“I have nothing to wear today.”

April 19, 2018

Fashion blogger Cee Fardoe of Coco & Vera stands outside the Bay Downtown in Winnipeg wearing Mavi pearl jeans and carrying a Gucci crossbody bagOutfit details on Canadian fashion blogger Cee Fardoe of Coco & Vera, including Mavi pearl-emblazoned jeans and Maison Martin Margiela bootsFashion blogger Cee Fardoe of Coco & Vera walk-in downtown Winnipeg wearing an Anthropologie beret and carrying a Gucci handbagPortrait of Winnipeg fashion blogger Cee Fardoe of Coco & Vera wearing Celine Audrey sunglasses and carrying a Gucci crossbody bagWinnipeg fashion blogger Cee Fardoe of Coco & Vera stands outside the Bay Downtown wearing Mavi jeans and a Zara oversized turtleneckZara sweater (similar)
Mavi jeans (c/o)
Maison Martin Margiela boots (similar)
Gucci bag
Celine sunglasses
Anthropologie hat
Strut Jewelry ring (c/o)
Location: The Bay Downtown – Winnipeg, Manitoba

“When a woman says, ‘I have nothing to wear!’, what she really means is, ‘There’s nothing here for who I’m supposed to be today.” – Caitlin Moran

I think of this Caitlin Moran quote often. I love the way she summed up so succinctly the conundrum we all face so often while standing in front of our own closets. We change. Constantly, consistently, sometimes from day-to-day. Our clothes cannot possibly keep the pace, never mind our bank accounts. We attach so much meaning to our daily wear because what we wear tells the world who we are. And if we have nothing to suit who we are, then we have somehow failed at presentation.

I am a woman who spends most of her time around men. But I think that serves to make me more aware of how differently men and women perceive clothes, rather than less. My husband and my best friend occasionally lament the lack of fashion options available to them. But why, I wonder, do they want anything else, when it doesn’t matter if they wear the same thing every day? (This is no exaggeration; they both have a uniform, with multiple copies of the same pieces hanging in their closets so they can wear them consistently.) Options never make anything simpler. As women, we have endless clothing options. We are also under constant appearance-based scrutiny. If a woman goes to the moon, it is almost guaranteed that how she looks in her space suit will garner more attention than her actual trip to the galaxy.

So, of course, we feel like we have nothing to wear. How can we possibly live up to the pressure of knowing what to wear when what we wear and how we look is apparently still the most important thing about who we are, no matter what we go about quietly achieving while we’re dressed? I don’t know. I wish I did. The truth is, I feel less like I have nothing to wear these days than ever. But I work from home, which means facing the world less. I want to believe my sense of peace with my wardrobe comes from having found my style. But I often wonder if it might not be that there is a positive correlation feeling good about my clothes and not facing a world that wants to make me feel bad about them every single day.

This topic becomes more germane as I commit, with increasing dedication, to only sharing outfit I actually wear. For a long time, I treated clothes as costumes. I dressed for parts I wanted to play, rather than the life I actually lived. It was fun for a while until it inevitably began to feel silly. But while I don’t want to feel silly in my clothes anymore, I still find myself wondering if the looks I share now might not be boring. I wonder if who I am right now will be enough for people who admired a different version of me. And conveniently ignore that the only person whose opinion actually matters is my own.

I’m sick of it. I’m sick of the idea that life is a course I’m taking pass/fail and that, as a woman, every move I make is judged based on a list of criteria that is as long as it is arbitrary. I love beautiful clothes but I want wearing them to be a choice rather than an obligation. And when I choose to wear practical clothes instead, I want it to be a simple decision, not an act of rebellion against the narrow confines of partiarchal definitions of femininity.

I have never had nothing to wear. But until the world can accept me, and all other women, exactly as we are, not as they would have us be, I will always have moments where I feel like I have nothing to wear.

6 comments so far.

6 responses to ““I have nothing to wear today.””

  1. That remark from Moran has always really resonated with me as well and I think you’ve unpacked it pretty perfectly here — wouldn’t it be lovely if our culture and all the hundreds of years of history just magically reset itself with respect to its attitudes toward women? It’s a pipe dream, I know, but what a glorious one!

    Courtney ~ Sartorial Sidelines

  2. Lorena says:

    Another thought provoking read Cee!
    I have to say this is so true:
    “We are also under constant appearance-based scrutiny. If a woman goes to the moon, it is almost guaranteed that how she looks in her space suit will garner more attention than her actual trip to the galaxy.”
    I am going to quote and link back to you on a post – as you could not have said this better.

  3. Melanie says:

    This outfit is great! I love the sweater and the sunnies :-*

    Melanie / http://www.goldzeitblog.de

  4. Lyddiegal says:

    I think you pretty much nailed all my emotions about shopping and getting dressed with this post. And of course that men just get off easy, we feel guilt about dressing in a ‘uniform’ where as they do it as a point of fact. I’ve heard so many times that we have a very finite amount of decision making capabilities and the example always used in conjunction, is that if you expend too much of that on deciding what to wear, how can you expect to get anything else done that day? We also stress ourselves out not only on what we want to wear, but what we think other people will be wearing, and if we will fit in – there are contenting forces, to be an individual, and also to be homogeneous at the same time. I noted at the blogger brunch three women showed up in the same shade of orange – the same shade I changed out of at the last second.

    iamchiconthecheap.com

  5. Such a good topic!!! And especially fascinating to me as I embark on my 14 piece spring capsule wardrobe. I’m excited to take a break from shopping, the pressure and see what comes of it. I’ll be sure to keep you posted. As for boring outfits? Honestly, your style is far from boring and I love that you continue to question and evolve. That’s what it’s all about + your outfit is absolutely fabulous. Wishing you a lovely week ahead!! xo

    http://www.girlandcloset.com

  6. I’ve released myself from that pressure Cee! Many others are gradually doing the same. Fill your closet with pieces that fit YOU at the moment. Wear them. Love them. Let them go when you change. That’s why I keep it minimal. I love the outfit you’re wearing here. Gorgeous jeans, sweater & beret.

    http://www.averysweetblog.com/

Cee Fardoe is a thirty-something Canadian blogger who splits her time between Winnipeg and Paris. She is a voracious reader, avid tea-drinker, insatiable wanderer and fashion lover who prefers to dress in black, white and gray.

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