Lately I’ve been forced to go into the office for my day job and, while it seems pointless at times—especially when I spend all day on video calls with my U.S.-based team—one thing I do appreciate is being able to observe new fashion trends in the wild. I work with a bunch of young, creative people whose outfits give me a lot to think about, even when I’m not always sure the clothes are for me.
Coming to work reminds me that there are options beyond my suburban mom uniform of grey sweatpants and black puffer coats. It also helps recalibrate my eye, showing me different ways to style my clothes and also new silhouettes—which is how I ended up with the biggest jeans in the world.
When I first saw people in big jeans, they looked funny and out of proportion, but over time my eyes adjusted and the style grew on me (har har), so when this pair of balloon jeans showed up on Poshmark in my size, I decided to take a chance.
Two weeks ago, when I put them on for the first time and looked in the mirror, I laughed out loud. I looked like a clown. But it would be a hassle to return them, so I kept trying the jeans on again every few days, training my eyes to see them differently, and eventually they seemed a little more possible.
And now I am out in public in gigantic pants. They are very comfortable, which is a win, but also extremely noticeable, which has triggered a bunch of awkward feelings that probably need to be addressed in therapy. All in all, though, I like them and will wear them again.
This idea of recalibrating your tastes by seeking out new influences has been on my mind a lot over the past few years, and I came across a similar thought recently in Rick Rubin’s book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being:
Broadening our practice of awareness is a choice we can make at any moment.
It is not a search, though it is stoked by a curiosity or hunger. A hunger to see beautiful things, hear beautiful sounds, feel deeper sensations. To learn, and to be fascinated and surprised on a continual basis.
He goes on to encourage creators to engage with great works (of literature, cinema, art, architecture…) in order fine tune our sensibilities:
If you make the choice of reading classic literature every day for a year, rather than reading the news, by the end of that time period you’ll have a more honed sensitivity for recognizing greatness from the books than from the media.
This applies to every choice we make. Not just with art, but with the friends we choose, the conversations we have, even the thoughts we reflect on. All of these aspects affect our ability to distinguish good from very good, very good from great. They help us determine what’s worthy of our time and attention.
The point, he says, is to “level up” our taste.
The objective is not to learn to mimic greatness, but to calibrate our internal meter for greatness. So we can better make the thousands of choices that might ultimately lead to our own great work.
Am I saying that wearing balloon jeans is akin to reading the classics? Well, no. But this choice came out of being curious about fashion, looking for interesting inputs from the world around me, and then feeling inspired enough to take a small risk in my own self-expression. If that helps push my internal meter towards a new (and possibly braver) direction, then it might ultimately affect the quality of the stuff I make.
Or, I could just be a fool walking around in really big pants, lol. Swish swish!
:) Teresa
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I remember when miniskirts came back in the ‘80s and at first they looked so weird. Then I got used to them and couldn’t imagine wearing knee-length skirts again, lol. Also, I’ve been on a classics kick lately with the Audrey app and am loving it. Who knew I’d be so into Thomas Hardy? 🤷♀️