Stylish ruts

(Graphic by Adele Palmquist).
(Graphic by Adele Palmquist).

The phrase “new year, new me” is possibly the most overstated phrase between December and January, because in most aspects, nothing changes especially the weather.

I’ve noticed that Waterloo’s climate is in a constant flux between terribly cold and deceptively warm, which is bad for my wardrobe and my immune system.

How is it possible to be the “new you” when you’re too busy trying to fight off the flu?

As this is the season of resolutions, I have resolved to put myself on a shopping diet for the month in an attempt to find the winter creativity that I let disappear around this time of the year.

The advice for dressing stylishly, yet warm, is typically the same each year: wear layers, invest in thick knits and own a solid pair of boots, even if they are just UGGs.

It’s boring. As an adult, I know I am capable of keeping myself warm but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been fantasizing about lightweight fabrics and fun new patterns.

It doesn’t help that our favourite magazines and blogs showcase a winter wonderland where the weather remains moderately cool and the snow is a light dusting.

What magazines and style blogs tend to forget is that real winter does not give you the chance to dress how you would like to dress: in a staged photoshoot, wearing designer heels and nothing off the clothing rack.

I could count the amount of times I’ve tried to break out of my winter style rut and hated myself for it because it was too cold to be creative.

My observation has been that after we stockpile on discounted winter items during Boxing Day sales to make way for spring and pre-fall styles, we enter a Fashion Depression.

We’re still stuck wearing the same trends, and of course we can cheat by mixing winter and spring together but it doesn’t hold the same amount of satisfaction.

Even as we are pushed to buy more items that we won’t necessarily need in a few months, merely because it has been marked “sale”, the amount of stuff we hoard doesn’t really add up to the newness that we want.

The constant need to reinvent with the new, instead of with what we have, is more depressing than the weather outside.

In short, I really can’t wait for Spring.

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