Your clothing can speak, if you’re listening hard enough.
Finding yourself in just one item in your closet. Here.
I write this early morning in Los Angeles. We’ve 145 appointments over the course of 4 days in a beautiful house. Shitty weather. But that’s ok.
Each day, in the midst of the appointments, I’ve sat down at a few scheduled intervals and we’ve done a “session” with groups of the women and men here. Keturah created a card game of sorts for us to play, questions that get people thinking critically about their personal style. That’s different than being critical about their style, to be clear.
As many know, back in 2019, I began asking people to come up with three adjectives to describe themselves. This originally started as a brand initiative, to come up with three words that would describe Tibi. We found that it grounded us as a company, digging to the first principles of how we would describe our creations. What I found in the process was that I wasn’t just describing Tibi, I was describing myself. And since we are an independent smaller brand, that checked out. Damn, it only took me some 20+ years to get to that realization. It quickly became the foundation of everything Traci and I created from that point on. I’ve never looked back.
But it was when I started waxing on online about it, especially locked down those first few months of 2020, that I realized how much these three adjectives settled me. Kept me focused, helped me realize when our designs had gone off the rails and conversely, when they resulted in pieces that we wore a ton. And not just wore, but helped us communicate better who we are. Which resulted in a literal sensation of ease. And the more live chats I had on instagram, where I was thinking this through out loud in real time, the more I realized that this was unlocking the same thoughts in others.
Turns out when our visuals communicate clearly who we are on the inside, we feel in control. And that’s different than feeling controlling.
One of Keturah’s cards in the game was on the surface so simple, but it provided a clear breakthrough for many who were struggling with articulating who they are. Their three adjectives. So I’m going to give you here the simple question coupled with the simple steps we took to getting there. You can see if it works for you too.
Question: “What is the ONE item you wear in your closet on repeat that never fails you?”
Example Answer: [from a guest at event] “This teeshirt here, the one I’m wearing.”
We began describing the physical attributes of her shirt, which led to more robust descriptions:
It’s got a high neckline, so it makes it feel quite polished. It must make you feel more in control, put together. It keeps the tee looking strong, modern.
It’s a teeshirt - in fabric, in style. It’s the literal definition of ease. It’s in a neutral color, with zero effort it works back to other things in your closet. Had your favorite item here had that high neckline, but been in a rigid satin in a bright color, you can see that it would be far more complicated.
It’s quite fitted. But it’s still a teeshirt afterall, not a plunge neck bodysuit. So it’s giving off a bit of sexiness, but maybe it’s more alluring than overt. A bit sultry, if we dig into a thesaurus here. Hints at romantic but grounded all the same, it’s a teeshirt after all.
Modern - means to be forward looking, curious. Ease - to have (or desire) a sense of calm and fluidity in how you (or want to) approach life. Romantic - but not sexy - a bit sensual, sensitive in feeling.
The tee is not just one of the adjectives but all three, all at once. Romantic without ease and modernity would never aptly describe the top. Modern without the ease and the sensuality wouldn’t do it justice - something entirely different would come to mind. And ease without the rigor and the romance can’t fully convey. You can see how nuanced it is - many things are many things at once.
Yes. We agree. This perfectly describes the top.
And at the same time, we had perfectly described her.
She was able to verbalize now that anytime something worked for her, it had all those three elements. And when it didn’t, maybe one or even two but not all three, it didn’t work or it certainly didn’t play on repeat in her closet consistently making her feel great.
And we know why.
Because those items didn’t best make her feel like herself.
Modern, chill, and a bit romantic.
All from one item of clothing, a simple tee that spoke so wisely. If you’re listening.