Mica’s World Loves Queer Eye: DIY Fashion

I hadn’t realized how much Queer Eye impacted me until I walked into my closet the other day. The first thought I had was, “Tan would not approve of these jeans. This pair is definitely outdated and I don’t feel good wearing this pair.”

I want to share with you what I did when working with Tan’s area of expertise. He helps with fashion choices and closet organization (from my viewpoint).

This is such a feel-good show and I’m so appreciative of everyone involved in that project and the effect it has had on my life.

I am pretty good at organizing my clothes already, so I felt confident with that aspect of my wardrobe. My new superpower was Tan’s constant reminder about how our clothes represent us and how they make us feel while we’re wearing them.

I want to feel good each and every day, and clothes are an almost sure-fire way to help make that happen.

My System for Clothes Organization

Here’s the system I created to organize my clothes.

First, I focus on one section of the closet or one drawer at a time, which will eventually get you “wear” you’re going.

• Step 1: Schedule an intentional 15 – 30 minutes a day for 5 consecutive days (put this as an appointment on your calendar or set a timer) to go through your clothing drawers and closet. Of course, you’ll adjust this to your needs. You may need less time, or maybe this will take you several weeks.
• Step 2: When going through a specific drawer or section of your closet, ask yourself the following questions about each and every piece of clothing:
  • Do I like wearing this? If the answer is no, it goes away.
  • Does it fit me well? If not, it goes away or you get it altered.
  • Is it torn or damaged? If you love it and it fits, take it to an alteration shop. If not, away it goes.
  • How long has it been since you’ve worn it? If it’s been more than a year and you feel “meh” about it, donate it.
    ***Your clothes that are meant to “go away” can be put into plastic bags and shared any of the following ways:
  • Give these wonderful clothes to friends who love second-hand clothing
  • Give them to a local shelter if they accept clothing or have a thrift store that benefits their organization
  • Have a yard sale (I don’t love this option, but it is a good way to clear out everything you don’t want in your life)
  • Donate them to Salvation Army or Goodwill or any other organization in your community that accepts clothing donations
• Step 3: Breathe. I have to do this process in small segments of time because I get overwhelmed. I know I can only try on my clothes and sort things for a maximum of 30 minutes at a time. That makes it doable for me because otherwise, I simply won’t do it. So definitely breathe and create a system to go through your clothing that works for you and your family.

Building My Wardrobe (On a Budget)

• Step 1: Go through the clothes that are left (you like them and they fit) and put outfits together. If you have a fabulous pair of jeans but no shirt you love to wear with them, write that down. Figure out any new items you need to create full outfits and write the missing items on your list.
  My list looked like this just a few weeks ago:
  ~ 2-4 pairs of nice fitting jeans, 1 needs to be dark blue
  ~ 2 – 3 royal blue shirts to match my blue/green skirt
  ~ 2 – 3 black short sleeve shirts to go with multiple skirts I already have
  Another time I looked for the following:
  ~ 10 tank tops – all different colors
  Or even some days I look for:
  ~ 1 new light jacket
  ~ 3 new items that I love but wouldn’t normally purchase
• Step 2: Celebrate your accomplishment by going SHOPPING! If you’re like me, you don’t have a whole lot of money to spend on “new” clothes. Do what I do and head to Habitat for Humanity or Salvation Army on their half-price days. I know they might not spend their money on things I agree with, but the clothes aren’t being newly manufactured, you can find great items, and you can buy a lot of clothes that “might” work without much fuss because they’re only $2 – $3 a piece. I try to go in once every month or two to satisfy my “I want something new” bug. 

Autism Note

Our amazing kids tend to love very specific types of clothing (soft, no tags, tight at the waste, etc.) and even specific pieces of clothing. I get that. When they’re young, I feel that so long as the items are clean, it’s all good. Once they get older, though, they need to dress for success as much as possible. If there’s a specific brand of clothing they love and it feels good to them, I recommend buying as many colors as you can and creating a fashion schedule that works for everyone involved.

It might look something like:
~ You need to wear a different colored shirt each day of the week.
~ “If you are going to  __Name a place they might go that requires nicer dress__, you’ll need to wear your long beige pants, brown shoes, and one of your collared shirts.”
Depending on their abilities and willingness, the instructions might be more specific, or it could be as casual as, “Be sure to dress in your nice clothes if you see your grandmother this weekend.” They really do need to be taught clothing skills (like all of us, I suppose) and that’s perfectly okay. <3

To finish up, please know that I donated the jeans Tan wouldn’t have condoned and all is well in my fashion world.

I hope this is helpful and you feel sassy and confident in your clothes each and every day.

So much love,

Mica

Next week I’ll share how I created a more organized home with the guidance of Bobby from Queer Eye. One of my favorite therapy sessions with Michael resulted in my having to organize my house (the outside) so Michael could be calmer mentally (the inside). I loved that wisdom and still work with that lesson today.