embracing conflict in outfits and Uniqlo U collab thoughts
Our outfits also contain multitudes.
I’ve been balancing conflicting desires lately. What else is new? And it’s been showing up in my style as a surge of creativity hampered by a craving to look sophisticated and sometimes even invisible. Neutral vs colorful. Quiet vs loud. Blending in vs standing out. Simple vs complicated. Online vs offline. Sharing vs shutting up. Fear of putting on an elaborate, well-thought-out outfit and then feeling inadequate when I see someone else simply wearing black cashmere and ripped jeans. You can never go wrong with that look, so maybe it’s also a fear of going wrong. Fear! It’s a terrible motivation, sartorially and generally, and lately I’ve been more anxious than normal. I haven’t let it stop me, but I have been letting it get to me. Does that make sense?
Honestly, because I like to romanticize everything as a way to cope with life, I'm feeling like those characters in “Over the Garden Wall.” (If you haven’t seen this show, now is your chance because it is the CUTEST wholesome spooky fall animated series.) I’m on a quest to figure out a new direction in which to steer my life (or at least my career) and little side plots keep popping up along the way causing me to rethink it all. I’m also distracted by all the life around me that has nothing to do with my career, like the pretty leaves turning red that I want to go see and the beautiful clothes coming out that I want to study and the friends I want to hang out with, but onward I quest, for I may not know peace until I have steady paychecks and set hours again. Freelancing is rough, shocker!
BUT anyways this is a newsletter about 👗fashion👢 and I’m learning that conflicting desires may make for good outfits.
Amidst the riches of style advice from Tibi’s Amy Smilovic is the concept of antonyms. She advises introducing something opposite into too-straightforward outfits to achieve balance and convey that we contain multitudes.
It’s a helpful lens through which to view any outfit that isn’t quite working. Is it too themed? Does it go together a little too well? What’s something unexpected but still you that you could throw in there? When will your reflection show who you are inside? To quote Succession: “Does it serve my interests?” Fashion should be fun, but it should also be useful.
I’ve been assembling a lot of outfits lately as one of my side plots is being a person who posts their outfits on Instagram. (Another one of my conflicting desires: sharing my outfits/expressing myself creatively online and also not wanting to show up on the feeds of everyone I’ve ever met. Is there no better platform for this??? Do my middle school classmates really need to see this lol?) Sometimes I get carried away with the dress-up aspect of it and lose sight of the goal of each independent outfit, which is to reflect my style and suit the occasion. I rarely hit the bullseye but I always try. I then ask myself whether an outfit advances my sartorial agenda, which I’ve set and continually update through my moodboard, and try to add an antonym to balance the scales. It’s not this technical every time I get dressed — in fact, it rarely is — but I’m going through these thought processes subconsciously and sometimes consciously.
Let’s see some examples!
This look balances a few things: Delicate vs rugged. Light vs dark. Style vs function. There’s a lot of dainty shit going on here, between the lacy doily-like Skall Studio tank top that I tied as a skirt (worn over a thrifted white cotton mini skirt) and the cream silk top (a long-ago thrift find). I was inspired by a look from Leandra Medine’s newsletter yesterday in which she paired a silk long-sleeve top with shorts and boots. The black boots (The Row via The RealReal) balance the dainty top and bottom but the scales are still tipped towards delicate, which isn’t really my style, so I needed to keep going. I tied a navy ribbon belt from a skirt I thrifted as a scarf. This was inspired by a photo on my moodboard of a chic woman with her hair tied back wearing a very similar scarf that seems to be billowing after her as she rushes somewhere important (or at least that’s what I like to think). My chunky, dark sunglasses (Dries Van Noten via SSENSE sale) also balance the outfit’s lightness. Finally, the similarly chunky, wool blazer (the brand is Raey but I bought it on someone’s Instagram story sale) tips the scales to 50/50. I also considered the color palette, which is red, white and blue in a non-themed way because of the specific shades.
Okay oooone more thing: there are a lot of textures going on here, which was also intentional, because textures break up an outfit arguably better than design, cut, color or anything else. There’s silk, cotton, wool, leather, silver and acetate. Nearly every component is a different texture, which balances the outfit. It’s like a topographic map with various bumps and contours.
This one is a little more difficult to define. Sailor vs opera. Light vs dark. Both main pieces are in direct contrast, but they share the characteristic of being unusual. The pants are very wide, billowy, gold and silk, which isn’t something you see every day, and the jacket is cartoonishly nautical. So even though both items are contrasting, the scales are balanced by the fact they’re both so exaggerated. They’re also completely different textures — the jacket (Les Vacances D'Irina via The RealReal) is a heavy cotton denim and the pants (Oscar De La Renta fall 2008 also via TRR) are a buttery silk. The turtleneck grounds the look a bit while the silk drawstring purse complements the pants. I’m also wearing heeled black leather boots but you can’t see them well because the pants graze the ground. I wore this to see a play (Belfast Girls, so good.) during Curtain Up! which is the opening of the local theater season and a big street party where everyone is dressed up so it couldn’t have been for a better setting.
Moving through the next few more quickly, I promise.
The most exciting collab of the year, in my opinion, drops next Thursday. It’s Uniqlo U season!!!!!! 😍
When Jil Sander was doing Uniqlo collabs, I would have said that her collection was the most exciting of the year, but unfortunately her time at Uniqlo is done. However, Christophe Lemaire’s biannual Uniqlo U collab always hits and this new one looks phenomenal. It’s the kind of collection that you should assess fully several times before buying (and if you are buying, then set an alarm for when it drops because certain items will likely sell out fast. Probably around 9 a.m. EST) to identify which pieces would fill existing gaps in your wardrobe. It’s also the kind of collection that contains a lot of pieces that could be thrifted, so keep that in mind while browsing. (For example, I personally wouldn’t buy the trench coat, because every thrift store seemingly has a collection of London Fog trenches that do the trick, but I won’t judge if you do because it is a nice shape.) The collab is subtle and neutral in an earthy fall/winter color palette and I can say from previous experience with Uniqlo U that the items tend to be well-cut and high-quality. My favorite pair of jeans are from a previous Uniqlo U season (no longer available sadly) but they’re releasing a similar pair in this collab. A lot of the fabrics used in the collab seem to be a blend of natural and synthetic fibers, which is something you should keep in mind while shopping. I tend to mostly shop natural fibers, but I don’t swear off synthetic fibers at Uniqlo because sometimes they make good use of fiber blends. I’m curious about how a lot of these pieces will feel and last. Alas, I live in Buffalo and we don’t have a physical store.
It seems like Uniqlo U sits in the middle of a Venn diagram of so many kinds of people/styles, though in classic Uniqlo fashion the sizing is exclusionary. The line is entirely unisex and Lemaire refers to it in an interview with Uniqlo as “genderless.” I keep thinking of Rachel Tashjian’s recent Opulent Tips newsletter about personal style in which she writes that there should be a government-funded clothing brand that makes “incredibly simple and straightforward clothing” that everyone can wear and mentions it could be like Uniqlo. I think she’s right in that anyone asking the question, “What should I wear to fit in and look fresh and stylish?” should visit Uniqlo and especially shop the Uniqlo collabs (and also thrift similar styles). However, a full Uniqlo outfit, no matter which collab you’re wearing, is too themed. The theme is Uniqlo. But the brand pads out a modern wardrobe nicely and affordably.
Lemaire’s runway looks are all over my moodboard, checking various boxes: cocoons, one long silhouette, fun details, ease — so I’m excited about some of the Uniqlo U pieces, especially the fleece and brushed jersey pieces that scream ease and seem comfortable for my lifestyle of sitting at a desk and writing. The Uniqlo U lookbook is like a watered down, simpler and muccccchhhh less expensive version of Lemaire’s usual looks, which means the items are the perfect building blocks for creating a Lemaire-inspired look with some key additions. Mix in some high/low, vintage/new, color pops and interesting accessories and you’ve got a personal and current outfit.
I made a few collages of Lemaire runway looks and Uniqlo U looks to compare designs and show how you can seek runway inspiration when styling the Uniqlo pieces:
Thanks for reading xx
Francesca 🍁
Love that someone else out there loves Uniqlo U as much as I do. I try not to go crazy with fast fashion brands that produce at the quantities Uniqlo does, but I like knowing that the pieces I buy will last and have a style and vibe that I’ll treasure for years to come. This FW collection looks especially good!
I’ve been thinking about antonym dressing too! I tend to go super casual head to toe and then wonder why I feel so meh so even a small thing like switching up my bag choice for some contrast feels exciting. Your outfits are giving me more ideas :)