Breaking Through Ruts - Topic of the day 7/29/24
Try as we might, sometimes we encounter stagnation with clothes. Have you fallen into a style rut, and if so, how did you manage to move past it?
28 Replies
me? no. never. 😎
I wait till cold weather comes back and that invariably fixes it
drop everything I own at the fav secondhand shop, get a bunch of pastries on the walk home, slowly rebuild from scratch😤
Just accept it, go with the flow for a bit. Stop taking fit pics, live your life. Try on some clothes you own but find you haven't been wearing as much. See if you look at them differently given your current mindset.
Alternatively, buy new shit /s
I just copy someone here
I’m in the process of trying to break out of a rut. I’ve been hating my style, or really lack thereof, I want a fresh reset on my wardrobe. Donating stuff to a group that helps locals (like giving dress clothes to people in need or work/interview clothing). trying to figure out what pants would be good for me, researching different types of chinos, it’s not a style I typically have worn but I like the look. A few more button shirts for work/casual wear would be nice. I have a pretty decent sense of style (even if simple) I think, but my wardrobe just doesn’t match it right now. The hardest part is accepting that I have to pay money for new clothes
breaking out of a rut almost never means buying more clothing for me
just styling it in weird ways
I broke my rut by discovering MFAD. 🙂
get really into fashion
engage for a few months
burn out
quit fashion for 3 years
repeat
I feel like overcoming ruts is part of the learning curve
often the answer for me is to touch grass and find other things to be inspired by or into and let it happen organically
I think the important part is to pin down if its a fashion external thing (lots of stress etc.) or if there is something about ones style that does not "work" yet
yeah, that seems to be a good approach
sometimes i subscribe to the "creativity comes from constraints" school of thinking and will impose some arbitrary restriction to try and work through; it's not always the healthiest way but it can lead to something new
Very few problems in life that cannot be helped by going outside and finding some cool bugs
Ruts aren't all bad, I think they show you which clothes in your wardrobe fit best with your lifestyle. This can be a helpful tool to guide which items and styles you naturally gravitate toward so you can cull pieces you own but never wear.
We all have things like suits we keep on hand for special occasions but don't typically wear day to day, so I'm not saying you should ditch everything but shifting your perspective about ruts away from something stigmatized and toward something beneficial can do a lot for feeling better about the way you dress and yourself in general.
Getting out of a rut != buying more things. I fall into this trap a lot but it's not true. You can do a lot of things with the clothes you already have
I like this a lot thanks
Np, this has been on my mind as I clean out my closet before I move. I'm coming to terms with all the aspirational stuff I've collected but never really worn and instead looking at my most-worn items as opportunities for expansion and improvement.
Yeah I mostly just try and challenge myself to wear stuff I like but don’t wear as much
I go through lots of personal trends where I’m exploring how to wear one thing in a lot of different ways just because that’s how my brain works, so I just have to actively redirect that energy towards a new thing
But also, it’s not really a thing you need to worry about, or make yourself feel bad about
Like if you’re beholden to instagram for income then you will feel that pressure, but if you’re just putting on clothes to make yourself happy, you don’t need to pressure yourself when the ideas aren’t flowing unless that’s something you enjoy
Perhaps its just that I'm not terribly invested in fashion on a day to day basis, but recently Im never in a rut because, as Bishop alludes to, I'm either feeling creative and involved, or I'm just not worrying about it and wearing whatever.
When I do try to be active I like to take alot of pictures and review my library of old fits to see what common trends I can expand on or avoid, and also to be critical if a fit actually looks like I think it looks. In particular I like to be systematic in trying one or two items in as many contexts as I can think of.
I always find a capsule wardrobe is a really good way to branch out.
It sounds weird because it's limiting your clothing, but I pick two pairs of pants and three tops, and maybe an Overcoat depending on the season, and then two pairs of footwear...and then wear them in all combinations for a week or so.
This forces me to think about how different pieces go together, and what other combinations I might make or items in my wardrobe or needed or not needed.
Sort of counterintuitive, but I swear it works.
Sounds like a plan. I might try that!
I actually love buying clothes and it always fixes this problem (as well as all my other problems)
my end goal is to wear whatever and have whatever still look rad
also i gravitate to whatever is most comfortable when im in a rut so i just want everything to be comfortable always
Real and true
Related to Shrimp's capsule idea: I was in a bit of a rut because I felt overly attached to the color blue. So I made a rule that I couldn't wear anything blue.
this - i think there may be a tendency in online fashion spaces to want to consistently show off new things which makes this hard but i think more interesting things come from reworking stuff
it also doesn't hurt to ask for another opinion sometimes; sometimes it's hard to distance yourself from your clothes or styles that you wear consistently and an extra set of eyes can help
Switched focus to a new hobby for a bit and then came back refreshed and ready to make some more mistakes