Treating Myself
Sometimes we just shop for fun, and that's okay, too. Also: What I bought to celebrate myself during Birthday Month, what I wore to work this week, and it's time to talk about my suede skirt.
It’s my birthday this upcoming week, and therefore, I’ve been/will be celebrating my birthday for three weeks or so. The whole month? We’ll see how it shakes out.
But this meme keeps calling to me:
Treat myself, I did. A lot. I kind of went haywire this month and bought things that caught my eye and my heart; I saw items I knew I would love and enjoy and I bought them. I didn’t go out searching for these specific items, but I know myself and I know what items are worthy of taking a chance on, and you know what? It felt good to just buy myself a few things without intention, without filling a specific ‘hole’ in my wardrobe. I just bought things that made me feel smiley, that appeal to a certain sense of fun or whimsy in my wardrobe. They may or may not pan out, and that’s okay, too. I don’t shop this way most of the time, but sometimes, there is a feeling, isn’t there, that, well:
My thoughts are scattershot today. My workweek was fine but long, and I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning knitting a sleeve of the sweater I’m hoping to complete this weekend.
In an attempt to rein in my focus, I’d like to share:
What I obtained recently.
What I wore last week.
And I also want to talk about my suede skirt.
What I obtained recently:
I have been in lots of waiting places recently which gave me time to scroll, and I came across a bunch of items I simply could not resist — intention be damned.
I did not buy this particular item for myself and it is not quite yet in my possession; instead, I asked my mom to get me this Damson Madder Avery Embroidered Coat I stumbled across on Depop:
You may have seen me write about this coat several posts ago as a piece I’ve wanted for a long time; it was literally nowhere to be found. I tried to emulate the look of this jacket in other ways, but that was an epic fail. Damson Madder is a brand that releases pieces in smaller batches and therefore it can be tough to find items once they sell out. When the Depop algo read my mind and served this coat up to me in my size just as my mom was texting me what I wanted for my birthday, I couldn’t ignore the synchronicity of it all and sent her the link.
I don’t know what’s funnier: the idea of my mom shopping on Depop, or the fact that I am about to turn 53 and I just had my mommy buy me a red coat from a secondhand site. I think the whole thing is kind of adorable in a how-lucky-am-I? kinda way.
If you were to look at my Indyx closet after next week, you’ll see that I own several pieces of red outerwear. Don’t care. They all serve different functions. That’s why, when I read the last post written by Tina Boetto about the various ways she’d styled her amazing red wool/cashmere blend jacket — a jacket that has fringe! —:
and then provided a link to the exact coat in my size listed on eBay for $16.99 (!!!) I snatched that up so quickly my heart was nearly racing as I checked out.
It’s arriving today. eep. As Tina pointed out, it’s going to look great with my brown pillbox hat.
One truth about me is that as soon as I say I’m “not into” something I will then turn around and buy that thing and will then be into it. So I’m not into prints, per se, but something about the way this print looks from far away and up close on these Old Navy pants — as well as the color combination — was so enticing to me, I couldn’t resist. Plus, I had Old Navy Cash burning a hole in my virtual pocket. These pants are actually amazing. They run a teeny bit tighter and longer in this version of the pant, FYI, than they do in the plain blue barrel jean made by Old Navy, but I actually prefer the way these fit.
Earlier this month, Devon Rule wrote this amazing post:
In which she mentioned and shared a photo of a Marc Jacobs bag she’d purchased years ago. When I saw it, I immediately coveted it. I just love its size and shape and color. I found one on eBay in perfect condition for under $30 (it was mislabeled as a wallet wristlet), and I scored, I think. There are similar ones to be found here, and here.
Another Substack-influenced purchase that I couldn’t be happier about is this Wales Bonner swing sweater I bought in pristine condition with tags on The Real Real for $78, a purchase that was highly subsidized by TRR credits. By the way, there is another available on TRR right now for the same price, also in pristine condition, with tags.
The sweater I purchased was listed as an XL, but provided no measurements. I’m typically a small or medium in sweaters, but I took a chance and purchased this anyway. The size tag on the inside of the sweater I received (which is drying on a towel right now after being hand washed — I’ll try it on once it dries) says it’s a size 4, which correlates to a large? The sizing is kind of confusing to me, but it looks like it’ll be just a slightly oversized sweater on me.
I really wanted the sweater that Nicole Cherrelle wears so beautifully in posts like this one:
I don’t think I’d look as naturally chic as she does, but I just love the happy colors and the slouch of her sweater. The colorway of the sweater I ended up procuring is different than Nicole’s (I couldn’t find hers and really wanted to use my TRR credits for this purchase), though I think I’ll enjoy wearing these colors with what I own. I’ll report back.
Then, I came across these pants on ThredUp, made of 100% organic cotton by a small company I’d never heard of before, Heel Athens Lab. Between the color and the ginormous cocoon shape of them, plus the fact that they wouldn’t require hemming, I had to have them. This was the first time I’ve ever stalked ThredUp, waiting for someone to release these from their cart. It was worth the wait. They cost me $19.99 plus shipping.
The crochet collar I’ve already written excitedly about twice before, made by Nyni Concept, arrived today from Ukraine (shipped fast!), and I couldn’t be more in love with it:
Quite by accident (oopsie!) I saw this By Anthropologie bib collar trench coat on Depop (it’s that damn algorithm — it’s too good!) and I impulse bought it for $40. I’m on the fence about trench coats. They look amazing on so many people but I usually find them kind of useless. That being said, my outerwear has been kind of lacking and I thought the bib collar was fun, and since it was in excellent condition and priced well, I treated myself. It’s my birthday week/month/year!
And a girl needs a cute lil spring hat to wear with all of these amazing coats and jackets, doesn’t she?
This cotton crochet beret from Free People was too perfect to pass up for $38:
There may have been other purchases (like two pairs of secondhand Levi 501s in a larger size than I usually wear for some slouch factor). But there has been some self control, too.
Keeping in mind that the majority of my purchases have been secondhand, I added up the total of these buys from the past month and came up with a highly approximated sum (not counting credits, not counting shipping and taxes) that came to less than $400, which isn’t bad, considering a lot of folks on here are linking to jeans that cost more than that for one single pair.
What I wore to work last week
Monday: Got to wear my new red crochet collar from Bella Bags Crochet with an old Uniqlo sweater, Uniqlo jersey barrel pants, and old Madewell booties.
Tuesday: Wore my Ottoman empire outfit to work.
Wednesday: Handmade sweater alert! Plus: an anklet over socks always make me happy!
Thursday: A second black turtleneck for the week because my work building is FREEZING. Like, I probably can’t wear spring clothes in my building until June. Seriously.
Friday: Another handmade sweater with wrinkled Madewell barrel jeans that are too long, and my vintage Bally’s shoes. I love to wear lady shoes with an otherwise casual oversized outfit.
I’ve been wanting to discuss this suede skirt
Did you know that there used to be a big mall underneath the World Trade Center? I used to do all of my Christmas shopping there, and often shopped in the mall on my way home to Brooklyn from my job in Manhattan. I got several outfits there that I ended up wearing on my honeymoon to Italy in the year 2000.
I found this layout of the mall on a Reddit post, but it looks correct, according to what I remember:
Recently, my sister told me that for some reason she’d been holding onto the suede skirt I’d worn to my bridal shower in early 2000 (I think I gave it to her after I had my first child in 2002 and nothing fit me). I purchased it at The Express in the World Trade Center mall in 1999 or 2000. It fits me once again, miraculously enough, but I can’t bring myself to wear it, and pencil skirts are even trending right now (they’re a classic but also there’s the CBK obsession of which you may have heard), but I don’t think I’ll wear it. I’ve always felt that clothes hold onto memories of the past, and although I have so many wonderful memories of the times I wore this skirt — to my bridal shower, throughout Italy on my honeymoon, to my jobs in the city — it just doesn’t feel right to use it on a regular suburban day in the year 2026. Similarly, I had to hold onto but never again wear the outfit that I wore when I was in the city on 9/11. Friends say that the skirt is an artifact of an important place and time, and I think they’re right.
And so it sits in my closet.
Do you have clothes that you hold onto, but won’t wear? Do you think I should wear the skirt? Please share your thoughts.
(P.S. There are no affiliate links in my posts as I’m too lazy to figure out how to do that.)
Happy almost birthday, Danielle! That red DM coat is divine.
Yay for the Ottoman Empire! Happy birthday.