Remember when we talked about buying things that will actually bring you pleasure in the long run? If you’ve decided that holiday clothes that you’ll only wear once are not where your priorities lie, here are a few tips for getting dressed up with what you already own. All you really need is to keep everything simple and then add one “dressy” component.
Keep your clothing items simple, but include one in a nicer fabric like silk or velvet.
Add a high impact piece of jewelry to a simple, everyday outfit.
I refuse to wear anything higher than two inches these days, but adding a bit of a heel can immediately add some drama to your outfit.
This won’t apply to my classical musician friends because they are required to do this all the time and are therefore over it, but for the rest of us, when in doubt, wear all black. Nothing is more simple or looks more sophisticated.
If I had to get dressed up for anything this holiday season (I don’t and therefore won’t), I’d wear this silk Elizabeth Suzann Artist Smock, Loop Jewelry necklace, black jeans, and black Vaneli boots with a small heel. Go here to sign up for my email list and get links to some of these items and a few other statement necklace suggestions. (These are affiliate links and may earn me a commission if you purchase through them.)
And since everything is connected, just a reminder here that white supremacy permeates all areas of our society, even whether we are permitted to dress up or not. During slavery there were laws on the books in many areas that prohibited or limited the dressing of the enslaved.
As Princeton University professor Dr. Anna Arabindan Kesson writes,
“In 1740 the state of South Carolina passed a new slave code that regulated in minute detail the everyday lives of enslaved women and men. The code effectively remained unchanged until the end of slavery in 1863 and made this relationship between fashion, bodies and shame explicit. Under the code, slaves were not allowed to ‘wear clothes … above [their] condition … [and] no owner … shall permit such Negro or other slave to have or wear any sort of apparel whatsoever, finer, other or greater value than Negro cloth.’ Negro cloth quickly became a catch-all title for a range of fabrics distinguished by their coarse texture, functionality and cheap value.”
Yes, a bit heavy, but it’s a privilege to be able to get dressed up.