spruced by marlene

„Does my wardrobe show my age?” That’s the question on the cover of a fashion magazine lying on my desk right now.

If it does, then I’m three years old here. Because isn’t that the age when you wear a playsuit?

I could call it an overall. Or, more fashionably, a one-piece. Yet, when I stood in the changing room at Zara, all I could think was: I’m wearing a playsuit. Also: what does one wear with it? Besides the obvious – a bib. Am I perhaps getting a little too comfortable with my clothes? Where would I wear this thing? And can it be mere coincidence that I’m thinking about buying a playsuit a few weeks before my 34th birthday?

I don’t recall exactly what I imagined my life to be like at 34 when I was 18, although I’m sure I thought that it would be somehow done, all the major decisions made, everything determined and settled. While that’s true in some important ways – I know where I want to live and who with –, my life still feels pretty open, something I’m thankful for. If you had asked 18-year-old me, a girl with henna-red hair, a fake nose piercing and tie-dyed bell bottoms, how a 34-year-old dresses, I’d have probably said: Conservative. 18-year-old me was right. It’s a side effect of getting older that my closet is filled with things that I can grab with my eyes closed and know: it will fit, it will sit right, it will suit me. With the years the slip-ups have become fewer, my style more composed, the wardrobe more sensible. It’s reassuring most of the time. And other times it bores me to pieces. It’s at those times, when I feel like I need to surprise myself, that I find myself in a changing room in a playsuit and think: Hell yes!

I’ve not worn it with a bib so far, but either with a lose-fitting t-shirt underneath or a tube-top. I last wore a „boob tube” 15 years ago, so that’s how old I am now: old enough for the fashion of my youth to have a revival. And where do I wear it? Pretty much everywhere, to the office, to the bar, and I’ll wear it during Fashion Week too, which kicks off in Berlin tomorrow. Where I’ll probably look conservative showing up in a black playsuit.

Which isn’t quite the reaction I got when I wore it on a regular Monday afternoon to take some pictures…

Dude just stopped beside me and wanted his picture taken, too. Judging from his main accessory, an open beer bottle, I’d guess he’s 22.