An Experiment in Daily Outfits

Zara jacket (similar)
Ivy & Oak dress (similar)
Christian Louboutin heels
Ray Ban sunglasses
Keltie Leanne Designs ring (c/o)
Madewell rings
Keltie Leanne Designs earrings (c/o)
Location: Palais Galliera – Paris, France

Nearly a year from the day of our 2017 departure, we are finally coming to the end of our European adventure photos. Although I started Coco & Vera way back in 2010 – time flies when you’re having fun (or too busy to notice!) – that trip was my first experience in taking photos of my daily outfits. My work schedule was never conducive to taking photos more than once a week on a weekday – and that was if I was lucky. To make matters more complicated, Ian changed careers when we came back from our year in Paris. With his career change came a schedule change into shift work. Even if my daily outfits had been worthy of photographing – and, because I worked in a corporate office with a strict dress code, I rarely felt they were – it would have been impossible to get those photos unless I took them myself.

That made our three months in Europe a learning experience. I was in the habit of saving my best outfits until the weekend. And of spending my Saturdays running around to multiple locations to get photos of them all. Which means I was also in the habit of not giving a lot of thought to my daily outfits. I could wear the same sweater and jeans two days in a row, because we would capture my best outfits at the end of the week. (Or, to be totally honest, I could wear sweatpants five days in a row, because I work from home, so no one would know.) What is normal to most people – choosing clothes every morning – became totally abnormal to me. And in Europe, I had to relearn how to do it.

There were moments of frustration. And moments when I wondered how, and why, people persist in torturing themselves with the task of photographing their daily outfits. But ultimately, it taught me what belongs in my closet. And what doesn’t belong there anymore.

I have a few more sets of photos of me in dresses from our Europe trip. After that, it’s hard to say when you might see me wearing one again. Although I’m back to working from home and taking photos on weekends now, I can remember the last time I wore a dress only because it made me ask myself again why I ever wear them. I know how acutely uncomfortable they make me, and avoid them accordingly. My daily outfits are mostly all jeans, all the time, and that’s okay with me. But it took three months of capturing my daily outfits to get there.

Too often, we are inundated with inspiration from blogs and Pinterest and Instagram (and the list goes on.) We get caught up thinking about how beautiful certain clothes will look in photos without necessarily considering how they will feel to wear. Or at least, I do. By taking photos of my daily outfits for three months, I reminded myself, almost every day, how silly that is. Fashion is about experimenting and having fun, it’s true. But it’s also about feeling good in your clothes. And if you don’t feel good, what’s the point?