My Wardrobe, Myself

Summer Style Challenges, Part Two

Debbie Roes

September 19, 2023

This post is coming quite a bit later than I originally thought it would. Shortly after returning home from a weeklong trip to see my family and celebrate my dad’s eightieth birthday, I came down with COVID. Up until that point, I had escaped the virus for 3.5 years, but my luck finally ran out. Fortunately, my illness was relatively mild compared to what it could have been – and I miraculously didn’t transmit COVID to my husband. However, it did knock the wind out of my sails for close to two weeks. I finally tested negative this morning, and I look forward to being out and about around others in the coming days.

The trip itself went well and I was mostly happy with the clothing that I packed and wore. I learned years ago that it’s best to pack our “tried-and-true” favorites for travel rather than taking along new or “iffy” items we’re not sure we’ll enjoy wearing. I feel that my travel capsule wardrobe could serve as a good foundation for a potential Project 333 collection, so I plan to do a post on that topic shortly. But for today, I’m going to finish out my two-part series on summer style challenges.

What challenges do you have with getting dressed on the hottest summer days?

A Brief Recap of Part One

In my last post, I wrote about some of the proportion issues that I experience when it’s just too hot for layering. I introduced the concept of “the golden ratio” or “the rule of thirds,” which can help us create more flattering proportions with our ensembles. As I wrote, I struggle to successfully implement the golden ratio with many of my outfits because my tops are sometimes too long. I also prefer not to tuck things in due to my short torso and self-consciousness about my bottom half.

Summer Style Challenges, Part One

Debbie Roes

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August 25, 2023

Summer used to be my favorite time of year in terms of getting dressed. For years, all I wore during the summer months were dresses and skirts, and I felt comfortable, attractive, and cool (temperature-wise) in my assortment of such garments. I eagerly anticipated the beginning of the summer weather, and I lamented the return of cooler days and nights when I’d need to put away my beloved warm weather clothing.

But around six years ago, that all started to change. I had gone through menopause, gained some weight, and my body was no longer as firm and toned despite my maintaining the same diet and exercise regimen. My style aesthetic had also shifted, such that many of the garments I previously loved no longer held my favor. I started to prefer wearing pants year-round, and while I still liked sporting dresses on occasion, I veered away from skirts almost completely.

summer style challenges - when it's too hot to layer

Do you struggle with getting dressed when it’s just too hot for layering?

There’s been a lot more trial and error with my style following menopause than during my younger years, and this has particularly been the case during the warmer months. I struggle a lot with what to wear when it’s hot out, and I have multiple summer style challenges that I’m working to overcome. In this post and my next one, I’ll highlight those challenges, how they’ve impacted me, and the ways in which I’m trying to address them.

The focus for today will be on layering, or rather, not being able to layer due to hot temperatures. There’s more to it for me than just staying cool, however, which I’ll delve into below… Part two will address challenges regarding clothing fabrication and issues with hair and makeup during the summer months.

On Social Anxiety, Clothing, and the Opinions of Others

Debbie Roes

53 comments

July 31, 2023

I apologize for my lengthy – and unintended – absence from this blog! I’ve been experiencing “writer’s block” lately, so I’m going to combat it by revisiting and finishing some draft posts that I started back when I had a daily writing practice (which is something I’d like to get back to!). It was much easier for me to post on the blog back then, even if some of what I wrote never ended up being published.

Today’s post stems from a 2021 draft about a topic that’s come up for me multiple times over the past few weeks. So, I’ll start to get back on the proverbial horse (of blogging) with the important subject of social anxiety and how worries about what to wear can make it more challenging to deal with.

Clothing Choices for Social Events

Although I’m an introvert who’s fine spending the bulk of my time either alone or with my husband and cats, I occasionally like to get together with friends and attend social events. However, such plans tend to fill me with feelings of anxiety and dread as they draw closer, even when I really want to do them. I’ve struggled with social anxiety for much of my life, which leads me wanting to remain within the safety of my own home a lot of the time. Spending time with other people provokes fear and tension within me in multiple ways, but for the purposes of today’s essay, I’ll focus primarily on just one key factor in my social anxiety:

What am I going to WEAR for these social engagements?

It takes a lot of effort to push myself to get out of my comfort zone to do something social. What makes this even more difficult is that I need to figure out what to wear when I’m going to get together with a friend or attend some sort of social event. I feel like I need to strike a balance between trying to look stylish and feeling emotionally comfortable in what I’m wearing. There’s an intersection between these two aims, but it’s not always easy to find.

Wardrobe “Bucket List” Spring Update – Part Two

Debbie Roes

15 comments

June 17, 2023

In my last post, I reviewed the first half of my “wardrobe bucket list” items – numbers 1 through 10. In today’s essay, I’ll cover items 11 through 20. As with part one of my update, I’ll briefly recap each task/project and then share the progress I’ve made thus far. I’m glad I decided to do this update series, as it’s helping to remind me of the wardrobe-related tasks that I hope to complete during 2023. I’ve made great progress on some of the tasks, while I haven’t even started others on the list. Hopefully checking in here with you will help motivate me to complete all the items on my wardrobe bucket list.

2023 wardrobe bucket list update - part 2

11 – Buy Some Full-Length Pants that Aren’t Jeans or Black Pants (PENDING)

I have not yet purchased additional full-length pants that are not jeans or black pants. This hasn’t been for lack of trying, but I just haven’t found any pants that work well for me yet. It doesn’t help that so many pants on offer in recent years are cropped in length, and it also doesn’t help that most pants aren’t offered in tall sizes. An additional maddening fact is that what many retailers consider to be long inseams are still cropped on me.

I’m not going to give up hope, though. I’m currently focusing on getting ready for the warmer weather with my wardrobe, but when the fall merchandise arrives in stores and online, I’ll resume my search for two or three pairs of full-length pants that aren’t black or denim. In the meantime, I might opt to have my black-and-white-print palazzo pants (shown in this post under “alternate pants”) taken in so I can wear them this summer. I enjoyed wearing those pants in previous years, but they’ve been too big for me for over a year now and I didn’t wear them at all last summer. The tailoring may be too expensive to do, but I’m going to at least check on that option soon.

Wardrobe “Bucket List” Spring Update – Part One

Debbie Roes

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May 31, 2023

Earlier this year, I revealed my 2023 “wardrobe bucket list,” a collection of 20 tasks that I hope to complete sometime during this year (see HERE and HERE). I was inspired to create this list by an episode of “The Everyday Style School” podcast, in which the host shared that instead of setting goals and resolutions, she came up with a list of simple tasks and activities to help move her style forward this year. I loved this concept and decided to take it on myself.

wardrobe bucket list spring update - part one

Now that it’s been a few months and we’re nearing the end of spring, I thought it would be a good time to review my wardrobe bucket list and see how things are progressing. This will be a two-part series, in line with my efforts to post more often and publish shorter posts (which I admittedly do better with sometimes than others). In today’s post, I’ll recap items 1-10 on my list and share what progress I’ve made, if any. Part Two will cover items 11-20, which were originally shared in this February essay.

Doing this type of review will help remind me of my wardrobe bucket list items and will hopefully enable me to get back on track with any that may have slipped my mind. I also hope that reading this will spark your thoughts about the projects, changes, or goals you have for your wardrobe and style in 2023 (and I invite you to share about them!). I plan to do at least one more review later this year, and I also plan to do individual posts about some of the tasks and activities I’ve opted to take on related to my wardrobe and style.

While I hope to complete all 20 tasks on my list during 2023, I’m open to carrying forward whatever doesn’t get done into 2024. There’s little urgency to most of my bucket list items, but there’s lots of potential benefits to doing them. I’d like to get these tasks done because I feel they’ll make a positive difference with both my wardrobe and my personal style. Now, on to the review…