I am a little nervous, a bit anxious, a tad concerned. Tomorrow I will be seeing some old friends for the first time in months and I don’t know how I am going to feel about them.
I have lot of clothes. Years and years of buying, making and creating have left me with a lot. I am also NOT a declutterer - not only do I not like to get rid of things I love (and I put a lot of love and effort into this wardrobe) but fashion is cyclical both in terms of trends but also the way we feel about them - we get tired of clothes we love and sometimes all that beloved jacket needs is a little time out before we miss it and fall back in love with it. I so admire people that have developed a capsule wardrobe approach to fashion where all pieces are interchangeable, colours all compliment each other and everything works seamlessly. That ain’t me babe, it’s like a circus costume department.
But here I am having gone from a wardrobe that took up a whole room to 2 suitcases whose contents needed to last for what has turned into four months - with a lot of room taken up by the everyday stuff of life (computer, toiletries, adaptors, hairdryer and the million bits of paperwork that are required to move to another country), a very warm but bulky winter coat for the French winter and of course clothes and toys for the dogs and cats! Exporting/Importing animals is an expensive business and you think that at that cost they would have been given a baggage allowance of their own …. But no! So precious, precious fashion room was taken up by unwearable - by me - stuff.
It was nerve wrecking, anxiety inducing and there were a lot of questions. Who would I be in France? What was this person going to wear? How good/bad/dirty/derelict/drafty would the house actually be? (Yep, I bought a house without actually seeing it in the the flesh). I was right to worry about who I would be here, it turns out in only four months moving to France has changed me.
My plan was that I would buy work (renovation/gardening) clothes second hand when I got here. That plan didn’t really work, but I do have a new Vintage 60’s winter coat, a 1970’s pair of Dior shoes, a new kitchen pantry and a gorgeous silk scarfs and none of them are suitable for painting a kitchen. Everything, except for one fancy dress (that never got worn), would need to be able to work for lots of different situations - dinners out, market shopping, being at home and I would play a strong accessories game to try and beat the potential boredom of an enforced capsule wardrobe - hats, scarves, gloves and even some sparkly socks. There would be lots of layering potential and some quirky bits and bobs to add a little personality. It kind of worked but I am bored now.
But tomorrow everything changes, all the old friends will arrive and rather than being excited I feel like I would like them to hang back for just a bit longer. I’m not ready, I need a little more time to miss them and ponder the question of who I am here…
Will beautiful dresses and tailored jackets seem ridiculous or refreshing here?
How do I find a way to bring my style to such a different world or do I still even like my style?
Should I have dragged so much of my old life with me?
Do I really need THAT many pairs of shoes?
What if I just don’t like these old friends anymore, or worse, what if they don’t like me?
This forced separation has made me think about pieces I love and can’t wait to see again but also styles that I love - A great men’s shirt, a tailored jacket, wide leg trousers, boaters and berets, padded jackets and of course scarves. I keep longing for these pieces and COLOUR … I packed sensibly so I really miss colour.
This new start feels like the chance of a lifetime because it actually is. I have made a few big changes in my life, I love a good shake up, but this feels like the biggest and I thought it just be an amazing, but challenging, adventure. I didn’t take into account just how much it would change me. I knew I would be bringing a very old inn back to life but I wasn’t ready for a full personal renovation as well.
Hopefully this distance will have made my heart grow fonder. But, most importantly, what the hell should I wear the day after tomorrow?
While I work this out and struggle through this relationship I’ve been gathering up some ME inspiration
https://au.pinterest.com/sarahconners/my-style-france/
