Sartorial Self-Care

One way to defy the womanly norms expected of us in the patriarchy is to dress to please ourselves. No man is worth starving ourselves and becoming precariously thin for.

In coming blog entries I’ll talk about weight again. In here I’m going to write about real life-affirming self-care.

Years ago I thought the Visual Therapy Style Quiz was fascinating. Then I became disillusioned with it as I wasn’t satisfied with the outcome.

At the time it was like I was going through an existential fashion crisis by wondering what my style type was and should be.

Enter Allison Bornstein and her Three Word Method. She advocates that your Style is found by examining the clothes already hanging in your closet.

After two weeks I figured out my three words were Chic Quirky Confident.

Sartorial self-care can be the most joyous form of loving, accepting, and nurturing our authentic selves–and bodies at the weight we are today.

As a 200-pound woman when you dress sharp not only can you feel better you can inspire other 200-pound women to feel good and be confident in their bodies.

Having clothing confidence is not frivolous and isn’t shameful. The way to like ourselves is to dress in the ways that make us happy.

I for one don’t follow fashion trends unless I truly like the color or clothing items being touted.

When dressing up gives us such joy and happiness no one else should be judging us for liking fashion.

Turning to a clothing rack when the going gets tough can really be a form of self-care that sustains us.

In fact it can help us feel better when we’re not rail-thin!

Sustaining Ability

I’ve ravaged the internet reading numerous articles about the Three Word Method. The writers each list their three words. It has helped me get clear on my three words.

Like I wrote in the last blog entry I wouldn’t want to buy a $3,000 Louis Vuitton Speedy. It’s not sustainable for the average person to plunk cash or a credit card down on a designer bag.

While cheap clothes are often sewn in sweatshops there’s no guarantee that higher-priced items are made under favorable working conditions either.

After donating 20 bags to thrift stores in the last 5 years I’ve changed my mind about how to shop. Even if I came into a truckload of money I wouldn’t want to spend $200 on a shirt.

In fact I want to start a movement focused on Sustaining Ability. This kind of Sustain-ability has nothing to do with being eco-conscious.

We might clean up the earth down the road. Yet who would want to live on God’s newly green earth if everyone still swilled hatorade and was drunk on fury.

I think of sustainability on a personal not planet level now. By revamping our approach to living our lives and interacting with others we can ameliorate our wellbeing.

This in turn will impact how we treat the earth. Case in point: I no longer need to spring clean after donating everything to charity.

Once we are free of the things “stuffed” everywhere in our homes (often a graveyard for unused objects) we often clear the mental clutter as a result of the physical freedom.

When I got rid of the mounds I also lost pounds (I have no scientific proof that there’s a connection).

Today I’m more interested in what we can do to thrive as human beings on our earth as the planet is now. I would like to be part of a movement to create opportunities for people to recover.

Some of us are in recovery from consumerism!

Others have a mental health or physical or different issue. Whatever a person is in recovery from I think promoting recovery should be the goal first of all before anything else.

I know it was not sustainable for me to buy whatever caught my eye in the store and only remained unworn in my drawers years later.

We have true freedom when we’re not attached to the stuff that weighs us down. I venture to say that there’s a spring in our step and more joy in our hearts when our time is not wasted with the upkeep of material goods.

Lastly I’ll say that there’s only so much we can do to green the earth. We shouldn’t feel ashamed of ourselves for having bought what we bought all these years.

Liking ourselves counts more than whether we have items in our closet that we don’t like. Letting go of the clutter might just improve our mood.

This is the real impact of letting go of what no longer serves us:

We sustain our ability to feel good in a society where Instagram feeds and product marketers and others make us feel bed.

Wear It Well

The book in the photo above intrigued me to want to figure out my Three Word Method.

Your three words comprise the items in your wardrobe that you choose and use to convey your personal style.

Author Allison Bornstein is a stylist who champions expressing your Authentic Self through how you dress. To her fashion is wellness and beauty is wellness.

Getting dressed in the clothes you love and wear well is an act of self-care and nurturing.

As ever I think everyone is beautiful. Today I’ve come to see that how a person dresses is their own version of having a personal style.

More in the coming blog entry about the myth of needing to buy a Louis Vuitton Speedy to express yourself. Is plunking down $3,000 on a pocketbook the way to be original when everyone else is carrying the same handbag.

The Three Word Method is the best most useful way I’ve found to figure out my personal style. Forget taking a quiz to figure out the style type you should be that a so-called expert tells you to dress in.

The second philosophy I’ve been intrigued with is Carol Tuttle’s Dressing Your Truth.

I bought Wear It Well with a gift card. It took me two weeks to figure out my three words which are Chic Quirky Confident.

I recommend reading the definitions of the words you’re considering using. Bornstein tells the reader that it’s OK if your three words are opposites.

On a video she helped a woman find her three words (Oversized Fitted Warm). I wish Bornstein had more videos that feature ordinary women’s three words.

She advocates that you can find your personal style by examining the wardrobe items you own. Then “shopping in your closet” is the ultimate sustainable method for getting dressed. Her AB Closet Editing System is right-on for deciding what to keep and what to donate or toss.

I’ll end here by venturing that expressing your authentic self through your personal style can help a person heal and recover. Dressing well was how I started to become well in my life after I recovered.