Out of Print

So, can you believe it?  On Monday next week, my blog turns 1!

This is a massively big deal for me… and given I started this blog to keep track of how I built my threadbare wardrobe up after several years of neglect, I figured it would be nice to take a look back, as well as forwards.

So, for the whole of March, in celebration of making it to the one year milestone, my mid-week posts will be looking at my wardrobe over the past year, what it is I’ve gotten out of this blogging malarky, things I’ve learnt along the way and my hopes for the future of this blog.

A year ago, with the bare-bones of a wardrobe facing me every morning, this quote would have been very apt.

However, it turns out that I hadn’t lost my “fahion mojo” due to disappearing down the stay-at-home-mum spiral… rather, I was skint and had simply stopped spending on clothes.

And I didn’t just stop spending for no reason, but for the same reason as many others: we’d bought a new house, had a new baby and were still adjusting to life on one salary.

As documented over the past year on this blog, we are in a much better place now, and I suppose I’ve adjusted to that guilt feeling we SAHM often feel because we are not bringing an income home.

It turns out, all I needed to do to rebuild my wardrobe back up was to get over my guilt and spend a little money.  And I think you all know, I have indeed managed that!!

However, not all my purchases have been wise.

They’ve not all been “me”.

I have got caught up in the drama of “must have it” that exists in magazines, and worse still,  on social media – where things do reach fever point, hysteria if you will about “must have” items.

So today, although there’s a little bit of looking back, I mainly want to talk about plans for my wardrobe going forward.

I have always gravitated towards a simple, neutral colour palette with minimal print.

In fact, as a young child, my mum wanted to dress me in frocks she’d sewn from left over fabric from dresses she’s made for herself, but I point blank refused to wear them unless they were pretty much plain.  I compromised on the occasional polka dot, stripe or check/gingham print… or an occasional embellishment/motif sewn on, but really, that was pretty much it.

Roll forward 40 years, and not much has changed in my adult life.

The thing about print is, I do really love the look of it.  Who doesn’t love a delicate ditsy Liberty print?

I want to be able to wear print and I love a good floral, but… time and time again, I buy a printed item and I scarcely wear it.

I think that prints just aren’t very me… and so… taking a leaf out of Mel’s book, I’m Spring Cleaning my wardrobe, and top of my ‘to purge’ list, are anything with “print”.

And in the coming year, I need to refrain from buying anything too “loud” in the print department because although I will likely wear it a couple of times, these printed tops / dresses / skirts are ultimately a waste of my money and don’t do very well in the old cost-per-wear calculation at all!

By way of example, as well as taking a look back… here are some things which in hindsight, I simply should not have bought:

This is an old White stuff blouse which has ultimately only been worn a handful of times… which is going to be the same for all of these examples I suppose, including this Galaxy Print & Other Stories dress which I had wanted for several months:

When ever I have worn this dress, I find myself having to break the print up with a jumper as I find it too full on.

I love the look of it on the hanger, but clothes are for wearing, right?  And this dress, just isn’t getting enough wear.

Neither is this  HM Leopard Print Cardi:

Again, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this cardigan, or indeed Leopard Print in general… but if I don’t feel relaxed when wearing it, why should I keep it?

So those are just 3 examples, but there are plenty of other printed pieces in my wardrobe which I have not worn at all in the past year… all because they are not very “me”.

Why did I buy these pieces though?

Well, I do love the look of print…but through  blogging this past year, and photographing almost daily outfit shots for Instagram, it’s become clear that I don’t really seem to favour wearing  “pretty printed clothes” very much at all.

There have been a couple or near misses, where common sense prevailed and items were returned:

You’ll remember my recent purchase of this  beautiful Topshop Boutique Silk Blouse… it got returned because I knew – and I mean, I just knew, that regardless of it’s prettiness or nice to have-ness, it’s something I wouldn’t reach to wear very often.

And this wasn’t because of the pink-ness, rather because of the print.

And at the tail end of last summer / early Autumn, I succumbed to ordering this really gorgeous Zara leopard print pleated skirt:

I didn’t mind the maxi-midi length of the skirt… that wasn’t why I returned it.

No, it got send back because the print was wearing *me* rather than the other way round.

And perhaps that’s my problem with bold, loud print?  That my frame is so petite-petite, that the print sort of swallows me up…

So, I guess that begs the question, what kind of pattern and print *will* I wear then?

Stripes – of course!

Stars I can handle as well…

A combination of stripes and stars:

And lastly, I can cope with a check:

I love this Abercrombie shirt, but the only reason I don’t wear it much is it’s falling apart – that’s how old it is!  And this HM Jacket?

Now this HM check Jacket has quite a ‘loud’ print, and yet, this I can handle, and happy to wear verses say, a bold floral print.

Other patterns I do love to wear are camo- or tile- print and though I currently have nothing gingham in my wardrobe, I love, love, LOVE a bit of gingham!

There are of course, exceptions to every rule.

In my case, there are  a handful of floral /pattern bits I have enjoyed wearing, particularly when we have some decent summer sunshine, or on holiday:

I enjoyed wearing this Topshop dress last summer… it’s a floral-camo print, but it is too loud?  Is it wearing me?

Another super loud dress I have is this 5preview Hawaiian print dress:

I absolutely loved wearing  this dress on holiday, it made me happy.

And finally, if I’m purging florals from my wardrobe, does that signify the death-knoll on my love of all things Gucci-esque?

Again, this is a pretty little skirt, a definitely little Gucci tribute.

So, in my print-purge, should I keep these items or not?

In an ideal world, I’d have an entire wardrobe from Cos. Or Margret Howell.  Or APC.

I love minimal chic.

Which all of these brands do so well… you know, the androgynous (possibly even masculine?) shapes, slightly utility kind of vibe… but again, as is so often the case when you happen to be a tiny no-shouldered 5 feet microscopic thing, the cut of  clothing would wind up wearing and swamping me.

Being tiny but loving fashion is a real pain in the ass sometimes.

But just because I can’t buy from these particular labels, doesn’t mean I can’t recreate the look – my own minimal style…

And this recent New Look sales purchase of a very APC-looking Borg Collared Jacket (reduced to £18, still available in regular and petites) has really made me happy:

This jacket is exactly the kind of simple clothing I love.

So – the big question for you all: what shall I do with the few floral bits I have enjoyed wearing?  Looking at the Topshop Camo dress, or the 5Preview Hawaiian print dress… they don’t really fit into  that “minimal chic” aesthetic, do they?

And that’s the big dilemma for me right now: to keep these few floral pieces?

The jury’s out for me.

And just to throw a compete spanner in the works, I’m a bit of a mood-dresser: I choose my daily outfits depending on what I see out of the window in the morning (weather wise) and what kind of frame of mind I’m in… if I purge my wardrobe of all print, will I feel happier about sticking to a signature style or will it leaving me feeling like this again:

I’d love your input on this one… I’m feeling ready for a ruthless wardrobe cleanse, but I don’t want to do anything too rash.

Perhaps the answer is to take things slowly… remove most of the unworn items first and hang onto a few bits “just in case”.  After all, it’s not like I don’t ever-ever wear printed stuff, but it’s definitely a lesson I’ve learnt about myself from this past year of blogging… it turns out: I’m just not that big on print.

And of course there will be pattern and print in my wardrobe: stripes, stars, camo, checks, gingham… and I have a handful of abstract / geometric pattern printed scarves which I’ll be pulling out, and happily wearing once true Spring-time hits us.

How about you?  Are you a “the more print, the better” kinda gal?  Or do you gravitate towards more neutral, safer patterns and plain fabrics like me?

Thanks for reading this… and for reading this whole past year in fact.

I can’t really put into words how much your support has meant… although I will try to find the words of course, for next week’s proper 1st Birthday blog post!

Bx