Fashion forward

After my first year of working at home, my wardrobe needed an upgrade. I gave away all my sweatpants and replaced them with…yoga pants. That’s right. For most of my second year in my home office, I’ve spent nearly every day swathed in slightly fitted black cotton knit boot cut pants with a hint of Spandex (that's the precise way they're described in the catalog.) I pair the pants with one of my seven Columbia fleece jackets (inexplicably, my collection includes two identical pine green zip-ups) and Ugg boots and I’m ready for the day.
This has become my signature look. I like to think of it as “mountain woman meets spiritual fitness guru meets practical free spirit.” I don’t think that’s how my husband would describe it, but he did tell me he was grateful that yoga pants don’t get as baggy and shapeless as the old drawstring cotton sweats (thanks to that hint of Spandex). And when I change into a pair of blue jeans (I call it “dressing up”), he knows I’m actually leaving the house for the day.
I’ve written about outdoor recreation for years, so my wardrobe already leaned toward practical/casual for all those days on the trail or in the forest. I own several pairs of hiking boots and a drawer full of SmartWool socks. I have enough fleece to fill its own closet (don’t you be judging me about the fleece!), and I’ve always favored pants over dresses. (Boots and Birkenstocks just don’t have that dressy look.)
Even when I worked in an office, I figured out a way to dress almost trail-ready most of the time. But now that I spend most days at home writing, I’ve shed my wardrobe of every skirt and dress I owned.
My choice of clothing is often a response to my complete frustration with how to dress. Women my age are often stuck - between fashion better suited for their daughters and fashion (I use the term lightly) that’s heavy on puckered elastic waistbands and embroidered theme sweaters. My 21-year-old daughter often thanks me for not wearing the same kinds of clothes she does, and at the same time is grateful I refrain from sweats emblazoned with pumpkins or Christmas trees or hearts and flowers. And she even occasionally borrows my look, picking out a fleece jacket from my vast collection or threatening to steal my Uggs.
Maybe my look will catch on after all.