Summer doldrums

Doldrums just being a state of hot, sunny stasis; not necessarily a bad thing.

It’s the middle of the summer, slightly on the shorter side now. Torpor rules. My Swedish Death Cleaning turned into a gentle decluttering, and I’ve done every last bit of laundry both in my house and my daughter’s, so all I really do now is trundle between our two homes, feeding the dogs, watering the plants, getting shopping for my parents, watching lots of TV, and picking up some crochet I’ve been fiddling with for well over a year and still don’t have a plan for (maybe a blanket, if I can eke out the Shetland wool far enough?)

I wear pyjama bottoms, all the time. I wear my blue and white ones at my daughter’s house, and a pair of soft jersey ones at my home, and when walking between the two I wear my Liberty bottoms or an old pair of Deiji Studio ones that annoy me because they are so faded (I loath faded black anything). They are all so cool and comfortable, and as I invariably seem to be lugging stuff both ways, comfort is paramount. I wash my face and put on my SPF and that’s it, I don’t bother with makeup. I wear the same pair of sandals every single day.

I see the same people every single day too, which is currently most of my small town. We used to have three small but well-equipped supermarkets, and are currently down to one as two of them are being re-configured, so the entire population shops in the same place. Of course, this is a small town in Italy, so you don’t have to shop at the supermarket, as there is a dedicated shop for everything you need, but the supermarkets also have a delicatessen counter with local bread and stuff, and there’s a butcher at the meat counter. I hate to admit it but I do mainly shop at the supermarket because I’m normally just shopping for one person, and don’t want to go to a shop for my salad and another for my prosciutto and olives and another for my bread and another for my napkins. I’m lazy and I just want to get my one-person staples in one place.

So everyone in town has seen me in the same clothes multiple times over the past couple of weeks and I’m fine with it. I am very consciously remembering that I notice this every year: once we hit the summer doldrums, and I don’t leave my town for weeks on end, I go semi-feral. My need for variety and interest in my wardrobe is very much limited to work and socialising, and so although the summer is a big chunk of time and will go on for another two months at least, I really only require more than two outfits for part of it. This means that I look hard at any wardrobe desires and ask myself how much I would wear them if, as I hope, I manage to retire in a few years, given that I buy clothes assuming they will be with me for the longterm.

I’ve mentioned before that the items on my rolling clothing wishlist didn’t really roll: I didn’t change my mind. These are the things that I kept coming back to throughout the no-buy year.

• Liberty Tana Lawn pyjamas. In the summer, I could live in pyjamas quite happily, and the Liberty ones are the perfect weight for outerwear. This is a long-term wish, as it requires the perfect combination of sales price, size, and pattern.

  Want, not need. Would wear all summer. Plan to get at some point.

• Linen shirt. I wear linen shirts to work in the warmer weather, and a couple of the ones I have are almost ten years old and while perfectly good for everyday life, I find I’m not wearing them to work. I could introduce a new one into the work clothes rotation while still wearing the old ones at weekends.

  Want, not need. Would wear all spring, summer and autumn. Plan to get at some point.

• Linen set (pants and sleeveless top). I wear linen pants and sleeveless tops all summer, and my trick for making them instantly read as slightly smart is to wear the same colour top and bottom. I don’t at all need this, I just know I would wear it.

  Want, not need. Would wear all spring, summer and autumn. Plan to get at some point.

• Thin long-sleeved underlayer(s). I wear long-sleeved tops under sweaters and dresses in the winter, and the ones I found myself constantly reaching for were a couple of very thin ones with cashmere from Intimissimi. I can live without more of them, but I might give in, if only to cut down on the amount of times I do laundry (and also, a couple of old cotton ones are looking tired - not a huge issue for something that is normally underneath a top layer, but sometimes the sleeves poke out).

  Want, not need. Would wear all winter. Plan to get at some point.

• Cotton or linen sweater. I’m torn here, as this is definitely something I would wear, but I don’t much like cotton sweaters, and the only one I’m really drawn to is out of my price range.

  Want, not need. Would wear spring and autumn. Will get if the right one presents itself.

• Mid-weight knit jacket. I do feel this would be useful, possibly more useful than a black cardigan. But would it? I need to wait for autumn to consider this one again. My thinking was that it’s slightly smarter and more versatile than a cardigan, but then I can’t decide what would be more useful, cotton or merino wool.

  Want, not need. Would wear spring and autumn. Will get if the right one presents itself.

• Black cashmere (or wool) hip-length cardigan. I haven’t found the perfect one at the perfect price. My old one is now my dressing gown, and while there were many times I found myself wishing I had a black cardigan, it was something that I had told myself I could replace during the no-buy, but I just didn’t do it.

  Want, not need. Would wear all winter. Will get if the right one presents itself.

• Ballet flats or closed sandals. As it happened, the only thing I’ve been interested in pulling the plug on is the shoes, which didn’t stop me going down a rabbit hole of ballet flats - after I bought a pair. I don’t intend buying another pair, which is why the rabbit hole felt like (safe) fun. Probably this (the rabbit hole) is because my feet aren’t made for ballet flats and while I am relying on the strap and the elastic at the back to keep them on, the price was such that even if they don’t work out, they will find a home elsewhere (my daughter has already tried them on and told me my bunions will rub in them). Years ago I used to have a pair of red ballet flats from Brora, that I wore into the ground, but I’ve never really managed to replicate them. I have long thin feet and there’s not much for this kind of shoe to hang on to. Also, I have a very short window when I would wear shoes like this, as I prefer something I can slip my feet in and out of in the summer, and boots with a sturdy sole in winter. But there is just a little gap in the seasons where the leap from boot to clog could be combined with something that stays on your feet better when it’s not so hot, but it’s too hot for sneakers or boots.

  Want, not need. Would wear spring and autumn. Will get if the right one presents itself AND IT DID.

Here is the rabbit hole I fell down, quite safely, as I had already snapped up the Penelope Chilvers ones for a great sale price.

Camper Tencel ballerinas/Camper mesh flats/Camper triple strap ballerina Mary Jane Friulane silk/Camper X Issey Miyake beautifully weird flats/Mary Jane Friulane velvet Camper silver strap flats/Silver Puma speedcat from Lucinda Chamber’s recommendations on India Knight’s Home/Penelope Chilver silver flats that I ordered after seeing them on Kate Watson-Smyth’s Mad About The House

I like a bit of quirk in my footwear, but more than that, I like a lot of comfort, hence the amount of time I spent on the Camper website.

I think the no-buy year firmly established in my mind that my wardrobe served me well, and I don’t actually need anything else. Now that the brakes are off, I feel a bit as I did when I gave up smoking and drinking, and allowed myself to be back around people smoking and drinking again - the urge to buy clothes for the sake of it has gone. I like things that are not trend-led, so if I miss the perfect thing, it is sure to crop up again. I also know where I would want to get all these things from if I do get any of them, so I’m not going to be shopping around looking for them. I’m interested to see what this list looks like in a year’s time.

Shoe links.

Camper Tencel ballerinas/Camper mesh flats/Camper triple strap ballerina

Mary Jane Friulane silk/Camper X Issey Miyake beautifully weird flats/Mary Jane Friulane velvet

Camper silver strap flats/Silver Puma speedcat from Lucinda Chamber’s recommendations on India Knight’s Home/Penelope Chilver silver flats that I ordered after seeing them on Kate Watson-Smyth’s Mad About The House