Don’t Repeat; Remix!

Here’s my fashion confession: I am not an outfit repeater. Ok, that’s not absolutely categorically true; I do sometimes repeat outfits, but it’s an exception not a rule. I appreciate the ethos of outfit repeating so I have made it a part of my life in a way that complements my personal philosophy of dressing-as-a-creative-act.

Enter the remix.

Just like the colours in a paint-box, clothes are wonderfully versatile. Building a secondhand closet means that I have a lot of “colours” to play with, so the remixing possibilities are limited only by my ingenuity. I talked last week about how I use fashion inspiration to spark creative experiments; it’s all about finding new ways to wear the same old clothes. I have been on the remix train for a long time (since around 2015) so I have built up practices over the years to support that. For example, whenever I’m deciding to buy a new piece of clothing, I try to think of at least 3 ways to wear it with things I already own. If I can think of 3 on the spot, it usually means that there are a dozen more ways to remix it. I don’t like “single use” clothing — i.e. things that can only be worn one way — and tend to avoid it. One example of that, for me, is self-tying wrap dresses. I have tried to wear them in different ways, but I haven’t found a way to layer them that works for me; I don’t like how they look with blazers or other toppers, and I hate that you can’t swap out the belt. So I just don’t buy them anymore.

Another useful practice was marathon try-on sessions. I would pull out a bunch of clothes from the closet, throw them on the bed and then try on different combinations — no matter how “wild” or unlikely. I learned a lot of things from that, by trial and error: about pattern-mixing, about colour theory, about proportions. My eye was the guide — I would try an outfit and look in the mirror (taking a photo is even better) and go with my gut on whether it looked “right” for me. After years of practice, I can now do this exercise largely in my head, without needing to empty out my closet … though trying things on is still the best gauge of an outfit’s potential. It doesn’t happen very often, but sometimes an outfit that worked well in my mind, doesn’t quite translate in real life.

Often, remixing is a question of very small tweaks; change out the top, or change the accessories, or add a new element. The habit to break is thinking that item A always has to be worn with item B. That kind of thinking will stop you from imagining other possibilities, for both A and B. Break them apart! Nothing terrible will happen, I promise.

Y’all know that I am not about didactic “telling” when it comes to (personal) style, but I like to offer people different ways of approaching things by showing. Recently, I’ve starting posting remix collages along with my OOTDs on Instagram, as a way to showcase how pieces can be worn in different ways. Each collage is a photo of my OOTD side by side with 2 other outfits featuring one item from the OOTD. Here are some examples:

I hope these remixes show how items can be used to create outfits with different aesthetics, for different occasions, and different seasons.