growing a minimalist wardrobe: overalls and outliers.

I wear overalls.

You might say that overalls don’t follow the rules. That a minimalist wardrobe needs to be filled with things that are more flexible, more basic, more easily layered and paired with other things. But if I haven’t convinced you already,  I’m here to say again that loving something is more important than just about any other factor in growing a wardrobe; minimalist or otherwise. Clothes you love are clothes you’ll wear.

I am the proud owner of two pairs of overalls. One, a pair of traditional denim ones that I bought five falls ago. They’re an updated twist on the larger, more utilitarian overalls that I wore at least once weekly in high school. (And similar to these, if you’re on the hunt.) The other pair is billowy and black, with a kind of cropped palazzo pant that I adore. (This pair is new, a gift from the fall collection just launched at Hackwith Design House.)
I’ve worn these black overalls a majority of days for the past two weeks. I’ve worn them to work in. I’ve worn them to take Faye to the playground. I’ve dusted off the tell-tale smudges of sandbox dust and worn them to evening meetings. I’ve swapped out a cotton tee for a silk tank top and clogs for pointy-toed mary janes and worn them on a rare and wonderful date night with James. When they reached sandbox dust saturation, I washed them in my bathroom sink, hung them up to dry, and started over again. Sometimes you just feel something.

Maybe overalls are not your thing. Maybe your thing is a bedazzled vest with velvet piping and rhinestone buttons. Maybe when you put that on, you feel good. Maybe you feel great. Maybe you could layer that sucker over any number of jeans or dresses or tees and feel equally badass.

This is the point.

As I find myself repeating everytime, the specifics here don’t matter. The point is that a truly minimalist wardrobe has clothes—or, if you’re feeling fancy, pieces—that you really love. These are clothes that you’ll pull out over and over again because they look good and they feel good and they make you feel good.

Speaking of feeling good in your clothes: I get a fair amount of requests for increased plus-size options. I’m working on gathering a more robust list, but while we’re on the subject, Hackwith Design House did also just happen to announce a plus-size collection. Here’s hoping it might include something to love.

For the curious:
Overalls.
Tee.
Silk tank.
Pointy toed mary janes (similar, not the same).
Round-toed clogs.

More minimalist wardrobe musings, HERE.