Project 333 and 33 Years Ago
The Minimalist College Girl
One of the things that turned up when getting some boxes out of my parents’ attic was my old college yearbook, ca 1977. I’d forgotten about this candid-camera shot that was part of a campus life photo spread. It shows me in one of my art classes, assembling a stretcher for canvas. I’ve got the same kind of outfit in my closet right now. The only differences would be in the dog-ear style shirt collar, the braided detail on the high-waisted jeans, and about three sizes. I think I still have that same bandana, though.
Some uniforms never quit. For me, a white shirt, a tee, jeans, and a working scarf for my head have been a part of my wardrobe since high school. The jeans changed waist styles and leg widths over the years, and the shirts went from oversized to form-fitting to oversized again, but they were always jeans and tees and long-sleeved white shirts. If I recall, I was wearing wood-soled clogs at the time of this photo. I still have clogs but the soles are more shock-absorbent.
Project 333, which I’ve mentioned before, has been a very interesting exercise in self-recognition. One’s clothing choices are reduced to the 33 most essential elements, and of course in my case included at least one variation on the jeans, tee, and white shirt uniform. After a few weeks, I noticed that, except for the addition of sweaters and boots, this was pretty much what I wore every single day. I never dressed up as much as I thought I would. And yet I am not the same person I was 33 years ago.
In a recent email exchange with a fellow Project 333 participant, I remarked on my frustrations that the wardrobe which is most practical for me (jeans, tee, white shirt) is not the wardrobe I love, which is decidedly more elegant (sleek and swoopy knits). But there is no room in my life for that, at this time. So what does one do when confronted with contradictions?
- Keep a beloved outfit as a reminder, a goal?
- Embrace life as it really is and let go of old notions of princesshood?
- Wear swoopy clothes to mop the floor or write a blog post?
- Shaddup and be glad I can still fit into any kind of jeans at all?
This required further examination. A conflict between personal style and lifestyle is clutter. It gets in the way of intent and authenticity. What, really, stops me from wearing the things I like more often? Probably money. If something nice gets spoiled, there’s no replacing it, at least not in the foreseeable future. That was probably why I didn’t add many of those pieces to my 33 Things.
As it turned out, I would not have worn them. I just miss looking at them and appreciating their softness, colors, and drape. Then I would just pull out the uniform and get to work.
This leads me to theorize that we shop for who we think we are in our heads. That’s how we end up with a lot of things that we never wear, because most of us don’t live the life that matches our deep secret selves. Shopping isn’t always about bad habits or being a sucker for a sale. Sometimes we just happen to see something that rings an inner bell of recognition and it seems as natural as breathing to acquire it.
Without mindfulness we leave ourselves vulnerable to feeding an inner child without either the means to support it or the reality. But mindfulness also means that we should consider the conflict in ourselves and perhaps find ways to resolve it. An activity in minimalist dressing such as Project 333 makes mindfulness easier:
- Your essential style is revealed in the things you actually wear
- You learn whether your image of yourself has any bearing on reality
- If you don’t have the chance to wear the things you love best, maybe your life needs a bit of reworking
- If you don’t have the chance to wear the things you love best, maybe you need to understand what it is you’re really attracted to
At first I thought my love for swoopy fine knits was simply harking back to a time I was in my prime and regularly had places and events for wearing them–museums, films, concerts, the opera, galleries, parties, and traveling. That was about ten years after the above photo. I had picked up an appreciation for fine fabrics and good design, and didn’t think twice about buying what I wanted.
That’s when it hit me that I don’t have to sacrifice quality even if I now rarely venture far from my front door. It was the fabric I liked, the way it felt when I wore it. I didn’t really miss all the gadding about or the sadder half of that old lifestyle! Like a lot of women of a certain age, I find myself instinctively drawn to comfort and good quality, which is the next best thing to a liniment on aging bones 
The first phase of Project 333 is nearly over, and I plan to do it again for the next phase, which you can read about here. This time I am going to include a couple favorite swoopy knit pieces and, yes, wear them while writing blog posts!
33 Responses to “Project 333 and 33 Years Ago”
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My sister-in-law and I discussed this conflict in relation to wearing cashmere sweaters. She had read somewhere that we should wear a cashmere sweater like it was our sweatshirt. Every day. Every occasion. So. She pulled out her old black cashmere classic sweater and started wearing it just that way (and she lives on a farm). That prompted me to purchase my first (!) cashmere sweater last winter. Now I wear it almost every day! In fact, I’m wearing it right now, on a Saturday, to run errands including shopping at the farmers market and grocery store. I’ll most likely wear it again tomorrow to church service and then around the house in the afternoon. It’s my new go to sweatshirt! And there’s nothing wrong with that. So pull out the the swoopy sweater and cook dinner in it!
Willow recently posted..Heroes and Friends
Yes, Willow, I shall do that
You know I don’t have a cashmere anything??? I’ve bought cashmere sweaters and scarves as gifts for other people, but have never received one. Hmpf. Should’ve bought one at a clearance sale last year before I swore off shopping!!!
Hi Meg,
you so often write what I feel in my heart. I too have been feeling lately that I dress too much for practicality than for style but what the heck I am a practical kinda gal and I like that about myself.What I lack in style I make up for in ingenuity and I am happy with that.
That being said when the next few items of clothing wear out I may just buy something a little more stylish to take their place and make an effort to look sophisticated one in a while.
Have a very happy holiday season and a wonderful 2011.
Hi Colleen–very glad you could relate to this. I did something similar when I last bought white tees to replace worn and dingy ones–upgraded to well-made ones of Pima cotton. No comparison!! It’s also natural to go for better quality when having a smaller wardrobe, I think.
Meg,
For years I was clueless about dressing. My choices were based on (perceived) limited resources, practicality, and a big dose of mindless ignorance. I didn’t truly understand quality or the necessity of enhancing my sense of well being through the way I dressed. I’ve since learned the importance of dressing to elevate your spirit. When we make dressing an act of ceremony and informed action (employing an awareness of shape, pattern, design = beauty) we are honoring ourselves. As the artist you are, I say: Let your spirit soar!
Daphne DeLaurier recently posted..Lovely- Corny & Inspirational Christmas Music
Oh god, Daphne, don’t tempt me! I’ve got outfits from my gallery-owning days that would put a stereotypical fortuneteller to shame. Or at least I did, they’re at the Goodwill now. I’ll stick to black, but I want soft, cushy, swoopy black ;D
…….hahahahahah! “Suit” yourself
I understand.
Daphne DeLaurier recently posted..Lovely- Corny & Inspirational Christmas Music
There is a world of difference between “simple” and “dowdy”. Cheers for elegant minimalism!
Christianna Pierce recently posted..Short Hiatus
And cheers to you, Christianna, the epitome of elegant minimalism! Yeah, the dowdy crap really has to go–I’m starting to depress myself when I look in the mirror ;D
I had a similar experience, although it’s certainly not swoopy. I had a bunch of old t-shirts that I wore around the house. These things were old and ratty, and some even had holes. I wore them around the house because I didn’t care about getting them messed up if I was doing yard work or working on the car. During our Big Purge I tossed all those ratty t-shirts, and have started wearing my nice t-shirts around the house. Funny thing is I haven’t even ruined one of my new shirts doing any of my chores around the house. And a nice benefit is I can leave the house without having to worry about changing cloths.
Freedom | Rethinking the Dream recently posted..The Big Purge Garage Sale Results
Hey Freedom, I had that exact same experience during the unusually warm weather we had in October. I hadn’t really set aside ratty clothes for Project 333, figuring the outdoor chores were finished for the year, and I’d take up where I left off in the spring. Wrong. The weather was perfect for outdoor painting jobs like the porch posts and the porch chairs. I was soooooooo careful not to get paint on my jeans, and somehow managed to get them through the jobs unspattered. Whew!
Congrats on not looking like something the cat dragged in–I’m sure Dream approves!
This year I have tried to be more conscious of the visual statement I make through my clothing. I have purchased clothing with more simple patterns, lines, and ease. I’m a teacher and certainly need comfort in my wardrobe. There is something beautiful about simplicity when one wears it with grace and good intention.
Ayesha Gallion recently posted..Up From the Valley
Hi Ayesha–it’s a bit like French Chic, isn’t it? Simple, comfortable, but nonetheless a graceful statement. Thanks for the lovely observation.
On a less relevant note – I thought the pic was of Scarlett Johansson. Beautiful!
Oh SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRE! Methinks you need glasses, hahaha!
It’s so much like using our good ‘dishes’ and ‘sterling silver’ everyday instead of having it sit in the cabinet/drawer!!! Yes, wear your cashmere anytime you’d like! Who cares what ‘size’ is stamped into our jeans, when we can have happiness and it glows from our eyes, our hearts, our goodness, the size will be completely overlooked!
Annabelle, there is definitely a glow to being happy and happily ensconced in happy clothes, isn’t there?
My regular everyday wear does tend to be oversized hoodies and jeans, but the hoodies were all bought somewhere we went on a trip, so they have special sentimental value to me. Better than some doodad souvenier sitting on a shelf. That being said, I am going to reconsider what I am wearing on an everyday basis. Since I began working from home, I have quite a bit in the closet that never even gets a glance! Time to wear, or purge!
Bernice
Living the Balanced Life recently posted..This is your brain on overload!
Hi Bernice–you’ve had a major change in your working life, so I can well imagine there’s a lot of stuff in your closet that never even gets looked at anymore. I know lots of people who get hoodies and tees instead of souvenirs and they wear them until the shirts practically dissolve in the wash ;D Good luck with the sorting!
What a timely post. I’ve been thinning out the closet in the spare bedroom today. It’s way too over-packed because both my dh and I have several sizes of clothing.
I’m trying to whittle down the number of items in the closet, but it’s hard to know whether to keep or to pass along things you’re HOPING to get back into one day.
My daily wardrobe has become jeans, a sweatshirt or t-shirt, and a pair of Crocs. I do dress up in a skirt for church though.
Becky recently posted..Resuming the decluttering
Becky, I can really relate to the multi-sized wardrobe, both my husband and I have that going on. I did, however, vow to get to a reasonable middle-range weight and kept it there for two years, so I ditched the other sized clothes. Now I weigh myself every other day to make sure I’m not going over my “danger” weight, the one where if I go past it, it zooms up 25 more pounds in the blink of an eye. It’s worth one day of nothing but water and celery to bring that baby back down to the safe range. Now that I have $0 budgeted for clothing, it’s an additional incentive to stay on track ;D
Wow I just faced this and it was all about swoopy sweaters too! My mom (ignoring the no gifts for Christmas clause) wanted to gift me with a new sweater when I realized my beloved standy-by made me look a little (a lot) like a bag lady. What happened was I watched an episode of What Not to Wear while visiting her and then afterwards walked into the bathroom. It was like the veil was lifted from my eyes and I saw my beloved angora button-up sweater in the mirror with new eyes. It was pilled and ratty beyond belief probably from facing several Arkansas seasons and 2 Florida seasons. Hey I got 5 years out of that Old Navy sweater. Not bad!
At the store (she wanted me to choose my own replacement) I struggled between several beautiful, swoopy, delicate sweaters. They were gorgeous and spoke to my heart of hearts. As a minimalist what I really needed was a practical Florida winter coat (over-sweater) that I could toss on over anything on chilly days.
I went home without buying anything and then finally decided to base my decision on what I really needed and on washing instructions. I bought a practical but cute black coat-jacket (smaller and flimsier than a real coat but warm enough for Florida) and one swooshy, swoopy light-weight sweater.
Now I’ve got to toss 2 things from my closet! Hmmm, perhaps like Freedom I’ll toss my holey t-shirts I wear as pajama tops. What I learned? Angora doesn’t work for me, stick with durable wash and wear pieces, but make them fun at the same time. My goal? Keep my minimalist wardrobe but drop the bag lady look!
Good luck on marrying your practical look with your swoopy look. You just gotta find some practical swoopiness!
Cheers,
Tanja
Tanja from Minimalist Packrat recently posted..The Insidious Persnickity-ness of Gift Clutter
Tanja, dropping the bag-lady look is also something I want to do, too. Some of my favorite sweaters look like they’ve been to hell and back; I’m going to try to “shave” the pilling off of one of them as I am on a total buying moratorium. I also want to substitute a white turtle neck for a black tee because black next to my face makes me look like death warmed over :p For Phase II I’ve swapped a couple of scratchy things for soft and swoopy things, so my inner princess should be much happier!
I have stumbled on your site and this post really hit home! I realized the reason I so enjoy my daughters visits (aside from the obvious) is the girly fun in getting dressed… not dressed up but the whole act of being put together. She totally has a casual laid back style but the simple act of putting on just the right scarf or adding the extra bracelet makes wearing the everyday more of an event.. She celebrates who she is and it shows.. She may be in blue jeans and a white button down shirt.. but they are quality pieces, ironed crisply– much better to run to the post office looking like that then my sweatpants and slightly overworn t-shirt.
Hi Vicki and welcome to my blog
It’s wonderful to have a friend or family member who can inspire us to spiff up a little–not a lot, but a little. That makes it fun instead of humiliating
That being said, I don’t use my iron nearly as often as I should, which is probably another reason for preferring swoopy knits!
Wow! I love your blog, Meg! And I really love your use of the word “swoopy”…This entry really hit home for me as I struggle daily with what I “want” to look like, and what I actually wear to “do what I got to do”. I want to minimalize my life, especially my closet, but I’m struggling with the following:
-I’m a freelance translator and work from home. My big daily outings/social interactions include dog walking along the beach, buying bread at the local bread shop, and running errands (grocery store, market, doctor’s office, etc.).
-I just had a baby one month ago. My first. And although I had a wonderful pregnancy and I’m back in my skinny jeans, I’m feeling rather ham-legged and a bit in shock about my new womanly curves (I’ve been a big runner-athlete all my lives and was sans curves until a few months ago). Therefore, not only do I want to minimalize, but nothing fits like it did and I really just want to make a heap of clothing and set fire to it.
-I’m American but I live in a small coastal town in Southern Spain. I have a complex about looking frumpy and collegiate in hooded sweatshirts, jeans, asics and a high (nappy) ponytail. So I try to look spiffy and put together, which I love, with nice fabrics, good cuts, interesting brands…but I don’t do this just to walk the dog, buy fish, etc…leaving a good part of my wardrobe un-used and me, against my wishes, in those hooded sweatshirts, jeans, asics with that nappy high ponytail, walking my dog along the beach.
Do you have any suggestions?? I would really appreciate your input! Happy New Year!
Hi Anna–I’m sort of in the same boat you are, except facing mid-life and health-related body changes. I work at home, too, and it often seems pointless to dress in anything other than scruffies.
That being said, elegance is an attitude, and we need to give ourselves permission to let it trump mere practicality. Are we fishwives? No. We are writers, artists, translators, IT experts, etc. Unless we literally dig holes or scrub floors all day, there is no need to dress for it. We can dress as if we are in a casual office. Working for yourself is supposed to be the best of all worlds, so we should make the most of it. Your line of work if done in an office is casual professional, correct?
Wear good stuff to walk the darn dog. Or else find a cashmere hoodie
Your only concern is having an ample supply of cloths to protect the cashmere from baby’s spitups!
I really like what you said about how we shop for the person we wish we could be or the person we think we are instead of who we actually are. I do this all the time, which I guess is why I have dresses hanging in my closet that I’ve never worn! Good reminder to shop for who I really am and what I will actually wear.
Allison recently posted..Decisions- Decisions
Hi Allison–now the trick is to put the best spin on who you actually are, as I implied to Anna in the above comment. Might that suddenly make the unworn items relevant again?
So I listened to an author last night, Dave Bruno the 100 thing Challenge, who spoke of Project 333, to an audience of 45 adults, mostly women. My question is this, being the same size as I was in High School I can and do fit in everything I own. Since swing dancing is my hobby and I dance every night of the week wearing different “outfits” brings me great joy and I receive compliments on my wardrobe from women and men. If I am doing the math correctly I will be repeating dance outfits in approx. 2 weeks, less if I include work clothes. Suggestions?
The outfits specifically for dancing would fit under the “workout” category, I would think. I mean, it’s part of a hobby, just like my paints and overshirts and aprons are part of mine, and not my workaday/weekend wardrobe. Don’t sweat it ;D
Remember, it’s the spirit of the thing. You’ll know in your heart if the dance outfits are part of your regular wardrobe or not.
And same size as in high school??? yikes! keep on dancin’, girl!