7 things I stopped wearing in 2024
Usually, when a woman says she has nothing to wear, it means she has nothing that fits with the person she wants to be on that day or for that occasion. Nothing that looks like the blurry image of herself she has in her mind.
Or perhaps nothing that fits because her body has changed. When your jeans cut off your circulation, your dress doesn’t zip up or your shirt feels tight across the back of your shoulders, it’s fairly self-evident: ‘my clothes are no longer suitable for who I am’.
What can be harder to identify though, is when the vibe is just off. When an outfit that used to make you feel like yourself, no longer does.
There are two main reasons for this. Externally, you can be influenced by the exposure to trends. Like how a few years ago, skinny jeans started to feel wrong because it seemed like everyone was wearing baggier ones. Or when sequins went mainstream.
More often though, something shifts internally, in you and it’s almost always your life stage. Maybe you used to work in an office and now you WFH or you’re on maternity leave or you have a new job.
Or - in my case - you’ve moved into another decade and things that used to land in a certain way, simply….don’t. Plus, boredom. Dressing myself has always been a form of creative expression and a way to spark joy.
And every year or so, my style evolves along with my wardrobe. I never know exactly why and I’m rarely even conscious of it until after this shift is well under way. What happens is that the things that used to please my eye stop sparking joy in the same way and I begin to notice myself gravitating towards different things in my wardrobe and when shopping.
And so it has been this past year. My style will always evolve but I feel fairly confident now to share with you these 7 things I’ve stopped wearing in 2024 - mostly because they make me look older than I feel. Some things coded differently on me when I was younger and I can’t even tell you why they just did.
However. I’m not chucking anything out because some of the clothes I’m leaning into are ones I thought were dead to me as recently as the start of this year. I’ve learned this the hard way. Why did I give away so much of my leopard, why. Well, because for a while there is was coding very Carol Baskin.
But now leopard is back and I’m loving it sick once again and wearing it even as I type this.
As always, it must be said at full volume that I don’t care what you wear. Not a jot. I say this because I know that when I tell you what I don’t wear, some of you will take that as a directive to do the same. Not true. You do you. I do me.
So, in no particular order, here’s what I’ve stopped wearing in 2024.
1. LOTS OF SEQUINS
For a long time I described my style as “Like A Sparkly My Little Pony Doll Vomited Over A Human Woman”
Sequins delighted me even while it hurt the eyes of my co-workers and inspired ridicule from the teenagers living in my house. No fucks given.
The point was OTT sequinned outfits sparked the shit out of my joy. Not this year. While I certainly haven’t chucked my sequins, I’ve put them away for a while. I think I’m just bored of them.
3. SLIM CUT JEANS
This is hardly just a me-thing. Skinnies are still around but I don’t see them often in an office full of about 100 women, 70% of whom will be wearing jeans on any given work day. Skinny jeans and even slim-cut jeans are not only less comfortable, they don’t look right to my eye in 2024. Every pair of jeans and pants I’ve bought this year have been wide-legged.
3. LINEN
A year or two ago, when I was deep into my linen phase, Trinny Woodall was in town and told me to stop buying or wearing linen immediately. At the time, I insisted I could make it look cool but friends, I was wrong. I couldn’t. I didn’t.
At my age and life stage, it just codes differently. Also? Crumpled. Perpetually.
Like it’s fine? But nah.
4. COLOURS THAT DON’T SUIT ME
Getting my colours done this year - it was a whole thing (listen below to hear us explain it) - made me get serious about the colours I like to look at and the colours that suit me. Not always the same thing. For example? Blue. I’m an autumn. Warm colours are better.
And here’s a quiz to find out your colours.
5. BIG EARRINGS AND NECKLACES
These are earrings in the shape of vulvas. Viva la vulva. But not on my ears anymore. Ditto big necklaces. Oversized, statement jewellery is not my vibe anymore. I feel like it ages me.
6. BOLD PRINTS
I used to love me a bit of Gorman. But the way Gorman and other bold prints looked in my 20s and 30s started to curdle for me in my late 40s. Like linen and statement jewellery. So these have all been re-homed and I haven’t bought anything big-printy for a year or two now.
7. MATCHING SETS
Oh how I’ve loved matching sets these past few years. But again, not sure what happened but they haven’t looked right to my eyes for a bit. Not on me. They’re also less interesting to style - which is one of the reasons I used to love them. Not much thinking involved and you always looked pulled together as well as comfortable in an elevated PJ way.
But I’m into my heavily styled era, right now, and my favourite thing is to make outfits. The effort is the fun part for me.
SO, WHAT AM I WEARING RIGHT NOW?
More next time but here’s a hint. I did an interview with Leigh Campbell for her podcast about my latest obsession.