A Return

Well, hello, everyone! It's been... well, it's been a couple years, which is a hard thing to admit. I didn't intentionally take a step back from Inspirsession -- it sort of just happened. With the movement within the style community from blogs to other forms of social media like Instagram and TikTok, I wasn't sure whether updates would continue to reach an audience. I also decided to redirect some energy toward my acting career. Ironically, just about the time I gained a bit of focus in that area, some family health issues arose, then an engagement, and then a worldwide pandemic. Life comes out of nowhere sometimes, and things get shelved and then start gathering dust before you know it.

With this great pause, however, comes a new breath of life into my personal style journey and the desire to share it! I continue to call it my "journey," because I think just like our personalities our styles are ever-evolving. That said, in some ways I feel I have finally "arrived" at what I always hoped to achieve: I have a closet which which I feel, for the most part, content. I wear what I own, even while living the unemployed life at home. I've taken a step back from the perfectionist fantasy of a minimalist capsule wardrobe, but held onto the structural guidelines. Here's a short update on what's new since my last posting:

I did not return to Rent the Runway after my free trial (the last thing posted on this blog before my break.) While it was plenty of fun, it was also expensive, and I didn't like the reliance on dry-cleaning.

I have continued to prioritize secondhand shopping, but in a way that feels more intuitive and less proscribed to a capsule checklist.

I have considered taking another year-long shopping break, because thrifting, while certainly a more sustainable practice than fast-fashion shopping, can easily get out of hand.

Speaking of fast-fashion, I have fallen off the wagon somewhat with my avoidance of it. It's a slippery slope -- especially when you don't have much cash to spare. It's also easy to become jaded with the "I'm just one person in a messed up society" train of thought. In an effort to recommit myself to buying new only from sustainable outlets, I am rereading Greta Egan's "Wear No Evil." In the context of education, I am also delving into more human-rights and anti-racist based reading (specifically the history of garment production within colonized societies) to better understand the roots of my passion, inconvenient and otherwise.

For the forseeable future, I have decided to post my daily outfits to Instagram, complete with short reels (videos a la TikTok) which breakdown the behind-the-scenes of it all. Stay tuned here, if this is the space you prefer, as I intend to do a monthly review of all the looks. If videos are more your thing, I encourage you to check out my Instagram @inspirsession -- and do follow if you like what you see. :)

For now, I hope we're entering a year of good ch-ch-ch-changes -- for our international health, for the planet, and for ourselves. We'll see what tomorrow holds. More soon.

Love, R.