When my grandmother died, she left behind a drawer full of brand new towels and linens that she’d received as gifts. They were too nice to use, she’d always told us. My mother had a lovely set of china that seldom came out of the cabinet. Instead, she used her everyday dishes every single day. Many of us are like that with clothes. We have lovely things hanging in our closets waiting for special occasions that hardly ever happen. Why do we do that?

I grew up in an era when girls wore dresses to school and changed into play clothes when we got home. Perhaps that’s what taught us that certain clothes should be saved for good. As a result, we end up wearing the same things day in, day out and rarely, if ever, do we wear our nicer pieces. Maybe it’s time to change that! What are we waiting for?

Perhaps the middle of a stay-at-home pandemic isn’t the best time to suggest this, or maybe it actually is. Are you beginning to feel cooped up? Do you need a pick me up? I’m not suggesting that we clean house in our best clothes, but why not make a special dinner, chill a bottle of wine, light some candles, and dress up! And while you’re in your closet planning what to wear for your no special occasion, at home celebration, take a look and think about how some of your dress up clothes might be dressed down and worn more casually.

Here’s an example using photos from a couple of previous posts (here and here).

The same dress looks quite different worn with a jean jacket and sneakers.

Now let’s take a look at another example. This is the black lace Display Top from cabi’s Fall 2018 Collection. I wore it to one or two Christmas events that year and I think I’ve worn it to church a couple of times, but for the most part it’s simply been hanging in my closet.

To me, lace says fancy, but it doesn’t have to be.

I this photo, I’ve styled the top with the grey skinny jeans that you saw in last Friday’s post and a charcoal Bianca Nygard jacket that I picked up at our local thrift store several years ago. The silver threads running through the jacket fabric and its big sparkly buttons give it a dressy look, so this outfit is one that I might wear to a movie with hubby or lunch with my girlfriends. I’ve finished the look with a simple lariat necklace and one of my favourite pairs of flats.

Dressing it down a bit more, I’ve paired the top with the same jeans, a grey blazer that’s been in my closet since my teaching days, and a pair of black ankle boots that were also thrifted. My Tudor Cross necklace from cabi finishes the look.

For a truly casual look, I’m wearing the lace top and grey jeans with a classic jean jacket and sneakers.

So, do you have clothes that you only wear for dressy events? What could you do to style them more casually? Would you wear a dress with sneakers and a jean jacket or casual cardigan? Perhaps you have a sparkly sweater that you could wear with a pair of dark wash jeans or dress pants that you could wear with a t-shirt and sneakers.

Let’s not leave all our best clothes hiding in our closets!