in a sartorial rut

I would like to think I have some amount of style.

When I was little, I even convinced myself that I would make a great fashion designer and created sketchbooks of patchwork jeans and one-shoulder tops and whatever else was popular in 1998.

But lately I have been in a huge rut, wearing the same jeans with a BU sweatshirt or one of three nearly identical (but different color) blouses. And the same boots. And the same cardigans. And when all that fails, the same large white T. And in the past few weeks it has just started to feel so blahhhhhhh.

Part of it is that the fun dressing up events from college don't exist here in grad school. No swaps or theme parties to create some elaborate costume for, no semiformals to get excited about buying a new dress for, not even pin attire to motivate me to dress well. It was fun to put together cute (and sometimes ridiculous) outfits at Millsaps because a) everyone knows everyone on campus and no one wants to be known as the girl that dresses like a hobo/colorblind epileptic/desperate D-list celebrity*, b) there was a 87% chance I would be photographed any given day and therefore that outfit would live on forever, and c) I hadn't a care in the world - seriously, the most important decisions of the day were typically what to wear, whether to eat in the Caf' or Kava House, and whether I should do my reading tonight or in the morning.

Part of it is the weather. Knowing I will be wearing the same (very bulky and warm) coat every day, piling on hats and scarves and gloves and god know what else to make the trek without frostbite somewhat limits my options (and my motivation).

Part of it is also that being an adult costs money. Money that used to be spent on beautiful clothes is now extracted mercilessly by my apartment rental office, one painful dollar at a time.

Part of it is, despite the aforementioned soul-sucking rent, our closet is fairly wee and my side of it is so piled high with clothes, shoes, scarves/gloves/hats/tights, suitcases, an extra comforter, towels, cleaning supplies, unused frames and other random knickknacks that it is almost impossible to navigate, so I usually just end up reaching for the same things over and over again.

In any case, my rut sucks. I read a lot of blogs out there in the interwebs, including several fashion blogs, and I keep getting partially inspired and partially depressed by what some of the internet fashionistas are putting together out there. They are so creative with their pairings of new and vintage pieces, funky jewelry, use of color and, best of all, a lot of them get FREE CLOTHES because they blog about them!

But unfortunately I believe that dressing well and cultivating style, no matter who you are, inevitably takes time and money, two things that are scarce in grad school.

What I REALLY want is for Real Simple to come organize my closet, a personal shopper to load me up with beautiful unique vintage pieces, several Etsy artists to send me jewelry/hair pieces/funky tidbits and all the stores on Newbury street to open their doors to me... for free.

I mean, really, is that too much to ask??

* No offense intended toward hoboes, colorblind epileptics or desperate D-list celebrities.