I am so curious what the next year will bring for fashion. It’s been a big shift this year to see fashion enthusiasts (fans, editors, and stylists) get more excited about the Telfar and Ugg collaboration, or the Supreme x Northface puffer coats than they do about fashion week. I totally get it and I feel the same way. Most high fashion isn’t cool anymore; an epiphany I had watching Real Housewives over the pandemic. RHOBH’s Dorit Kemsley wears head-to-toe runway looks in a way that’s so embarrassing I literally have to cover my eyes sometimes. Even with access to the best stylists and clothes on the planet, celebrity style is rarely interesting. Designers too are embarrassing, as evidenced by fashion Twitter’s endless dunking on Matt Williams at Givenchy since his appointment. And sadly, many of the newest and and most talented designers will be forced to sit the next fashion season out. Fashion is going through an awkward stage right now.
I remain hopeful for new change and growth in fashion, but all of this did drive me into a period of fashion fatigue at the beginning of the pandemic. My interest in clothes has returned with a vengeance, because this year has made me look at my clothes in a different way. We are dressing for ourselves now and it’s different to enjoy clothes minus the fashion, the basic and less-exciting clothes that just wear well. I had to add some of these to my impractical collector’s wardrobe and the shift has been invigorating. I’ve been focusing on making sure that I really love my own clothes and that they serve me well. It’s been fun for me.
Like I said, I realized I had a few gaps in my closet, owing to my collector’s shopping habits. As a fashion lover, I buy vintage not so much as to wear it, but to have it in my own personal archive. I try to wear my vintage as much as possible, so each piece gets to live it’s own little vintage life. But this year didn’t afford me much occasion (or any at all) to put on my screaming pink 80s Carolina Herrera chiffon cocktail dress, for instance. Addressing the shortcomings in my own closet, I just needed a few practical basics to help me shift my wardrobe into pandemic mode.
I like the interaction of these staples with some of the crazier pieces I have in my closet. Introducing more basics into my closet makes me want to mix them with my collectibles more. With my eyes ahead on 2021, here are my votes for my most loved and useful items for the new year. For now I’m covering the basics…the kinds of clothes that feel amazing and look good day in and day out. Stay tuned for a future post where I cover more insane clothes that will begin to make sense in 2021. :)