Day 17
More than half way through the month, and still with clothes in the wardrobe I haven't shown you. I think this project has taught me that I have *enough clothes*, and yet, I want more clothes. I suspect I will always want more clothes.
I have enough self-knowledge to understand that this isn't just acquisitiveness; it's basically the never-ending hunt for something that will make me look gorgeous. Never-ending because if, say, you find a great look for work, there's still a great casual look or a great formal look waiting to be found. Plus, who wants just *one* great work look, when you need five. No wait, you need ten. Twenty? And your great look for autumn won't work in summer.
And then you catch sight of yourself in the mirror or in an awkward photo and realise that what you thought as great was maybe not so great after all. So then you start again.
I've never quite managed to work out whether the management of laundry would be easier if we had fewer clothes. I guess the laundry basket wouldn't spill over quite so often. But would that be made up for by panic washes so that there was something clean for the morning? Not that I'm ever likely to find out.
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Today, Item and I found ourselves discussing the meaning of 'smock'. Thinking about, it, I suppose the word came from smocking stitch, and my strict understanding of the word applies to loose, blouson-y type garments.
But we've come to use it in our house to mean something that's between a top and a dress - basically a dress-shaped garment that's too short to be worn decently over bare legs or tights, but looks fine with leggings or tight trousers (and it's come to include the quantity of dresses that Item has grown out of lengthways but not widthways).
Maybe we should be saying 'tunic', more rightly.
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This morning, Item was invited to a party at the gym in Hove, so we started with leggings and then found a party-enough top. It's a dress/tunic that her friend Mirra passed down. My own recent experiments with mixing purple/red/blue made me try it with her hot pink cardi and the colours looked great actually.
This is not a drawing; I haven't come on *that* much.
I was quite pleased with today's drawing, and then I scanned it in and uploaded it to Flickr and looked at it again and realised Item is *waay too short*. Aaargh! I think it's time to go back to drawing from life for a bit.
And the picture of me? Looks nothing like me either.
However, it's an ok likeness of my clothes, plus close-up of the necklace I've worn a few times this month.
Is this a smock or is it a tunic? I don't know, but it's a good shape for my shape, and it has pockets, even if the pattern is not quite my thing.
The route to Item's party took us through the charity-shop hotspot of Blatchington Rd in Hove. I acquired another garment - a thin cotton grass green... what? shirt? Or what do they call those things you're just supposed to throw over a bikini? It's not a kaftan, it's too shirt-shaped. Beach shirt maybe.
Anyway, I've just tried it on and it's a perfect fit, amazing. It's such thin material that it will hardly pull its weight for the winter, but will look lovely as a purely decorative layer. I can already tell it's going to be a massive favourite, so I hope it's strong enough to last til next summer, when it'll be excellent with shorts and a vest underneath. Ah yes, a 'cover-up', that might be what they're called.
So many clothes made of lovely fabrics in those charity shops. It's the colour and pattern that catches my eye first, then there are strict rules that mustn't be broken - if they are, experience tells me there's barely any point in trying them on.
There was the yellow and pale green striped matelot top - too wide, too short, and a bit bobbled.
The chartreuse dress - too small and a tight enough fit that it would have mattered.
The Gap mini-skirt, uncharacteristically printed with a wonderful pattern of blobby stem leaf shapes and an occasional accent of a red blob - too short.
The dark green smocky dress with a leaf design on it - bobbled.
The White Stuff shirt, green with tiny yellow dots and a heart shaped breast pocket - I don't do button fronts, and I don't do breast pockets.
Gosh, I like my greens, I do.