Saturday 18th

My outfit today consisted of Rag and Bone Dark Blue denim Jeans, thin Gucci leather black belt,  Uniqlo white shirt, Maje wool Navy sweater, silver studded black leather Stuart Weitzman Chelsea boots, and Vince cashmere white long Cardigan. I accessorised with Mini black leather Lady Dior bag with black aviator Loewe sunglasses. I got dressed at home, and headed down to Soho today to see my friend who was visiting from RISD, which was gathered a lot of my friends who I did not see for a while. My decision in wearing this outfit mainly generated from the place I was going to hang out with my friends, which was Soho, where most of the fashion bloggers go to take Instagram photos of their outfits and lifestyle. The youth and street fashion culture associated with soho led to my decision to wear a casual chic look, that would be appropriate to walk around soho and go shopping with my friends, which I knew it would potentially lead to taking “ootd” photos that would later be uploaded on our social media accounts— shared to the public. The weather also brought a lot of impact to my outfit because the weather was so beautiful and warm, everyone went outside, including many tourists and locals, especially out in Soho. Because it was on a weekend that was one of the warmest day in a cold month, it seemed that everyone brought out their best attire to enjoy the rarity of the sun that enables you to be more fashionable.

Sunday 19th

The weather turned out to be beautiful again so I went down to Soho to take ootd photos with my photographer friend. I wore my white trench coat with leather skirt from Top Shop and Suede thigh-high boots from Steve Madden. I accessorised with my leather Chanel handbag and black shark leather Dior round watch with gold frame. I particularly dressed this way because I wanted to portray a “New York City” girl look, as I knew I was posting this on my social account where it would be shared to an open audience, where it would become a representation of myself to friends of friends and basically strangers. I amalgamated both the street style and classy look to maintain a semi casual feel. I realised that I get heavily influenced by my outfits especially on a special occasion as my fashion and style is a superficial yet blatant portrayal of myself to other people, and I always feel confident if I choose an outfit that I like, and consequently makes me feel good. I feel ‘uncomfortable’ in clothes that makes the shape of my body larger, such as baggy clothing. I don’t necessarily accentuate my female body features such as the waist, hip and my bust, but I grew to realise that if I see myself in a piece of clothing that enlarges my body, it makes me uncomfortable wearing such garment due to a psychological negativity associated with my body image.

Monday 20th

Today I changed into two outfits, one was my gym clothes, which I wore my grey Capri Nike yoga pants with black nike sports bra and my white distressed hoodie, paired with my Stella McCartney Adidas white sneakers. After I went to the gym in the morning, I changed into my casual clothes, my Cornell sweatshirt and short pink pyjama shorts. The clothes I wore today is what I usually wear for convenience; something effortless and ergonomic. Because I was not socialising with anyone else today, I felt like my decisions went towards more carefree style, not necessarily thinking about what garments and colors would match well with each other etc. Although I feel that the majority of the time my outfit decisions heavily rely on the people and the location that I am headed to on that day, my gym outfits are what I care and consider the most for myself, as I wear them to boost my confidence, and to motivate myself to go out to the gym feeling good and looking good. The clothes psychologically influence my mood and actions that strongly encourages me to have a positive mindset.

Tuesday 21st

Today my outfit mainly focused being on practical for the weather and my comfort for working at school, where I wore my black Nike leggings with forever 21 white hoodie with White Nike sneakers. As I was feeling a little cold, I decided to wear a padded black jacket with a hood, that my mother got for me as she knows that I can’t handle the cold as I never was raised in a cold environment. I carried my black DKNY leather backpack that I always carry for school, and because I knew that I had to walk around a lot back and forth from school to the garment district I strongly emphasised my a cozy and relaxing fit in my outfit. There were no particular restrictions in deciding my outfit; it was almost an instant routine of clothes that I picked to go to school as I pick the first clothes that I see in my wardrobe in a workout/ comfortable clothes section that I organised. Such action is similarly explained by Sophie Woodward describes in Why Women Wear What They wear “When women are dressing in a hurry, one of the most important factors in deciding what to wear is ease of access”. Thus, on the days that I have my morning classes, I saw the pattern of grabbing what I see instantly from my wardrobe, which is also the reason why I like to showcase and hang all of my clothes in my walk in wardrobe. It definitely helps me to visualise and match which top and bottoms would go together, and variety of options that I do not have to necessarily try on. I feel that I always forget what I have in my wardrobe if it was bought a long time ago, which is always helpful to structurally organise my clothes into different sections.

Thursday 23rd

I went to the gym and worked out which boosted my mood to wear something that I put more effort into such as distressed denim jeans later in the day to go to school. I usually decide to wear jeans when I am going out as I like to wear clothes that are not restricting to my body such as leggings and comfortable shoes like trainers and sneakers. This is because I like to move as much of my body, walk around and be more active throughout the day which makes me feel good about my body and consequently my mindset to be less lethargic and more practical. As the weather was also fairly warm, I decided to drop my outwear and just wear my nudish pink wool and cashmere sweater with my white sneakers.

Friday 24th

In the morning I changed into my newly bought lulu lemon black high waisted capri tights with my new balance cropped grey and black sports bra, and a white cropped lulu lemon sleeveless shirt with a semi turtle neck and topped with black Calvin Klein tight bomber jacket, and my white Stella McCartney Adidas sneakers. I got myself prepared to go to the gym although I was highly demotivated as my body was still sore from the gym I went yesterday. However, my mother came to the city to visit and I had to clean my house, and could not go to the gym. Instead, I changed to another outfit as it got cold later in the day to Ralph Lauren leggings and Vince white cashmere turtle neck to go out and walk around 5th avenue with my mother and shop. Like all the other days, I tend to opt for more comfortable piece of clothing unless I go out on a specific event or day with my friends.

Sunday 25th

Today I changed into my gym clothes in the morning to go out to cycle at CYC in Hells kitchen, where I wore my Victoria Secret black sports bra with long black Descente tights and my boyfriend’s grey Patagonia sweatshirt. It was a quick decision in the morning as I had a tight schedule today and as the cycling studio gets very warm inside where I sweat a lot, I don’t choose to wear a shirt, and just opt for a sweatshirt onto of my sports bra. Again, my choices were influenced by my convenience and the fastest method to have less of a hassle with one less clothing. I realised that as I was raised in an warm weather country, Singapore, I do not like to layer my clothes and much prefer to have one piece of garment instead of multiple because I feel very smothered and I am claustrophobic. My past environment unconsciously has been embedded into my everyday decision to what I wear, which I find that fascinating to see how it naturally became my habit. Later in the day, I wore something more fancy as I was going out for a brunch at the Carlyle Hotel in the upper East side with a friend from D.C. As he was visiting and the hotel was more of a high class setting, where I wore my DKNY see-through white sweater with black Zara leggings, with black long suede heeled boots and Grey coat from Korea. I held my favourite grey Saint Laurent bag that I got for my birthday and wore my Loewe black sunglasses and black chained Chanel watch. I went for a more classy outfit, to match the atmosphere of the upper east side and champagne brunch, which I noticed is more of a social class influence that we associate accordingly to different parts of New York City.

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