Stay at home in style: Who do you dress for?

Many of us are beginning the new year under shelter-in-place orders (a.k.a. lockdown). To help brighten our spirits I decided to launch a new series, “Stay at Home Style”, to help us to focus on some of the rituals that can support and uplift us even if we have nowhere to go but home.

What differentiates a ritual from a routine is the meaning and intention we impart on the routine. Turning a routine into a ritual is not a question of how much time you spend or the method or products you use, but rather the mindful attention, intention and sense of ceremony applied to an otherwise ordinary, everyday act. The mundane act of folding your clothes before bed-time could become a ritual of prayerfully putting away the various troubling thoughts that have piled up over the course of the day. The act of choosing and putting on a particular necklace in the morning may serve as a symbol of courage. The act of putting on your coat before going out may remind you to clothe yourself in kindness.

And the more we repeat a ritual over time, the more meaningful they become to us. Simply brushing your hair or putting on your perfume can become a ritual.

When it comes to clothing, many of us have well-honed dressing rituals we routinely performed in the past. Dressing with special intention for a date, a luncheon with girlfriends, a business meeting or a night on the town is a ritual you may have performed many times over. Intentionally choosing to slip on those sexy heels or taking extra care with your accessories or putting on the “power suit” are just some of the rituals we associate with dressing for others. But, with so many of these familiar social engagements temporarily on hold, we can easily end up dressing day-to-day without any intention at all.

If you’ve succumbed to wearing your pajama’s or sweats 24/7 or dressing only from the waist up for zoom calls, the question you might ask yourself is— who are you dressing for? Do you dress only for the approval of others? Or do you dress with intention to support & bring pleasure to yourself?

Yes, working or relaxing at home may call for a different wardrobe than you need for working in an office or hanging out with friends, but you can still be very intentional about the colors you wear, the fabrics you choose, the styles you select and the accessories you add. You can choose to approach the routine tasks of dressing and undressing with a sense of ritual.

We’re almost a year into this new normal and as we begin 2021 it’s a good time to take stock and to think about whether the way you’ve been dressing the past year has been truly supporting and uplifting you?

If you could implement a new dressing ritual that would bring you pleasure or support you, your message and your goals during these days of staying at home, what would it be?

You’ll be able to follow along with this series here on the blog, as well as on my Instagram and FB feeds. I hope you’ll be inspired to revisit or create some special rituals of your own that will serve you well both this year and in the years to come!