What happened to Misplaced Style?
Getting really sick, but losing no enthusiasm for reclaiming our personal style.
Thank you for subscribing to this newsletter, some of you may have forgotten you did. To remind you, I’m Amelia, I misplaced my personal style, and TikTok helped me find it.
I am writing this from bed, where I have been for 157 days. I got Covid in May last year and never really recovered. By September the fatigue was so bad I couldn’t get out of bed, and here I’ve remained.
From this position, laid back on pillows with my laptop on a bed tray, I am restarting this newsletter to reconnect with you and continue our collective endeavour to reclaim our personal style and stop wasteful fashion habits.
In this email:
Being bedridden with Long Covid
What’s next for Misplaced Style
Style inspiration links
Bedridden
Long Covid is an infuriatingly slow and non-linear recovery. I’ve spent long days experiencing tightly-knit elements of my identity unravel: control, productivity, clear thinking, and independence.
I’m currently only able to shuffle to the loo and brush my teeth unsupported, the rest I need help with. I’ve lost a lot of weight, my hair is falling out, and I’ve watched so much Netflix that the algorithm is now recommending foreign language shows, presumably because I’ve watched all the English-speaking ones. I have lost sight of the shore of my healthy self. Which is not unlike losing your personal style, it happens quietly, as Kierkegarrd says:
“The biggest danger, that of losing oneself, can pass off in the world as quietly as if it were nothing; every other loss, an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc. is bound to be noticed.”
The gift of this illness is that in stepping back from the crush of normal life, I have an opportunity to do a hard refresh, rebooting with intention. I don’t plan to waste this opportunity, and what’s next for Misplaced Style is part of that.
What’s next for Misplaced Style?
As an exclusively pyjama-wearing observer of fashion and style content during these months I’ve noted that Shein and Zara hauls are still the norm. Fashion magazines, the authoritative voice of style in the 20th century, are shuttering, giving rise to the 21st-century influencer, ready to soak up the marketing dollars of an industry that encourages us to participate in an ever-escalating trend cycle.
And we have.
We’re buying more clothes and throwing more away than we ever have in human history. And yet, here we are, misplacing our style.
Style is how we live and what we value. It reflects what is important to us. I want to be inspired to dress in line with my ethics and values, and feel good in my clothes. But where to go for inspiration?
Well, as your humble guide, I hope this newsletter provides us both with that inspiration.
The Misplaced Style newsletter is focused on the quiet business of finding your personal style. It’s an act of resistance against the idea that we can buy style, or happiness. Personal style is like anything else, some people have a natural talent, some become experts through practice, and others learn from books, or newsletters! My notes app is overflowing with ideas for topics including:
How do you know if an item is made to last?
How to weave secondhand into your consumption habits
Why do many of us feel that personal style is “not for me?”
How to break down inspiration photos to find what you actually like
I will endeavour to find answers to these questions, and more, for us by asking the stylists, the stylish and the style files of the past.
This newsletter will arrive in your inbox, without affiliate links or advertisements, to inspire us to celebrate the power clothes have in our lives, encouraging us to feel confident in our clothes using a less wasteful, more mindful approach.
I’d also love to hear from you - I have all the time in the world to read and reply to comments!
I hope you’ll continue to join me on this quest to collectively up our style game.
Amelia
Share your style goals
Tell me, now 2023 has kicked off, do you have any style-related goals this year?
I’m also open to TV, movie, book and podcast suggestions. What have you loved that I may have missed?
Style Inspiration
As someone who has missed two full seasons of clothes-wearing, I have lived vicariously through other people’s style.
Weekly snapshot of what people are wearing in New York City by Starlinc (Youtube)
Romanticise your life with fashion (sound on TikTok)
Undressed with Kathryn Eisman (TV show)
Articles of Interest by Avery Trufelman (Podcast)
Know someone who may also be interested in this newsletter? Please share it with them!
Really love your content, and your style, on TikTok, I struggle to find mine and your journey is inspirational!
I have Lipoedema and clothes are a struggle as I can, on a bad day, change one-two sizes during a day with painful swelling. I have recently had surgery so my shape has also drasticaly changed, making it a challenge for my brain to catch up. There was a ledgend when I grew up of a tribe that did not fly because they said their soul could not follow that quick, scared of loosing it in the speed of the aircraft moving their body. I can relate…
I live in Sweden and we recycle everything (including byrochracy), so there are clothes bins next to the bins were we recycle every thing else, like plastic, metal, glass, paper… thinking of how we can minimize waste is a lifestyle.
But here is my thought; historically, like 100-200 years ago, women had the same garment regardless like if they were pregnant or not, they were often, meaning their body shape changed drastically. The corsetts were laced (not at all advocating we should go back to that), allowing them to alter and adapt their clothes, they were designed to accomodate change. I feel we have lost that thought when we create clothes today, do you agree? To design clothes that allow for larger changes? Childrens clothes here have elastic bands with buttons sown into the waistband of pants here to allow their growth, why don’t we have the same in adult clothes to allow for a good dinner? We could use clothes for longer time without having to discard them when they are too snug or big, continue using them instead of having same pants in several sizes.
ps -- podcasts:
if you are interested in the human condition while incarcerated, Ear Hustle is a great podcast.
For quirky little crimes, Criminal.
Their sister pod that touches on love in many forms, This is Love.
For some dharma and peaceful contemplation, Heart Wisdom Podcast (Jack Kornfield),
mostly light and great dynamic between three cohosts, Smartless.
Human sociology, WorkLife