spruced by marlene

I lived on the road and out of a suitcase for almost two months. Before that journey I thought: The horror! What am I going to do without all my clothes? How am I going to make do with only a handful of jeans, sweaters and shirts? When, despite everything I take with me, I’m sure I will want to wear the one exact thing I forgot to pack? I know now: You can make do just fine with what fits in a suitcase. At first I got frustrated by the same choice of that handful of jeans, sweater and shirts every morning, in time I got used to it. Of course, it then dawned on me that there’s a closet full of stuff waiting for me at home – which, apart from a few pieces, I didn’t think about all that much.

So I decided to clean out the closet when I got home. Immediately, before I could get used to having all that stuff around me that I don’t wear anyway. I did on Friday. If I wasn’t sure, I’d give the piece another spin in front of the mirror. And realised: Nope, the embroidered peasant blouse doesn’t convince me to keep it any more when I have it on then it does hanging in the closet. Nor the floral dress. Or the pants that I’m not going to convince, hard as I might try, that my butt is still 16.

Then I sat between two heaps of clothes, one, which is going to the second hand store. The other, smaller heap, which I’m keeping. And which I’ve decided to turn into a new category on spruced. For lack of a more fitting word, I’ll call it: Basics. They’re the things that I love to wear. That I live in, on the road and at home.

Starting with the white shirt.

I should say: White shirts. I own more than a couple and all of them are staying with me. Because they are all completely different! No, really. But what they do have in common: I like the fit to be a bit wider, long enough to tuck the shirt into jeans, looking like it’s borrowed from the boys, the sleeves wide enough to roll them up. This one is my current favourite, silk, off-white and from H&M. I bought it in December while travelling.

Because, as my smart friend Steffi says, a half-empty closet means: You can fill it up again! But, of course, only with things I love.