trying and testing

Snuggling in my office today in a recently purchased cardigan, my mind went on a ramble of random thoughts about the cardigan, about how it was very much like wrapping myself in a shawl, very cozy and comforting, but minus the hassle of actually having to wrap a shawl securely around myself whilst I typed away, made myself a coffee, etc etc.

I like this sort of 'stocktaking' - I like discovering I like my things better, that it was well-made decision that was somehow making my life and dressing myself a little better, a little more enjoyable. And feelings like this usually surface as you grow into an item, rather than immediately.

Of course, the opposite is true for a lot of things I buy too. I rarely wear a striped sweater dress even though I love it, because it is nearly always too warm to wear it. A grey wrap skirt turns out to be too impractical for the office because it splits rather dangerously when I sit down. A soft brown leather shoulder bag is underused because I usually carry more things than it can fit, relegating it to the weekends when I'd bought it for daily use. My four shirts with long/three quarter sleeves are also under-worn, because again, of climate issues. All were bought with the conviction that they would fit into my life and become instantly ubiquitous. All took about three or four wearings to realise that hmm, maybe not. And yet I won't turn them out, because sometimes the moment is just right - on colder days haha - to pull them on.

But I digress. The shirtdress on the left is shaping up to be an item I suspect I will get less wears out of, because the narrow skirt doesn't get along with my need to walk very fast. I will wear it a few more times to decide what is my comfort zone with it, and whether it is ultimately a keeper. Of course, if I changed to a somewhat more deskbound job that forbade jeans, then perhaps the dress would assume a whole new significance.