As a teenager I went through a phase where I liked to experiment with different clothes and appearance style. I had jeans, dresses, tops and scarves of different colors, boots, high heels and sneakers, handbags and pack packs, long earrings in strange shapes. On top of that, I always experimented with my hairstyle. If I was to go out, I would need about 2 hours to choose what to wear and do my hair and makeup for it.
I never felt it was too much, in part because my best friend was even more "glamorous" than me; she wore sparkly tops, higher heels and heavier makeup. And in general where I came from, this was the norm. I didn't know whether any of these styles were "me". But I knew I did it to be accepted by society and not because I really enjoyed it. I was never interested in fashion and shopping was a boring and tiresome activity for me.
At some point I realized that dressing up like that attracted the wrong type of people for me. It attracted people who liked a particular type of woman, which didn't feel like "me". So, I slowly gave it up. I started donating my clothes, I adopted a simpler hairstyle and wore little to no makeup. I switched my long earrings for simple tiny ones. I stopped wearing high heels altogether and I limited my style mainly to dark jeans and white or navy blue tops, colors that I believe suit me. I also have a couple black items for the occasional dress up.
People who liked me for my show off dressing skills were not very impressed. However, something amazing happened. I began to attract the right type of people. Perhaps not so many people were interested in me, but the ones who were, were both really interested in me and really interesting people for me.
It also helped me be more tidy and focused. My new dress code saves me so much time as I don't need time to decide what to wear in the morning. Everything matches with everything else and I feel so free! My wardrobe now consists of neutral colors such as white, gray, black and navy blue. I kept some color only in my sportswear!
Every time I need to purchase something, I get rid of something else so as to keep the number of pieces low. I have been doing that for the past 2 years and my final goal is a capsule wardrobe, a personal "uniform" that will be both my signature style and something that I can pack up and travel anywhere anytime with no effort.
Who said that ladies can't dress simply? Off we go!