Throwback Thursday: a style reconsideration

Yesterday (in preparation for throwback Thursday, the weekly event where it’s acceptable for us all to look a little bit stupid on social media) I went in search of the oldest item of clothing in my wardrobe. Much of the really terrible stuff has been slowly released to unfortunate charity shops over the years, but I did manage to find a few bits that I dated at about 5 years old. This may not seem like very long, especially for my parents (“This sock’s older than you!”- I’m certain everyone has heard that phrase from their parents) but I was only approaching 15 when I bought these clothes. While I unfortunately stopped getting taller a long time before I hit 15, we can all be thankful that my style had not finished evolving.

The items I found were a sheer shirt that I used to wear with tweed shorts and a military jacket. All of these items survived my recent wardrobe cull, so I humoured myself by putting the full ensemble on. Written down it doesn’t sound like a terrible combination, but I couldn’t even bring myself to take a photo. I looked like an impractically-dressed stable boy. Seriously, all I was missing was a riding hat and a horse named Tarquin This was rather reminiscent of most of my wardrobe 5 years ago- it was two poles: either blazers and brogues or hoodies and bright skinny jeans. There was also an inexplicable pair of harem pants that fell somewhere in the middle.

I didn’t want to be defeated in my attempt to restyle my old pieces, so I decided to get rid of the real offenders. The tweed shorts were put out of their misery. I replaced them with a newer item that I reckon old me would still have been happy with- wide-leg patterned trousers (Topshop). I really like the combination of the two pieces. I usually dress down the trousers with a t-shirt and a denim jacket so it was nice to put them in an outfit I’d go somewhere smart in. The look still pays tribute to the classic style I was struggling to achieve at 15, and the bold trousers take the place of the neon skinnies I was so fond of. The shirt can stay.

While past me was all about brogues, blazers and neon, new me, as you know, is pattern-obsessed. Those trousers, for a start, are printed to the nines.

I thought it’d be fun to contrast the first look (a tribute to my younger self, if not quite what I was really wearing at the time) with my most recent purchase- my second midi dress! This was briefly feature in my denim post but I wanted to really show it off.

The pattern on the dress (Monki) is just so unusual, I had to get it. I love how relaxed it is, the chilled out yin to the more uptight yang of my teenage years. Here’s a close-up of the print so you can really see just how weird and wonderful it is:

There are greek statues, abstract shapes, colours, it’s perfect! Although there are probably hundreds being sold across Europe, it feels completely unique to me, and any piece of clothing that can do that is very special indeed.

There we have it, a little flashback from my shady fashion past. Apologies that it wasn’t perhaps as embarrassing for me as you would have liked, but really the shorts outfit is one you have to see to wish you hadn’t. I guess today’s lesson is that while your tastes may change, you can still wear what you used to… maybe just not all at once (or if it’s tweed).