July Vacation Capsule + A Wardrobe Palette Tip

Have you struggled to create a consistent palette for your wardrobe?

Whether you’re pursuing a minimal wardrobe or not, having a color palette in mind really helps for ensuring the mixability of your garments. But curating this is easier said than done.

I should know — as someone who loves many different combos of color, it’s something I struggled with for years!

What I’m learning is, I had it backwards: Rather than letting my closet colors form organically, I tried to shoehorn clothing into a pre-set palette.

Only when I let my wardrobe get a little messy did a palette start to take form. First I let myself purchase a few new, seasonal additions based purely on instinct. As I mixed these pieces with what I already owned, I took note of color patterns in those new & old favorites. Then, when I went back to fill in any gaps, I chose additional pieces which I knew would match my new instinct-buys and my old faves.

It was through this process that I found my way to the dusty pastels which characterize so much of my summer wardrobe, including the July favorites you see here. Without letting myself experiment, I would never have guessed this palette was even within my wheelhouse.

If you tend to be a planner like me, take this as your invitation to drop the plan and make way for your instinct. You never know what you might discover if you let your guard down from time to time and just wing it!

Little Miss Bossy

What if it’s not “bossy”; what if it’s “especially good at expressing your own needs”? 

For many years of my life I dreaded being called bossy. It’s something certain family members called me as something of a term of endearment, but in the real world it felt anything but.

Where being “a boss,” suggests a kind of know-how and professional prowess, being “bossy” — particularly a bossy *woman* — connotes difficulty in personality; sassiness, a lack of humor, or even selfishness. 

If I simply felt uncomfortable with being called “bossy” as a kid and then eventually grew out of that discomfort, I wouldn’t be so hung up on the matter today. But in fact, I’ve never really crawled out from under the shame of the term. This reality has never been more evident than in moments of my adulthood wherein opportunities for greater leadership presented themselves, and I shied away from them for fear of reinforcing that childhood stereotype. God forbid I become someone’s boss; What if they found me “bossy”?? 

You can see the irony. 

Today while washing dishes, I had the thought that I’ve always been quite aware of my personal boundaries, needs, and, yes, *occasionally selfish* desires. I’ve been that way ever since I was a kid. And I’m proud of that. It’s something many folks are saddled with learning much later on, maybe only with the help of therapy. 

I suspect it’s this very quality that makes me such a bossy Boss. Reframing this idea for myself brought a level of contentment — and I hope, if you’ve ever felt likewise squeamish at the term “bossy” yourself, that it does for you too.

 

 

a white shirt (#twinningwithhexekami)

 Sometimes it's the simplest things in life which are the most beautiful...