Newish

I love dressing up. Greg too, although I think he wouldn't call it 'dressing up', but he likes to look good. I love putting clothes together and feeling pretty. Its so important to me that I usually wait until Olive takes her first nap to get myself dressed in the morning because I like to think about it first. Its important to be surrounded by beauty, of whatever kind you see. And to wear things that you love everyday. I think this way even about wearing jeans and t-shirts, the way the colours match, and how it will feel as I go through the coming day. I don't save anything for a special occasion. If I am going out to clean in the yard, but I want to wear a pretty dress that day, I say to myself "Well Julia, that's what clothes are for; wearing" and so I wear them! And wear through them. Dressing up makes me happy.
I like to dress up Olive too. I will encourage her to wear whatever she wants as she becomes more able to decide, even if it's silly. I wish everyone wore a little more silly a little more often. When we were young my sisters and I had a great big chest of costumes and fabric to play in, and I think we created a million different stories out of that box. I played dress-up like that probably until I was 14. Actually I still do. Standing in my sewing room draping fabric down my body, I imagine costumes I could make that are more elaborate than I would ever wear. And now I find myself collecting small things to put in a great big chest for Olive to play in: sunglasses, headbands, hats, capes. She'll grow out of them and in, and hopefully we will have a new baby for her to play in them with one day soon. So they too can create a million stories.

So maybe you get the point: I love dressing up. I love clothes. But also I love to constrain myself, and I strive to consume less all the time. The nature of dress up is to devour and collect and purge beautiful things, and these two premises, consume less vs. dress-up more, don't go together all that well. But I have learned to make it work; I either make our clothes, or we get them second hand (with the exception of shoes, jeans, and sometimes coats), and that has been very very rewarding. I dont always find exactly what I want all the time, but I go with certain things in mind and most of the time come back with even better. Its especially good with Olive, who grows through her clothes so fast we couldn't possibly afford to dress her in new duds.
It's getting cold now, and here are some thrifted sweaters and tops I picked up for my little bean yesterday, so she can dress-up.