This blog
post will follow my discoveries as I record my daily fashion choices in order
to better understand fashion theories and reveal the truth behind them.
Often
society belittles fashion and passes it off as a subject not worth looking
into. It wasn't until recently in the 20th and 21st century that fashion
started being discussed on a deeper level and books about how fashion can
affect our lives and our lives can affect fashion started being published. So
on the one hand fashion can often be underestimated however it can also be
suggested that we are actually making a bigger deal out of fashion and fashion
theory than is needed....do we all really think that deeply into what we put on
everyday and do the things that happen to us during our childhood and teenage
years actually affect the way we dress? These are questions I am going to be
asking myself as I partake in this experimentation. Each day I will record what
I put on and what I am doing that day to be later analysed and put up against
the theories of fashion psychologists, sociologists, theorists and philosopher’s!
First off I
shall brief you on my current life and what I have to dress for
There are
four main components to my life:
Dressing for
Uni;
Dressing for
home;
Dressing for
Church;
Dressing for
Social;
Ok so here
goes....
Week of
outfits
Day 1
Wednesday
 |
Pale pink
jumper with gold baroque detail bargain buy from Topshop, shows a bit of skin -
not flattering in this picture but I hope I don’t always look like this! Pearls, to add a bit of
ladylike elegance. I am currently messing around with the laid back look mixed
with ladylike trend....it's interesting but suits me as I can never decide.
Black jeans, my every day go to pair from Primark, only jeans I wear as I have
a giant rear and black makes it look a shade smaller, black buckle boots from
New Look, again I wear this almost every day, I like to have a good pair of
shoes that I can out on every day and they go with all my clothes....I tend to
go through phases of style so when these shoes fall apart my fashion will
probably change and I'll buy a new pair of shoes which will go with everything
and start the whole cycle again! I threw on my grey coat for a bit of lady chic
and no snood as it would cover up my necklace and I chose style over warmth!
Day 2 Thursday
Normally
on a Thursday I have work (I work as an Industrial sewing machinist at a bear
factory making clothes for the collectable bears) but for the month of January
I am not working as they do not have enough work for me until February so today
was a day of doing uni work yaay! Average uni work day consists of my sitting
in bed on my laptop or covering my bed with sketchbooks and magazine cuttings
and ruining my bedcovers with paint, this means I generally do not shower or
get dressed...gross? So a day of pyjamas ensued but it just so happens that
Thursday nights are Small Group Nights (bible study with a small group of
people from my church where we can come together and chat about any problems we
have, study the bible and just be friends) which meant showering and putting on
some clothes....my small group consists mainly of older people as I was a
little bored of my student small group, I wanted to mix with older people as I
am always surrounded by students, so transferred to a family one. This changes my
attitude to what I wear greatly as I can literally through on anything and not
be bothered as I don’t
feel the pressure of being judged by what I wear....this outfit was accessible
and comfy, still stylish or at least my style but nothing special.
First
pic; me in my beloved dressing gown, it doesn’t leave my body when I am in my cold
student
house
= equivalent of a best friend, second pic; everyday jeans and boots (as seen in
day one and probably will be seen a lot throughout this week I reckon!) granny
crochet top (I mean granny literally, it was an old top of my Nan’s that she gave to me
as she knows I am resourceful and skint...I cut the hideous sleeves off and
wear it all the time) and grey means zip hoody with my mum’s old denim jacket
(see what I mean? resourceful) third pic; same outfit better lighting : )
Day 3 Friday
Friday's
are busy as today I head to uni at 7:30am and have to leave uni early to get
home for 6:30pm as I run the Youth Small Group in our church from 7 - 9 This
means in the morning I have to dress with my whole day in mind! I won’t really dress that
differently from uni but I don't like to be too dressed up! My attire is
slightly restricted because I will be sitting squished on a sofa or on the
floor in the evening as we play games and look at the bible so again no pencil
skirts! But I do like to dress well because as a youth leader who doesn't want
their youth group to think they are fashionable and cool?
Casual
outfit that hopefully translates natural style without having to make too much
of an effort; a big comfy beige dress jumper that you do not even have to wear
anything underneath, in this instance I wore a long strappy top that could
cover my bum at a stretch (not a fan of the bum in leggings look so try and
avoid it) but I actually didn't take my jumper off so didn’t have to deal with
that scenario! Leggings under the jumper making this outfit super comfy and
appropriate for a long day at uni where I do not have to fuss about pulling my
clothes about whilst I'm stretching over tables to do pattern cutting and then
easily transferring from uni day to Youth Small group where I am free to slouch
and sit on the floor and play games at ease. For outer wear I threw on my 'farmer
coat' (the picture isn't great but it’s a big green waxed coat with giant
poppered pockets...you know the kind) brown boots and my snood.
Day 4 Saturday
Today is a chilled out day, I'm heading
into town with my boyfriend to get lunch at a little coffee shop and then have
a walk in the park and then relax at mine with a film and maybe a game of Ligretto
(fast paced card game we are addicted to) so I don’t need to be wearing
anything particularly good or fashionable. Most Saturdays consist of either
doing uni work or chilling but I tend to always see Chris as it is one of the
days we are both free, so Saturdays are days when I throw anything on.
This is a blue jersey cotton t-shirt dress form H and M, it’s so easy to chuck on with tights or leggings (in this case leggings) just an everyday piece of clothing which means you don’t have to think of combinations of tops and bottoms just put on this one piece of clothing. I put my cream and gold glittery cardigan over the top, which I nearly all of the time as it goes with everything, and then outer wear was my denim jacket as it isn’t that cold, brown boots and snood. Really casual outfit that \I can be comfy in when I get back home to relax.
Day
5 Sunday
So
this week I am serving at church however I am getting a lift there so don't
need to worry too much about layering up for the walk. I'm on kids work which
means I will be sitting on the floor which oddly enough means I will more
likely need to wear a skirt instead of jeans as my jeans are too tight for me
to sit whereas my favourite skirt can be tucked to keep me modest when I sit
cross legged! After church I am heading back to mine with Chris and we will
probably chill out, have lunch and then sort out my room and move me and my
stuff into my housemates room as my parents are staying (not to see me but to
do my sisters bathroom, we both moved away to Canterbury so our parents hit two
birds with one stone when paying visits).
I
went for blue velvet dress which I bought from Topshop in the sale (along with
the pink/gold jumper I wore on day 1) but as it looked a tad dressy on its own
and too short I put my grey floaty skirt over the top with a waist belt. When I’m serving I can tuck
my red t-shirt into the skirt. I put my brown boots with it to keep it casual
and out my grey coat on as I didn’t feel my farmer coat was needed and
topped it off with my snood.
Day
6 Monday
Today is the first day of my parents
staying at my house but they have been warned not to disturb me and my life as
I am very busy so whilst my dad is doing my sisters bathroom my mum is over there
playing with her grandchildren. I however was here doing uni work until the
afternoon when Chris came over before we went to see my parents at my sister’s house. So today was
a 'I don't care what I'm wearing' day however I did get dressed in the morning
surprisingly as I wanted to shower and dress first so I could then get on with
work.
So I wore my blue and white tapestry
cardigan (looks like old fashioned wallpaper from the back...kind of baroque)
two tiered chiffon crop top with spaghetti straps, which was the only
top I had upstairs at the time, and everyday black jeans and black boots and
for outdoors I wore my farmer coat and my knitted snood, it's a cold day.
Day
7 Tuesday
Tuesday
is a long day - the longest in fact as I have university but before that try to
attend EMP (early morning praise) which my church runs from 7am on a Tuesday
morning...it mainly consists of students but is a great time of worship and
prayer that even though it is early in the morning is totally worth it. So Tuesdays
I have to plan what I am going to wear so that I can roll out of bed and dress
and not have to come home to change after EMP. After EMP we go for breakfast
and although I am not due at uni until 12 I tend to leave on the earliest train
after breakfast which is 9 and get in for 10:30 as going home in between is
just too much effort especially when Wetherspoons (where we eat) is next to the
station! So dressing for the day consists of me choosing something I feel
comfortable in but also makes me feel like I actually do fashion!
I
decided to pull out my velvet dress as I hadn't yet worn it as a dress (I wore
this on Day 5 Sunday with my grey skirt) I chose tights instead of leggings as
I felt the leggings ruined it, its velvet dress you don't wear leggings.
However I put socks over the top as I thought they were a bit of fun. Then for
outdoors I added my grey zippy and denim jacket combo with my small navy and
brown clutch bag. My ensemble reminded me of the outfit Julia Roberts wears at
the beginning of Pretty Woman as a prostitute, probably not the exact look I
was going for but I do love the 90's. It's totally on trend right now got to
keep on it for the uni gals....seriously all of this is actually running
through my head as I dress in the morning, I know it’s sad and I am
probably the only person who thinks this much about what I wear everyday but
what can you do!
Day 8 Wednesday
Sad
but true, my Wednesday consisted of me not seeing a single person during the
day which meant I remained like this (see embarrassing image below) all day
whilst sitting in my bed doing uni work and preparing the youth talk for the
coming Sunday until 6:30 when I decided I needed to get dressed to go to a
church meeting about a future additional site they are preparing to launch. For
meetings like this I don’t
really mind what I wear...if I have had a long day I will dress down and get
into something easy however if I have had a slow day when I haven't got dressed
I like to do the opposite and feel like I am about to achieve something.
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So
I started my day in my pyjamas; strappy top with Fair Isle pyjama bottoms and a
dressing gown, and then transformed my appearance by getting dressed. I thought
it would be fun to use photos that someone took of the meeting even though I
look super chubby, from behind is not my best angle! I chose my pink and
gold jumper (from Day 1 Wednesday) and a black pencil skirt with tights and my
black boots...wearing this made me feel like I was tricking everyone into
believing I had been at work or somewhere productive all day, and definitely
not like I just got dressed for the first time. Outerwear I chose my smart grey
coat that makes me feel like I have a job that requires me to wear a nice coat
like this.
This
analysis of clothing choice will be studied and challenged by myself in order
to discover more about the decisions we make when dressing and why. I am going
to be using this blog in my dissertation to validate or challenge the proclamations
made by fashion theorists about our individual style.
Thanks
for reading
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