The Blue Shirt Project

Remember a few years ago, when I did the brown dress project, where I only wore a brown dress (I had two of them) for a month?  Well, it is time for me to do something similar again.

I am trying to curb my acquisitiveness.  I am like a magpie collecting shiny things when it comes to clothes.  This must stop.  And I am ready to do violence to this passion.

I am going to dress plain.  Or at least plainer than I have been.  Sort of.  I made some blue shirts, in a style that will work for me in the urban context in which I dwell, and this is what I will wear.  The reason I chose to make myself four blue shirts for this project as a collection of random reasons:  Blue is my husband's favorite color, blue is also standing for/reminding me of the Theotokos.  Blue is a pretty good neutral color that looks OK on me.  It is soothing and calming.  I chose to sew them from scratch mostly because I can, but also a little bit to gain an appreciation for how much work goes into clothes.  Every item in my closet was made somewhere, by some human  being whose hands were busy, whose back ached, and who likely got paid very very little to do that work.

Clothes are fast, cheap and easy for me, being the thrift store shopper that I am.  And I don't want them to be so anymore.  I want them to be slow, deliberate, a bit more difficult and much more rare.  Clothes and the creation of outfits as a form of entertainment....getting more because I'm BORED with what is already hanging in my closet....getting more because of that indescribable LONGING mood that strikes from time to time....so. not. spiritually. healthy.

I know some of you know what I'm talking about.

So this is a fast, of sorts.  It's not an experiment.  And perhaps I ought not to be blogging about this at all.  I don't know.  Look at me, I'm being WEIRD.  I'm FASTING!!!!

But the fact of the matter is, I identify a sin in my life and this is what my particular path of repentance needs to look like.  I am a person who does not do well without structure and boundaries and rules.  Without such, I am all dissipation, sloth, gluttony and greed.  

We are one month way from the start of the Nativity fast and for starters I will commit to a month of blue shirts.  I have an array of black and brown and denim skirts that I will pair with them, and cardigans as necessary.  My headscarf collection has been pared way way down as well, to only a few that will coordinate with these blue shirts.  This is about keeping it simple.

I'm not going to dump all that is in my closet...yet.  But I do want to pare it down at some point.  But nothing done in haste.  For now:  Blue shirts. 




Comments

elizabeth said…
always good to hear from you here. I like the blue.
Mimi said…
That's a lovely blue indeed!
Selena said…
I love this idea. But I can also imagine that it's going to be really tough from about midpoint onward. I remember very well reading your blog as you went through the month wearing the same dress; what a challenge! xxx
Alana said…
Might be. I'm already starting to look more appreciativelynat what else is in my closet. Which is GOOD, since one of my goals here is to build contentment. I am viewing this as a fast of sorts, with the personal gaol in mind of learning contentment. It is going well so far. I'm much less focused on the fact of the blue shirts this time, than I was on the brown dresses several years ago. I'm in a very different place personally and spiritually. This time I feel mire focused on my inner growth. I think I am always exp,print the idea of simplifying/ paring down my clothes to the very basics. Babaysteps.