Allow me to state the obvious:
Anytime you appear in public wearing something completely of your own choosing, it could be considered “Street Style”
While that may seem too obvious for print, to me it is a helpful thought. Why? For the sheer inspiration value! Remember school? The great thing about it was you could really wear whatever you wanted, subject to the weather and your ability to withstand peer pressure. (Of course, in High School, it helped to talk your friends into wearing a dress the same day.)
For the past many years, I have aspired to dress in Smart Casual when I was out and about; at home, it was always something that would not be ruined if I happened to splash bleach on it – as if I was actually deep-cleaning on a daily basis 😉
Now, as I transition to (image) professional, I still have a lifestyle with few restrictions on what to wear – aside from artistic requirements. Most days, I go to the gym and run errands in the morning, then work in the afternoon. I can wear whatever I want, without regard for the persistent peer pressure (in my head) to not dress UP any more than strictly necessary. But who, at the YMCA (or any of those other places) is going to critique what I happen to be wearing?
Photo shamelessly ripped from Pinterest.
In a sense, it is because the places I go are primarily “in between” places, where people go incidentally dressed as they are. So, if I think of my walking around clothes as “Street Style”, that allows me even greater flexibility than “smart casual”. While I probably will never wear a ball gown, I could wear a tutu (that is, a “tulle skirt” – sounds more respectable).
Hey, what are some other settings that allow the flexibility to wear “Street Style”? There are, no doubt, many; I find that often my perceived limitations are self-imposed 😉
Ironically, the first days it after posting this was also my first day in about six months when I went in and R of the gym dressed in my workout clothes 😉
Perhaps I don’t get around enough but I have never seen anyone sporting a tulle skirt. I could imagine one in a dusky pastel or in black, corralled under a brocade jacket at a cocktail party on a woman of a certain age. 😀 I do think the idea of a full skirt supported by petticoats is interesting because of the question of whether it is agreeable for people to take up that much space any more. Think now of how much of modern dress is close to the body and how a lot of volume is fluid drape that is still vertical. Drop crotch trousers – fullness between the legs. Some of the designers, for both men and women, were trying out a very wide boxy look or a wide oval but does not seem to be popular. There were some trapeze shaped jackets a few years back but now even capes seem to be droopy blankets. What is the main midi skirt that has caught on just a bit? The confining stretch tube skirt.
There are whole categories of clothing I just do not have. I don’t own any yard/.chore clothing. I don’t have exercise gear. My husband is doing a lengthy course of physical therapy for a reattached hamstring. Therapist has him walking every day now. So I’ve been going along, eager to resume long walks because he drives to nearby parks where all manner of people (and dogs) walk. In my own neighborhood, which is somewhat better, you are still constantly alert and looking over your shoulder and sizing up anyone you see coming toward you. So I’d mostly given up walking (got mugged in broad daylight couple years ago). I just wear regular clothes that are more to the outdoorsy side. But big white clunky supremely comfortable walking shoes. First comfy pair of athletic shoes I have ever owned.
In the nearby community center there are all kinds of free courses for seniors. For the many exercise courses ranging from dance to weight training to yoga, you are required to wear a hideous lime green unisex tee shirt emblazoned with the name of the city and its program. If you try to slide by, you are publicly chided, “Miss Vildy, Where is your shirt? Everyone has to wear their shirt.” And, yes, you can slash the neck so it helps with riding up against your throat or mutilate it in various ways so long as the logo part is still there, I guess. But I don’t own nor wear typical tee shirts because I find them very uncomfortable and unnatural feeling for me. And you could never offer to pay for the class 😀 and therefore skip the shirt. The shirt – and the photo op it provides – is very important. There is constant picture taking for documentation of the good they do under their grants. I guess this means that I also feel uncomfortable outfitted like everyone else. I also feel that wearing of The Shirt contributes in some way to their habit of having instructors not let seniors pour their own hot wax in the candle making class. That kind of thing. It’s insulting, you ask me. These people are most of them grandparents and even great-grandparents. Do people imagine that they never learned to be around hot liquids?
Oh my goodness! You see required to wear the shirt? That is terrible! I hate those kind of shirts!
We had a summer challenge that I participated in and one of the prizes was a t-shirt. I picked my size and color, but I have only worn it once. I have thought about hacking it up, but that seems like a lot of work when there are other options. The final prize was a sweatshirt, which I almost feel guilty about ordering because I know I won’t wear it anyway! I keep thinking “I have the skills and creativity to do something interesting with these things”, but it is hard to get around to doing it.