- I had a meeting last week in the city, and tore through my closet trying to find something that looked professional and cool. But far, far too much of my clothing is…flowy. Ruffled. EVEN MY PENCIL SKIRT HAS RUFFLES. And you know what the problem is? ANTHROPOLOGIE.
My last job was two blocks away from the Soho Anthropologie. Close enough for me to stroll through there around lunchtime, to escape there anytime I was stressed out. There is some evil merchandising magic to an Anthropologie that offers you a vision of the perfect dreamy shabby chic life where you spend all day in gently worn greenhouses wearing pretty dresses that DOES SOMETHING TO YOUR BRAIN.
I was in close enough proximity so I could haunt the sale racks, and little by little, my whole wardrobe is now Anthropologie. And that doesn’t make me look professional and chic! I’ve also lost a little weight and I have, like, no idea what to flatter lately. I was dressing for boobs and not legs, now I’m not as sure what I can pull off.
I just dont know how I should be dressing for my frame.
Moral of the story? Anthropologie has diminishing returns. Even if it takes hold of your brain like a drug. How do you dress cute and professional for creative professions, though, where the rules are often out the window? Is Madewell the answer? Using Charlotte Gainsbourg as a guide?
The one time I got in trouble for “what I wore” to work, funnily enough, I had specifically picked out my outfit for the sake of that day’s interview. This was a case of trying to look like an indie dream girl so my interviewees would like me.
- Second note: I truly realize how much women dress for other women. Or other people’s opinions. Since I’ve moved upstate, I’ve been beholden to nobody but myself. Consequently? I’ve started to dress like Kristen Stewart in Twilight and on the street. My winter uniform was easy - awesome plaid shirt from the guy’s section in H&M, hilarious gauzy t-shirt underneath, great black jeans.
But when it’s summer? How do you dress tomboy cool? I have no idea. I just want to wear little dresses so I’m not overheated, but, frankly, I don’t want to look girlish and cute. I want to look tough. I want plaid and jeans but it’s too hot!
Also, upstate, away from NYC boutiques and the pressures and pleasures of NYC fashion, I finally like and get Urban Outfitters and Forever 21 again. (My feet are happier, too; two years of bad heels on brick streets mean that the balls of my feet are just slightly misaligned in a manner that won’t age well.)
- Lastly, I dyed my hair this morning. Dark. About three years ago I used to dye my hair red (my natural color is that nothing in-between dark blonde/brown) and looking at old pictures - oh god, it was so brassy, and so “hello! I’m quirky!” Since I’ve been a working lady I go for a chocolate brown, as much as my hair will take it. It usually ends up not that dark. I would like to have a Lauren Graham black Irish look, dark hair and blue eyes, but its more like medium hair and greenish eyes.
I had been wanting to do it for a couple of days but my SO said he’d help. He came in from his run, before his coffee, and started sort of ape-ish-ly pawing at my head. I have a lot of hair - like, ten men’s worth, not kidding - and got a little nervous. He just seemed so boyish and confused about how, exactly, the dye gets onto the hair. I felt like he was a monkey grooming me.