Five Ideas To Inspire Your Outfits This Week
If we were to cross paths today, at the park or at the playground, I doubt you’d recognise me. I no longer look like the Rebecca of Costume Parade. I have descended fully into the hallmarks of early motherhood. My hair is usually piled on top of my head. I consider showering twice a week successful. My outfits are often thrown on last minute, often stretchy, often day-old.
In the before times (pre-pandemic, pre-children), I dressed for auditions or evenings at the theater. Now, I dress to sprint after a toddler and breastfeed a baby on the go. What I need from my clothing is vastly different. That being said, I’d like to look similar to the Rebecca of Costume Parade. I’d like to feel stylish and snazzy again.
The problem is, after three years of pandemic sweats, nursing tank tops, and maternity jumpsuits, I’ve forgotten how to get dressed. To relearn, I’ve resolved that for the rest of 2023, I’ll plan most of my outfits every week. To keep it more fun (and less of a chore), I’ll send a newsletter every Saturday with 5 ideas to inspire outfit planning.
If you’d also like to play around with your clothes, I hope you’ll join me! The rest of this post is the first iteration of the newsletter. The next one will be posted via email next Saturday. And please, send me your outfits! I’m @costumeparade on Instagram.
Until next week!
five ideas to inspire your outfits this week
It’s Fashion Month! This week, all five ideas are inspired by the goings-on of the fashion world.
For her Fall 2023 collection, Tanya Taylor said, “I was obsessed with styling, thinking about how to make things feel like they’re cozy but also with a sense of surprise.” I love this idea of surprising coziness! This week can you construct your own version of a cozy, but surprising outfit?
Look 1 from Tanya Taylor’s Fall 2023 Collection
Look 31 from Tanya Taylor’s Fall 2023 Collection
Look 20 from Tanya Taylor’s Fall 2023 Collection
Here’s a link to the whole Tanya Taylor Fall 23 line. (I’m a big fan of Tanya Taylor’s commitment to fit! I rented a dress from her for Introverted or Extroverted? Six Outfits for Both Sides of My Personality and was shocked to feel confident in a form-fitting, horizontal-striped, knit dress. See that post here.)
Look 8 from Altuzarra’s Fall 2023 Collection
2. Gloves are back across the runways. It’s still cold across much of the northern hemisphere. Can you use gloves to spice up an outfit?
3. I love the new-ish series in the New York Times where fashion director, Vanessa Friedman, answers reader’s style queries. I continue to think about this one - a breakdown of how fashion designers often employ uniform dressing as to not distract from their work. Do you have a style uniform? Do you wish you did? Can you test run your ideal uniform this week?
4. There was an era of fashion week street style where influencers would coordinate their outfits and arrive to shows in matching packs. (I suspect this was a tactic to get their photo taken.) Lately, I keep seeing articles claiming that post-pandemic we all have poor social skills. This week, can you practice socializing and coordinate an outfit with a friend?
5. Earlier this year, British designer, Maximilian Davis, took over as Creative Director at Salvatore Ferragamo. One of his first acts was to lose the “Salvatore” in the brand’s name. He then disposed of the old, deco-fab, logo for one “sans-serif” and streamlined. (I was horrified.) A few weeks ago, Daniel Lee stepped into the top job at Burberry and did the opposite. He introduced a bright blue logo adorned with the company’s original knight. Many news outlets called this act, “unblanding”. (Here’s an article from Business of Fashion if you’d like to read more.) Can you adapt this same idea into your wardrobe? What would your “unblanding” outfit look like?
