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Sunglasses in San Telmo market
The first step in designing anything (provided it’s not for someone else) is to define your style. Easy enough, you might think – just look in your wardrobe. But how many of your clothes really fit in with what you think your style might be? For me, at the moment, the proportion is quite low.
Here are a few reasons behind what is in my wardrobe:
- Price: I haven’t been able to afford, or at least haven’t prioritised, buying stylish and/or new clothes for years. During this time I’ve also decided to no longer consume fast fashion (quite easy in Latam, as it’s relatively unavailable).
- My body shape, age, and gender identity: This doesn’t really apply to home sewists, but your style as a designer may not necessarily relate to your own body shape, age, or gender identity.
- Past tastes: Quite a lot of the clothes I own come from a time when I had a very different style (more floral, vintage… perhaps even twee?), but my wardrobe has yet to catch up.
- Time: During my course, I always felt that if I was sitting at the sewing machine I should be working on coursework. I am thrilled that I’m going to have more time to sew for myself now!
- Comfort: I’m not going to make myself popular by saying this, but I hate the long summers in the Southern Cone. For the past five years I’ve had to dress for weather which is alien to my sense of style. I love layers, tights, scarves, wool and hats. I hate shorts and summer dresses. I can’t wait to move back to London for this reason alone!
Wearing clothes that don’t suit or don’t fit you, or are past their best, is guaranteed to make you feel rubbish. I feel like getting dressed is no longer as fun as it should be. On this subject, Sarai has been writing a great series called Wardrobe Architect on the Coletterie. While I haven’t had a chance to really follow the exercises yet, it’s definitely worth a read – especially now that I have time to think about my personal style rather than my style as a designer.
The first exercise we did at Eamoda to explore style was to collect inspirational images and compile them, using a medium of our choosing (it was nice to put Pinterest to a good use, for once). I had a lot of fun doing that and will share some pictures of the project later this week. I think that it’s a useful project to do, whether you’re designing for others or yourself.
I’m going to try to cure some of my style woes this weekend by sorting through my wardrobe and taking out the stuff I hate, or clothes that are too old and holey to be worn in public. Then I can start thinking about sewing some wonderful new clothes. The sewing machine mechanic is coming on Monday, wooooo!
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
