New Things and Old Trends

There's this game I play when I'm struggling for sartorial inspiration. It's called One New Thing, and, unsurprisingly, its objective is to wear one new (never-worn-by-me) thing every day. Complicated, right? I invented this game in 2018, as a way to quickly burn through a glut of unworn clothes in my closet, but it's evolved into a sort of Fashion Challenge that I use to give me creative direction when I'm feeling unmotivated. I've been playing the latest game since early January. Unlike most Fashion Challenges, I don't usually document my progress in One New Thing (as it can go on indefinitely, given my almost limitless supply of new clothes), except when the New Thing in question inspires a particularly interesting outfit...like this one!

The Thing that started it all off is this skirt. If I had to guess at its actual age, I'd say it was made sometime around when I finished college (2005), as I had a skirt with a similar cut that I wore for graduation. But its design is definitely intended to evoke a bygone era—the brown-and-gold color scheme and pattern of overlapping ovals just jump up and scream 1960's!

Just wearing this skirt wasn't enough to really make me feel inspired (it's that time of winter!), so I had to up the ante and devise a complete outfit around a 60's theme.

First stop was footwear. My brown pumps with the square toes and block heels wouldn't have looked out of place in the decade; and while bare legs or colorful tights seemed much more popular options in the 60's, I was really feeling the knee socks. It's OK to not be totally historically accurate, I had to keep reminding myself; this outfit was supposed to be evocative, not costumey!

In the interest of being less costumey, I passed on the huge mod dangle earrings and went with another New Thing for my jewelry: a brown necklace that has been sitting in my unworn jewelry basket so long it practically qualifies as an old thing. My plain ivory sweater completed the clothing portion of the look, but I still had to do something with my hair.

It's fortunate that my hair has grown long enough that I can style it a variety of ways, and today, I tried to style it in a way that reflected the 60's. Alas, my limp locks will never achieve bouffant volume, but at least I could accomplish some romantic parted bangs and a half-updo. To be fair, this is how I've been wearing my hair most days lately, but today, I can claim to be channeling Brigitte Bardot.