Today's laundry gave me an insight into what kinds of clothes I love
and would like be part of my personal style. With limited space on my
clothing rack and not enough time to handwash everything, I picked out
just the pieces I love wearing. The clothes that made the cut today?
All of my malongs, my Thai silk pants, and a couple of nicely textured
tops. Jeans, t-shirts, stretch pants, buttoned blouses: all stayed in
the laundry pile for another day. And there's the fact that I'm typing
this blog entry while dressed in a black sari…

I don't think I'd be happy just shopping at Gap. Or at a Vera Wang
boutique, for that matter. I like clothes with stories. I can get away
with my ethnic clothes now because people give students a lot of
latitude when it comes to outfits. If I can figure out a way to wear
clothes with character throughout my life, that would be fantastic. I
may have to be semi-conservative for a while if I work with IBM, but
if I can find out how to get ethnic accents into business and business
casual clothes, I'll be happy. =)

If money were no object, I'd probably be more likely to bring a wallet
from Sagada than one from Louis Vuitton. If I could have anything I
wanted, I'd rather bring to light an obscure designer than clothe
myself in Armani. I'd rather have tailored clothing than designer
ready-to-wear. I'd rather wear homespun cotton than crisp pinstripes.
Clothes may make the man, but I make my clothes – that is, I can make
my clothes special.

All of this is academic, of course, because I have other things to
spend time and money on – particularly as a grad student! <grin>
But I get the sense that this is probably one of those unchanging
things, and I'd like to find role models who've gotten away with it.
The woman from Sonja's Garden, for example – I remember really liking
her outfit.

So here's the deal: I'll keep a few business-type suits around just in
case I have to wear something conservative. I'll probably use those a
lot if I work at IBM, anyway. But if people want me to wear anything
fancy, they should give it to me. ;)

More thoughts on this eventually…