I Hate My Clothes
The dreaded moment in everyone's fashion journey
Getting dressed is one of my favorite moments of the day, this is the time when you decide on the vibe you’re going to be carrying with you throughout the day. The neverending journey to build new looks with the clothes you already own is what makes fashion fun, but then comes a dreaded moment in everyone's fashion journey—I’m talking about the moment you say, ”I Hate All My Clothes”.
It doesn’t matter what your style is, who your fashion inspiration is, or how much money you spend on your clothes—we all seem to share the same thought about our clothes at one point or another. It’s easy to feel like you’re losing your sense of style because the clothes you’ve already worn hundreds of times start to feel boring. A lot of us create this sub-category in our minds that should read, “Clothes I never wear, but I don’t want to get rid of them either because maybe one day I’ll wear them”. This category doesn’t have a barrier and over time the clothes that you used to be obsessed with end up being added to this category unintentionally.
Whenever a style block happens I go straight to the internet for a dose of inspiration. Having access to a never-ending pit of fashion content isn’t always helpful though, especially if you aren’t looking for anything specific in mind.—Have you tried ordering from uber eats lately? It feels like I need at least an hour just to decide where to eat from, there are just way too many options. In a way, that’s how I’ve been feeling recently as I look at new clothes.
This is where I am at, lot’s of great clothes to wear but at the same time, it feels like there is nothing for me to wear at all. Brands are dropping clothes daily, so there shouldn’t be an issue for me to get out of my slump, but when you hate your entire closet you start to doubt your own personal style. This means that the clothes that would usually appeal to you, are now met with second-guessing thoughts that make you wonder if you even enjoy your current style. Should I adjust the size of the pants I usually wear? Should I try new colors? Maybe different brands I don’t usually wear?—the questions are neverending, but I knew I had to do something about it, so, it was time to take matters into my own hands.
I started off by donating some clothes to the thrift that were taking up real estate not only in my closet but in my mind too. Giving up clothes could be hard for some, but I highly recommend doing this because you will quickly forget what you ended up donating, and it opens your mind to new possibilities!! Although clearing up some clothes helped, it wasn’t enough to get me out of my slump.
After the donation haul, I went straight to thrift, the best place to brainstorm new style ideas. Being at the thrift and holding pieces you would never think of wearing helps me get out of my comfort zone, which ultimately broadens my style entirely. With that being said, ever since the TikTok hype around thrifting, it feels like finding decent pieces is no longer as easy or fun as it used to be. The memes you see about the crew in double knee Carhartt pants with the Nascar tees walking in to take all of your great thrift finds are real—I’ve been thrifting around 5 times in the last month and every time was worse than the last, because of this it made the clothes I’ve been looking at, as well as my own, seem even more meh to me. It was time to try something else.
The next logical step was going through grailed/ebay, maybe here I could find some new inspiration. The search was going well, even found some pieces that felt exciting to me, and for a moment it felt like the light at the end of the tunnel was approaching. That was until all of the new finds that were on my list ended up being bought by someone else, or their listing was removed entirely—I couldn’t catch a break!! Now I live on reselling websites, refreshing every hour just to try and find something new before it’s too late.
I’ve been looking at grailed so much recently that I ended up collecting a pretty solid list of items that I will probably never buy—For all my paid subscribers, you will receive a special newsletter that is going to link you to a lot of amazing deals of all sizes that I’ve saved in the last 2 weeks.
The situation has gone so out of hand that I resorted to looking at high-fashion brands on SSENSE—at this point, I was down horrendous. There wasn’t anywhere else for me to go at this point, and the clothes that I did find were either way over my budget or they didn’t have my size. It felt like someone was trying to mess with me because several times when I decided to break my own budget for the sake of fashion, the item would either sell out as I am checking out, or it no longer existed on the website!!!
It felt really annoying because getting out of my slump felt so close, but now I am back to what feels like square one. The journey for clothes will not end, and despite being completely cucked by the many experiences that were mentioned in this newsletter, I am still determined to get out of my slump and find the new style I’ve been looking for. For now, I will continue to clear out my closet in order to forget about past items/fits and force myself to try something new.
Are you having a similar experience with your clothes? Share your comments below, I would love to hear how everyone is dealing with this type of situation.
I'm not all the way here yet, but somehow I hate every pair of pants I own (including the grail pieces) and can't figure out where to go next in that regard. I know the feeling of the entire wardrobe though. The (sort of) solution is to just wear the stuff you like the best into the ground while you slowly (or quickly lol) replenish your coffers. I have a hard time saying goodbye to stuff I don't absolutely hate though so there's a lot of stragglers hanging around.
Every year I start with all my hangers facing the "wrong" way and whenever I wear that piece, I turn the hangar around. Beginning of summer and winter I go through and sell/donate what I didn't wear for the past 2 seasons, and while this doesn't necessarily work the best for shorts/pants, it kinda does. Whatever is at the bottom of the drawer and I can't remember when I last wore it, out it goes. I don't always fill the space with something new since I do feel overwhelmed with wanting a lot of new pieces but making less that $40k/year in my job limits me, but going to curated resale shops here in Austin are pretty good. Also like you said, Grailed for brands I like that are used isn't the worst for me. I am waiting for this Dime Polar Fleece button up on SSENSE to go on sale since there is 2 left, 1 being the XL I want.