In my blog series on Tidying Up With Konmari, I wrote that my true Konmari moment would come when I tidy up my room aka warehouse in my parents’ house in Japan.
All the clothes I had since my university days till leaving for India (2010) are there. I wonder how many of them I would keep for the rest of my life.
Come to think of it, my university days was the time I wore purely what I liked to wear. No matter how shabby or weird I looked, I didn’t care what people said. And I was in the community with colourful individual personalities who accepted everyone's own style.
But after getting full-time jobs and joining "the real world", a major chunk of my day was occupied by the outfits expected at work. Every time I changed my job, different types of clothes were added to my wardrobe (and since I didn’t discard clothes, the clothes from each period accumulated like stratum).
I was never too eccentric nor artistic to fit into the "normal adults' world", unlike some of my university friends. I learned how adults talked and behaved. I tried to look like a respectable adult to keep doors open for various job options.
I gradually forgot about the existence of “my style clothing”.
This time, I thought about the clothes which I/you really want to live in.
What Is My Fashion Style Where Nobody Says Anything?
By family, gender, religion, society, age, body type, job, sports, law, etc, most of us get restrictions on our outfit. Not only external ones but also self-regulation.
Have you ever wondered what you would wear every day if there are NO such restrictions? Or never thought about such ridiculous thing coz such situation never comes?
To remove/get rid of unwanted restrictions on women from society is one of MIRCHI KOMACHI’s missions. But this blog post is about “what I want to wear”, the feelings of ourselves.
Some jobs and sports require functional outfits. There are no other options for you to get the work done or enjoy sports safely and fully.
Other than that, if you can wear simply ANYTHING, what would you wear?
You want to stay naked since it’s bloody hot? As of now, women can’t walk around in only underpants while men do. It’s purely due to current social status.
Comfortable T-shirt and short pants, or a simple dress, no more thinking about what to wear? That’s also valid.
The outfit you look the best in? What kind of style is that? The style which suits you the best? Because if the style suits you, you’d look good?
The Clothes Which Fit Me Well
When we consider what kind of clothes fit us well, there is a basic method of using a coordinate axis. The axis is like, you put "Sweet - Bitter" on the X-axis, and "Classic- Trendy" or "Conservative - Progressive" on the Y-axis. And analyse where yourself is placed in the axis.
Let’s clarify “the clothes which suit you” as “the clothes which look good on you”.
If you wear clothes which suit you, is that your ultimate wardrobe? Coz they perfectly match your current impression and everyone agrees?
For some people, yes. And they're happy.
But the impression of yourself would not be the same forever.
But "it doesn't suit you" is often because your/people's eyes are not used to it.
But for the first place, what if you don’t like the impression of your current self? Your elder self?
How You Want To Look VS What You Want To Become
I’ve read about an interesting psychological experiment.
They give the same white lab coat to two examinee groups, and told to Group A “this is a lab coat for doctors” while telling to Group B “this is a smock for artists”. Then they asked both the groups to do some task.
The observation was that Group A examinees did the task more carefully.
Clothes affect one’s mind.
You may have experienced, when you wear a sharp business suit (supposing you don't wear it every day), you feel sharp and smart yourself. Or when you’re feeling low, you might dress up and go out to change your mood.
Fashion can stage yourself, shifting from your current self toward “yourself whom you want to be” direction.
What kind of person do you want to be? Sweet, cool, bold, sincere, low-key, strong, gorgeous, revolutionary, natural, intelligent, edgy, artistic… Pick up some, and consider what kind of outfit such person styles - can you visualise that? On yourself? Is it far from what suits you the most right now?
The primary point should be, what kind of person you want to become, how you want to feel, what you like, what uplifts your spirit.
Even work clothes. Can you think of them not as “how you want other people to see you” but “trick to make yourself a competent person”?
Some people so much enjoy wearing clothes which are totally against the rulebooks, though some people around them say "oh it doesn't suit you".
Do you feel they look gorgeous, or pathetic？
I’d like to suggest you to always consider your desire first. How you want others to consider you is the second thing if not third, fourth. If you start considering other people’s eyes first, you would never figure out what you want to wear.
True, we can live without figuring out what we really want to wear. But,
1. Accept the style other people picked for you as “my fashion style” and live in it
2. Set a goal “I want to live in this fashion style” and remove the obstacles to fulfil the goal
Which do you prefer? I wonder if it is a divisive question.
What Do You Want To Wear, If You Have One Week Left
It’s such an extreme example, but if you have only one month or even one week left to live, what do you do? Do what, where, with whom, in what clothes?
As for clothes, I suppose nobody would care about the trend any more. Many people would wear clothes which make themselves happy, or clothes with precious memories even if it's from two decades ago. If others say “oh, that doesn’t go well on you”, would you give a f**k?
Then, if you dress that most favourite styles everyday whole life (not only the last week), isn’t that great?
I'd be thrilled if you give a thought for your own case. Please do give me comments on what you've come up to.
Bonus Video
How dare I say this is a "bonus video" of my shallow blog?
It's such a powerful speech on the importance of what we express by what we wear.
The message is much bigger than what I've written here. By the time you finish watching this video, you wouldn't remember my text!
But I bumped into this video and couldn't help sharing it with you.