WORN TO DEATH...

Alas, poor Wiksten! I knew him well.

If I like something enough and it fits me well, I'll wear it to death. I knew it was time to look for a replacement for my bamboo Wiksten skirt when people started saying things like, "Oh, I recognised you from down the street because you always wear that skirt." It's true, I've been wearing this skirt almost daily for the past two or three years. It's my jeans. This is what it looked like when it was new and above is part of what it looks like now: lived in, is perhaps the right word! The indigo bamboo is supposed to fade and it's only a little bit frayed in places. It has really stood up very well to such intensive wearing and that's something I ask of my faves. The thing is, you never know what will become your fave in advance. I thought I'd made a mistake when I bought this skirt in a frenzy of clicking madness, trying to buy something, anything in a Wiksten update - in which items are snapped up and the shop empties within half a second (I'm not actually exaggerating). After managing to buy it I realised I had bought a skirt two sizes too big for me. Oops. So I took it in at the side seams and proceeded to wear it all the time, forever.

The problem now is, I can't find anything I like to replace it. I bought a skirt in Zara, but when I put it on for the first time it already had a hole in the pocket where the overlocker had missed one side of the fabric, then I noticed a loose thread, pulled it and the entire hem came down. I felt a bit silly hand mending a skirt I'd just bought! Oh, and however much you iron it, it still looks wrinkled. Not going to be a fave. This is why buying well made clothes works better for me. I need them to last oh, ten to fifteen years.

I have basically worn the same uniform for the past few years, but those favourite pieces are starting to look really tired: my navy Sessun booties are still very much in rotation and once the squeaking was sorted out have stood the test of time brilliantly; but my fave Sessun navy crew neck jumper is now short sleeved, rather than 3/4 length sleeved. It's also skin tight and it could do with an intensive session with a Remington Fuzzaway. I still wear it though, because it's so rare to find things I really love to wear. And my total bestie fave beige APC cashmere jumper (also worn practically daily for four years) is going to need elbow patches soon. And this is the thing, my guilty little secret: I'm always all oh, clothes blah blah wonderful, but if I look at myself I wear the same things over and over, most of which are pretty old. My favourite trousers to wear are these nondescript navy things - I think they're from Topshop a couple of years ago. I suppose I could spin them into being called "cropped cigarette pants" but actually they're just crappy cotton trousers that are ankle length. They're not interesting and they certainly aren't flattering at all, but I always have a pair of crappy navy trousers that I get attached to. I buy a new version of them every year. They're totally shit and I wear them all the time. I'm wearing them right now!