Late round-up, but this felt like the right time to go over my 2020 fashion spending before I start going wild buying new clothes as quarantine comes to an end.
Everything I Bought
J Crew Shorts – $17
At some point, I realized that if I was going to be home all the time, I should have more home clothes. Cue the elastic waistband shorts.
Adidas Grand Court Sneakers $47
I wanted to replace my old walking shoes with something basic but fun. These shoes fit the bill with the pop of yellow adding a little bit of flare to the plain white sneaker look.
J Brand Jeans – $30
Bought some extra jeans as I was starting to tear holes into my old ones. Unfortunately, these ended up being tighter than I wanted (even before I put on weight during the pandemic).
Entireworld Sweatpants – $75
I have mixed feelings about these sweatpants. On the one hand, even by sweatpants standards, they are comfy af. However, while the marketing makes you believe these may be good athleisure wear, I’ve found the cut of these to be baggy in a “not even a model can make this look flattering” sort of way. The website is whimsical in a way that put a smile on my face, but others may find it too twee and grating for their tastes. All in all, given the price, kind of disappointing.
Theory Linen Cropped Pants – $136 (3 pairs)
As the pandemic went on, I realized on the few occasions I did go outside that my pants were feeling a bit snug relative to what I was used to. In addition, wearing sweats kind of spoiled me to wanting to feel comfortable 100% of the time. These pants with their elastic waistband have been a happy medium— professional enough that I can use them as my work pant when we start going back into the office, but still very light and comfy. Plus they have pockets! I ended up getting these in three colors: black, sharkfin grey, and cream.
Total – $305
Summary
For a year I didn’t leave the house, I spent a surprisingly “normal” amount of clothing. $300 seems to be my magic number.
During the pandemic, I’ve felt zero pressure to look nicer or meet any sort of expectations of what I should look like. But now, thinking about going back out into the world again, I feel an urge to just round out my thirty year old yuppie wardrobe and be done with it: add a long-sleeve bodysuit, a neutral tote, a few loose fitting silk shirts, and a statement necklace, and I should be good to go.
I feel like I’m at an inflection point where I truly don’t feel young anymore, and I don’t know what that means for my sense of style. I don’t really care whether or not people think I look good so I’m kind of free to do whatever, but at the same time, don’t terribly have enough interest to double down on my own “personal style” so I just default to appropriate basics for my age, body, etc. Perhaps the best way to summarize it is: I’m too tired to care? I think these feelings are going to percolate into areas other than fashion too, as I feel more stable in my “identity” and less anxious about my place in the world. I’m interested in seeing where this goes in 2021.
What clothes did you buy in 2020? Do you have a budget for this year? What pieces do you have your eye on?
Yet Another PF Blog 
I shopped less in 2020 than in other recent years, but I think I still spent a bit too much on fancy loungewear and clothes that I’d only wear at home. And because I really like to shop, the total amount spent was still very large, ~$3,500 total. (I’m expecting to be back in the office at least 3-4 days/week after I’m fully vaccinated, so I probably won’t reach for my lounge clothes much afterwards.) This year I’m shopping much less while I’m focusing on finishing off my student loan repayment and while I’m a bit worried about my job security (business at my current workplace has not recovered the way it has at most big firms).
I’ve also found over the years that I care less and less about what other people might think about the nitty-gritty details of my wardrobe. I’ll still need to dress in conservative business formal sometimes, particularly at court, but for day-to-day at work I gravitate to more comfortable, sometimes casual-leaning clothes.
LikeLike
I’m hoping as a result of the pandemic, comfy casual becomes more normalized at work. Because daily sweatpants have spoiled me.
LikeLike