The Cast

Deja Pseu wrote a thorough, precise two-part post on her former and new clothes-shopping approach and resolutions here. As usual, she stimulated my thinking.

Once upon a free-spending, single-gal time, I welcomed a cast of characters to my closet: Hippie Chick, Executive, Single About Town, Avant-Garde (Japanese Division), Sporty: there was a theatre troop stuffed in there, all waiting for their break. Time passed; these were joined by Busy Mum.

Twenty five years later, the characters have dwindled to two: Work Casually and Yogini.

Work Casually owns a few jackets and nice pants; she can muster cocktail attire, but no longer owns a skirted suit. She's settled on black, charcoal, pale grey.

She knows what the workplace expects and is willing to conform, but wants clothes she enjoys, too.


Yogini is not the ascetic sort; she sometimes goes to wine bars, so likes Indian shawls and graceful skirts. She wears more colour, mostly in accessories. Hers is the more sensuous character, and she is gaining ground.


But I still see a 'character' on the street and think, "I can do that": a Buoyant Preppy in a cabled navy sweater and immaculate white jeans, a Deneuve-ish Soigneé Siren in a sleek suit and stilettos, waiting for her driver.


An Adorable Twig in a pink plastic raincoat and flowered rainboots is so fetching, for an instant I think about way-too-young styles.

In the moment, I want to introduce these characters to my closet; I'm like central casting for clothes.

When I look back on the items that did not yield much value, it was these character-costumes. They are someone else, or at the very least a me I don't take out very often.

Who are the characters in your closet? Has the cast changed? Do you welcome a multitude or accommodate only a few?