Or, how I get away with wearing the same thing all the time.

”But Mary,” you may protest, “you wear different outfits almost every day!”

That might be true, but I wear the same pieces - maybe in different colors or styles - all the time, in similar-yet-different combinations.

And there are many reasons to do so! Finding a great fit, the ease of a personal uniform, mixing and matching your closet, et cetera. But also, I am a creature of habit, and as much as I love novelty, I also love familiarity.

As mentioned in a previous post, my opinion on how I wanted to dress started young and never stopped. I wear what I want to, when and why I want to. In one phase, that was black fleece pants with sweaters. I had four to six sweaters I really loved, and seven pairs of my favorite pants. I’m not sure if I’m accurately painting a picture of how I dressed at that time, but it was quite repetitive because that’s all I wanted to wear. 

And, because this phase happened to be during middle school, people noticed.

Why didn’t I wear jeans?

(Because I didn’t own any. Fun fact: I didn’t wear denim until high school.)

Why did I wear the same pants every day?

(I didn’t, but I get the confusion.)

Why did I wear the same sweaters over and over?

(Because I liked them, and I wore fresh t-shirts under them.)

Didn’t I have other clothes?

(Probably. I don’t remember.)

Why, why, why?

Looking back, I can see that these kids were trying to make me feel bad, or pressure me into dressing like other kids, or thought that others would care if they did that so they cared that I did it. I’m not sure. It was middle school, so there were a lot of emotions and bullying and self-consciousness and deflection going on. 

But I am not only strong-willed, I am contrary, so I didn’t change. However…

I’ve only realized recently that I probably dress and shop the way I do at least partially because of those comments. I still want to wear the same thing all the time, so I find more variations of those pieces, and mix and match everything to make distinct outfits, so that I can continue to wear the same thing every day while looking like I’m not. 

To be honest, I’m not sure how I feel about that. I’m conflicted because I don’t want those mean comments to have affected me at all, but it seems they have. At least I turned it into something fun, like an interchangeable puzzle.

So that’s a little piece of my history with clothes! Thanks, middle school. Now, my high school style experience is a story all its own, for another day.