Wardrobe Variety (Or Lack of It)

While we were walking home from the mall the other day, Angel told me that his end goal, as far as clothing goes, it to only own short-sleeved baby blue shirts, and dark-colored pants and shorts. He claims that his long-term plan, which will take years to enact, is to replace all clothing that wears out with only baby blue, short-sleeved shirts, and dark-colored bottoms.

This statement helped me understand why he was recently looking at a baby blue t-shirt at Wal-mart when he already owns three. It also made me laugh, because anyone who knows my family knows that my beloved grandfather has a wardrobe consisting solely of baby blue, long-sleeved collared shirts, and black dress pants, so Angel's wardrobe aspirations sounded startlingly familiar.

I still find this desire rather odd. Angel went on to tell me that ever since we've moved to China, he hasn't been stressed about choosing clothes for the day, because he now owns only a mere fraction of his former wardrobe. Like me, Angel hasn't grown since middle school, which meant that before we left America, he'd acquired a large wardrobe over the past 15 years or so. I used to flop myself down on the bed and tease him as he tried on a variety of different shirt and jeans or shirt and tie combos while getting ready for church or a date.

I hate changing clothes, and can never be prevailed upon to do it unless absolutely necessary, so once I'm dressed, I'm not changing till I go to bed at night. I used to joke about how much longer Angel took to get ready than I did, because he had to change into 4 or 5 different outfits before he had come up with something he liked for the day.

In China, we don't have the luxury of owning clothes other than clothes that fit great, look good, and wear well. Angel's small clothes collection gives him much fewer choices when getting dressed than he ever had before, and he's found that he likes it that way.

On the other hand...I can't imagine ever wanting more than one of anything in my closet. I will not be filling my wardrobe with baby blue t-shirts, thank you very much. I enjoy variety. I enjoy picking out drastically different colors and outfits to wear from day to day. I've always liked my wardrobe--when it was bigger, and now that it's small too, because I only buy clothes that I love, and I get a kick out of mixing and matching things in my closet. I've never felt wardrobe stress, and I've never taken off an outfit that I put on before bed, unless I have a really, really pressing reason to change clothes. For example: I'm going swimming, someone spilled ketchup on me, or I was suddenly informed that I'm going out to a fancy restaurant for dinner. I really, really detest changing clothes, so it has to be a good reason.

I'm one of those people who find a silly sort of joy in opening the closet and seeing a rainbow of much-loved, well-worn items just begging to be worn in non-scientific, mis-matched ensembles. My husband prefers a closet with little to no choices. What about you?