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Folks – I have a problem.

If you look at my designs, you’d probably guess that I like bright colors and whimsy. I do!

But this is what I wear.

Every. Single. Day.

Black yoga pants. Black tank top. Black cardigan.

It’s very comfortable, but I’m bored out of my mind!

If I’m leaving the house I wear this.

Black stretchy trousers. Black tank top. One of four (I’m not kidding) identical shirts. I have it in that dark green you see in the photo, two light blues, and one light purple.

In fact, here is a list of everything in my closet.

• Those four identical buttondown shirts (which I have been wearing in rotation for TEN YEARS). I’m sick to death of them.
• Three soccer jerseys for wearing to games (Asheville City SC, Portland Thorns, Portland Timbers) – all uncomfortably small.
• One very ratty corduroy shirt to wear for messy outdoor work.
• A loose, flowered tank top that I hardly ever wear. It’s pretty, but I have to wear a bra with it.
• One handmade crinkle gauze kimono jacket – too small.
• One dark purple linen kimono jacket (also handmade) which I love.
• One colorful purchased kantha jacket which I love, but have no idea what to wear it with.
• One hoodie printed with the doors from Monsters, Inc. It looks awful on me, but I won’t get rid of it because it was expensive and I love the print.
• One lightweight black linen buttondown shirt which I wear in the summer as a jacket to keep the sun off my arms.
• One handmade patchwork A-line skirt which I love, but is now too small.
• One handmade green Estuary Skirt which I love, but I have no idea what to wear with it.
• Six Pranayama wraps from Athleta (two black, one lavender, one teal, one pine green, and one long one in dark purple) – this is what I’m wearing in the top photo. I love them, so I have them in a bunch of colors, but I don’t wear them out of the house in winter because they’re all way longer than my coat and look weird sticking out the bottom.
• Seven identical black tank tops from Target. I don’t like to wear a bra, so I wear these every single day.
• One outfit for the gym – pants, T-shirt, zip-up hoodie jacket.
• Eleven cute graphic T-shirts – all too small for me. Like, way too small.
• Four long-sleeved T-shirts (one black, one green, one blue, one purple) – I think I will layer them under my buttondown shirt when I have to leave the house on cold days, but I don’t because then there’s too much fabric around my arms and it bugs me when I bend my elbows.
• Two identical pairs of lightweight cargo pants (one black, one olive green) that are too tight, but I won’t get rid of them because they’re very thin and I think I can wear them on really hot days, but I don’t.
• Two identical pairs of very lightweight capri pants (one black, one lavender). Capri-length looks terrible on me, but I keep them because I think I might layer them under a dress or skirt on a hot day. But I don’t own any dresses, and they don’t look good under the one skirt I own.
• One pair of patchwork linen baggy pants that I wear on the hottest days of summer. They’re definitely the most interesting thing I own, but they’re a lotta look, bordering on clownish.
• One pair of black yoga pants from Target that I’ve been wearing almost every day for probably fifteen years. It’s a miracle they’ve lasted this long, but at some point they will wear out, and then I will have an even worse problem than I have now.
• One pair of gray pajama pants printed with lavender pine trees that I wear on laundry days when I can’t wear my black yoga pants. Then I wear my lavender cardigan instead of one of my black ones, so it looks like an actual outfit instead of laundry day leftovers.

That’s it!

No shirts that I love. Twelve shirts that are ok (seven of which are identical black tank tops). Twenty shirts that don’t fit/don’t work with anything else/have some other problem.

Eight jackets/cardigans that I love (mostly identical), one that’s ok, and one that doesn’t fit.

Two skirts that don’t fit or that I have no shirts to wear with them.

One pair of pants that I love but won’t leave the house in, two that are just ok, and four that don’t fit or don’t look good.

About twenty years ago my mother-in-law came to visit a new house we had just moved into. When she saw our closet, she asked where my clothes were. We had to tell her that small closet held both our clothes. 😂

Not much has changed! I still don’t have a lot of clothes – but that’s not the problem. I don’t need a lot of clothes.

The problem is that I have mostly stuff that looks bad/doesn’t fit anymore, a few things that are fine/boring, and a handful of things I love, but don’t have anything to go with them to make an actual outfit.

I don’t have a single outfit that I love. Not one.

Heck – I don’t even have a single outfit that I like!

I’ve resolved to fix my wardrobe in the past, but I never actually follow through on it. This year is going to be different.

It really is!

I know it’s going to be different because I’ve made a list, and once I make a list – watch out! 😂

(Also – I’ve already made some progress. I wrote this post when I was at rock bottom, but I waited to post it after I had already made a few steps forward – so more posts coming soon!)

Here’s my wardrobe wishlist:

• Comfortable clothes. Nothing too tight, especially around my waist and arms. And nothing that requires me to wear a bra.
• Layers! I’m the annoying person who’s always cold – unless I’m having a hot flash. So I need layers that I can add and remove as needed.
• Color! But not clownish. I like monochrome looks with a lot of texture and maybe on occasional pop of a brighter, contrasting color, so I’m going to try to make that work.
• Well-made, durable clothes. I don’t love to hand wash, but I’m happy to hang things to dry if it will help them last longer. I can do simple alterations and mending, and I’d love to make a lot of my own pieces if I can find the right patterns and fabric.
• Mix and matchable pieces. I don’t need a huge wardrobe (obviously) but I want to love every piece in it, and be able to wear most everything with most everything else so I can stop looking the same every day.

That seems doable, right?

Like I said, I’ve already made some progress, but I still have a LONG way to go! And before I share the first of my successful baby steps, Jo’s going to introduce her wardrobe problem and wishlist.

Our fixes will be a mix of buying, upcycling, and making – something for everyone! You’ll be able to follow both our posts with the new “clothing” tag, and the new “Life” category in the top menu bar. That tab will drop down to Food, Clothing, and Books – everything you need for a Shiny Happy Life. 😄