What to wear when you don’t know what to wear
Building uniforms so you never run out of options
Playing around with your wardrobe is something that requires time, patience and also a good state of mind. In this day and age, these three things are, more often than not, a luxury. So what do you do when you’re still in your pjs, staring at the mirror, and you have 5 minutes to be ready to go?
You refer to your uniforms.
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I talked about my view on uniforms on my last post, and how they helped shape me as much as I shaped them throughout different points in my life.
One might also call these “outfit formulas”, but I usually see this term used to describe a concept I find to be a bit too restrictive. A “white t-shirt + light wash jeans + black ballet flats” might be a perfectly reasonable formula, but is it the right one for you? A uniform, on the other hand, though it implies rules and a code to abide by, can be anything within these limits. You can build your uniform to fit the particular restrictions imposed by the different environments and situations in your life. That’s why I would say not to copy-paste pre-made style formulas, nor to create "formulas", per se. Instead, focus on creating specific, pre-styled outfits that you love and and that are the right fit for you and your life. That way, on days when you have zero brainpower to spend on getting dressed, there they are, ready to go.
So, let’s build some outfits, shall we?
Categories
First off, think of what your routine week looks like: the things you do, the places you go and how you want to feel in them, in both a practical and a more abstract sense. It’s important here for you to not think of what you wish you did, but think of what you actually do on a daily basis. For me, a regular week could probably be divided into these 5 categories:
Working
At home activicties (includes both working from home and just chilling)
Running errands (walking my dog, grocery shopping and other routine activicties)
Casual day out (having lunch, a shopping day, going to the movies, meeting friends)
Casual night out (having dinner, attending birthdays and other events but in laid-back environments)
You can get as specific as you wish to in these categories. If walking your dog during the day has specific outfit requirements that are different from the ones you need for walking your dog at night, then make them two separate occasions!
Working
For me, a perfect outfit for work includes 3 things: comfort, layering options and visual interest. Since we're building an in case of emergency outfit here, I'll add one more: versatility.
These black flowy pants are the workhorse of my wardrobe. I could wear these pants anywhere. They're comfy, can be dressed up or down and their viscose material lends them a subtly sensual quality, especially in movement (and also means they hardly crease at all).
Whenever I build an outfit I intend to wear a lot, I like adding options in order to mix things up and make it a little different from time to time. I have 2 optional replacements for this outfit: a pair of mary janes to sub for the boots (especially in hotter weather) and a gray cashmere sweater in place of the blazer (adds more effortlessness).
At home activicties
Both working from home and just lounging around are same-outfit activicties for me, at least at the moment. Wfh is a new modality for me, I'm still dipping my toes and feeling out what works and what doesn't. In the future, I might want to dress differently and maybe separate further the two “at home” parts of my life, but for now this works.
What's important here is that I want to be comfortable, but also not feel like I’m wearing pajamas. If you like lounging in old t-shirts and your partner’s boxers, go for it. Really, anything goes just as long as you feel good about yourself. If you don't, then consider retiring the old stained gray sweatpants you've had since college. You can still feel cute and even fashionable when you're home, without sacrificing comfort.
These white pants are very loosely fitting and have an elastic waist (= comfortable). They also have a sort of linnen-like texture to them, but since they're cotton they don't crease as easily, which is good since I don't want to look like a crumpled up piece of paper at the end of the day. Since I went for something so pajama-adjacent for the bottom, I overcompensated with a more sculptural top. However, it could work just as well with any sort of black top, even a tank in warmer weather (with a sweater or a blazer to throw over it if need be). Since I'm at home, I'm in my usual Havaianas, but I've been looking to acquire some sort of house slipper for an elevated moment.
Another option for warmer weather, but with an all-white base.
Running errands
When walking around doing things I don't usually want to do like grocery shopping, I personally want to feel good about my outfit, but also not put in the same effort I would for actually going out. If you like dressing up a bit more, go for it. If you're a fan of athleisure, this is really the time you can go for it as well.
The outfit also has to be walkable, have layering options for entering x exiting places, and i like to also have options as to my bags. Depending on what I'm doing I'll either be carrying as much or as little as possible.
Again, very straightforward, very quick and reproductible outfits for me. Even if your style is completely different, there’s a “you” version of this grab-and-go look for you to put together.
Casual day out
The vibe here is relaxed, but cool. I built this very specific scenario in my head of what I want to look and feel like for such an occasion: I'm perusing a museum or art gallery after a brunch with my friends, later I'm getting some overpriced coffee and perhaps visiting a vintage store for the best shopping of my life. If the outfit I have in mind doesn’t fit the vision, I discard it!
Building these sort of fake scenarios in my head really helps me get “in the zone” and find the right direction I want to go in. Sometimes it’s not about trying to achieve a specific final look, but to achieve a certain feeling you didn’t know you’d been chasing. This can be allusive in its own way, but our clothes have the abillity to speak to us and for us in ways we sometimes have to be quiet in order to listen, and just let the feeling take us there.
I actually had a second vision here: walking around the local bookstore, maybe stopping for ice cream, and returning home with a brand new story to read about.
Casual night out
Nightlife in Rio tends to be very casual. You'll find people around you who went straight from the beach to the bar and they might still go to an after party with the maximum effort of rinsing off the sand on their feet.
Here I'll let comfort take second plane (but only so far) and I usually go for something a bit fancier, but still laid-back.
Here I believe I achieved the perfect touch of effortlessness. I'm not sure it translates entirely into the picture, but I feel like this outfit just flows with me, like a second skin.
I chose to repeat the black zara pants to prove a point: you don't have to have two separate wardrobes, one for work and another for all the other parts of your life. Stuff can be more than just one thing.
I was inspired to create another outfit by a recent look I saw from
. I just got this lace-trim black top that's long enough to almost be worn as a dress, which is perfect for layering, and wearing it under a sweater like Olivia did adds so much interest to the outfit.
I hope this gave you some ideas and hopefully inspired you to shop your closet and build your own outfits. Remember these shouldn’t be a prison where your creativity goes to die. If you feel like having fun with your wardrobe and experimenting, you can still do that and just not wear these pre-made looks - but they’re still there, just in case!
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See you at the end of your next shift,
Beijinhoss xx