Mantras.

'if you don't love it, don't wear it.'

Off Of Broadway (blog pics below) has the above mantra, according to an interview she did with Second Skin (read it in my Google Reader, yo). I love that mantra. Why? First off, it's how I feel now that I'm packing up my stuff for the second time in a year... I only want things around me that I love.



Her mantra also reminds me of when I was in middle school. My mom forked over money for me to get Esprit jeans (I'm unsure if that's how it's even spelled now; I used to recreate the logo on everything!). Black ones. And I wore them EVERY DAMN DAY. I was obsessed. They were "cool" jeans to have, and I believe I even liked how they fit. They slimmed my oddball-growing body down. They were grunge-like too which was cool back then. And... in order for me to wear 'em everyday, I would sometimes spot-wash them. Yep. In a family of six, there was no way I'd get to wash 'em after every wear or every third wear or whatever.

The same happened in college, from what I can recall of it. I had a pair of Levis I adored. My imitation-Birkenstocks too. Later, I accidentally colored the jeans pink by washing them with something red. I was devastated.

Later still, before I ran off into the wild world of high school teaching, I had these yoga-ish black pants. Drawstring. I dressed them up and down, and, yeah, they were sweats-in-disguise, but I wasn't proud of my body and I had no clue how to dress it. I probably thought I had some style, but it wasn't until Carrie Bradshaw came into view...

Now, I'm thinking of my cowboy boots, my imitation Frye boots, my favorite jeans - the ripped up Silvers and my latest Gap 1969, the various vintage tops and the tight striped tunic. I love this stuff. I keep buying better things and replacing the stuff I packed up in July. I searched through t-shirts this morning, realizing that many of them were "EH" in the totem-pole of fabulous. I don't want "Eh," I want "YAY."

And with all the secondhand hunting I do, I can afford YAY. True story.