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From the vault: are you holding yourself to an impossible standard with your clothes?

From the vault: are you holding yourself to an impossible standard with your clothes?

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Dacy Gillespie
Jul 11, 2023
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From the vault: are you holding yourself to an impossible standard with your clothes?
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(originally published in March 2022)

A few weeks ago, I asked in my Instagram stories: As you develop your personal style, are you holding yourself to an impossible standard of perfection? I knew some people would identify with this, but to my surprise, 76% of the respondents replied “yes”.

Some of the ways people said they held themselves to a standard of perfection were:

  • Feeling like I need an outfit for every mood or occasion

  • Not knowing if my minimalist wardrobe is my choice or horrible decision paralysis

  • Feeling pulled between wanting to be cute and feeling like what’s the point?

  • Need to look perfect, like the lookbook images

  • I feel like I only have two choices: to shrink my body to fit back into my old ethically made clothes or to be a bad environmentalist by buying new clothes

  • I often feel too guilty to make new purchases because I worry I’m not buying ethically enough (these last two relating to ethical fashion are such a large issue on their own, I’m saving them for their own dedicat…

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