your specific, unique body type is really the most important thing for having clothes work. I feel like most of my life I have been trying to make my body fit into the clothes I buy rather than buying clothes that actually fit my body. Freer says that the main thing that separates the Hollywood actors and how they look is one, fit -- they wear clothes that work for their bodies and most of them are at least altered someone to fit them better and two, they have someone -- like a costume designer -- pushing them and their style. Why not try this? Or that? Or how about this? And, Does this work for my body?
Freer stays away from the typical body typecasting of 'apple, pear, hourglass or triangle', which was refreshing. I've always thought that I my body was the Hourglass type simply because I have larger bust area, smaller waist, and my hips are literally the same measurement as my bust. I also don't have much of a butt, so I don't know where a non-existent back end factors into as far as body type goes.
Those two factors, fit and pant rise, were probably the two most helpful things I gleened from reading Freer's book. Her chapter on undergarments was also very helpful.
My first bra was a hand-me-down strapless underwire. Yes, you read that right. A strapless underwire. I think I was 11 years old. Needless to say, the thing did not fit. I remember playing with our nextdoor neighbors and it seemed like I had to hike the thing up every two seconds because it kept falling down. I was so annoyed. I hated it. My mom did not take me bra shopping when I started to 'bud'. She basically handed me the second-hand strapless bra and said, 'Here. You should wear this'. Implying that, I needed to wear it because I was getting too big to go without one. I never had a training bra. And for many, many years I did not wear the right size bra. No one taught me about cup size, band size, how a bra should fit and I didn't know how big I actually was (Uh, I'm big). Life is a journey and I have come a long long way on the road of learning about undergarments and I now wear a bra that at least keeps the ladies where they should be. I still hate underwires.
Underware too. I was told that I had sensitive skin when I was a kid, so it was cotton, cotton, cotton, always 100% cotton underware. And of course I wore the granny panty style, which, after reading Freer's book, am tempted to go back to because she loves them. My husband doesn't want me to, ha! Even though I was made fun of so many years ago for wearing them, what Freer says makes sense; they go with your natural curves and so eliminate panty lines...and maybe muffin tops too?
I feel like once those three things are in place, fit, pant/skirt/short rise and undergarments, style itself is just a matter of personal preference.
For me, clothing is all about comfort. I want to be comfortable. That doesn't necessarily mean I have to wear baggy clothing, but I want to be comfortable in the clothes I wear. Which goes back to fit and making the clothes I buy work for my body, not my body for my clothes.
There are other decisions too when it comes to choosing clothing which can make it complicated.
Clothing can be expenseive. Do I shop second hand and therefore save money and also help the environment? Do I try to find deals on Amazon or Kohl's or places like TJ Maxx or Marshalls?
Or do I invest a lot of money in more well-made garments and have them tailored to my body and therefore have a few choice garments that fit well and look good on me?
All clothing will wear out eventually. I personally go the second hand route more often. I am not saying that is better than another way, I think that's what I do because that's how I grew up. And there are nice second hand stores out there.
Which fabric types are sustainable and eco-friendly? What fabric types wear better? Which travel better?
I am not into fast fashion. Fashions fade, fashions come and go and apparently fashions have a twenty year cycle, or so I'm told.
There is a whole industry on style and fashion. The topic of clothing is a neverending one. These are just some thoughts I had after reading Alison Freer's book. I will always been exploring style and my personal clothing choices and I found her book very helpful on the topic.
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