MEN’S FASHION Organize your closet

MEN'S FASHION Reinventing Your Style Post-Covid

BY MATTHEW BANEVER

We made it through 2020! The continuation of the healing process is determined by what we do right now. For most, working remotely has become our reality. One area of our homes has become akin to a museum, the closet: “And here, children, we have daddy’s ties (audible ooh-ing and ah-ing). They were important for meetings, but between us most of those meetings could have been emails.” We have spent years amassing a wardrobe that fit the job we had and now we still have the job but have ditched the ‘fit (short for outfit).

We are seeing the last vestiges of the ‘Business Professional’ dress code. Our lives have become informal and sedentary. The most human interaction we have come to know is our spot on the Brady Bunch opening-credit-zoom-meetings. While time has slowed, personal clarity has become paramount. Right now, we can reinvent ourselves. Traditionally, if an office transitioned from Business Professional to Business Casual, we traded in the skirts for leggings, and the pleats for pants that zipped off at the knee. I am here to tell you to resist the propensity to achieve the MOST casual look possible, there is greatness available.

I know it may not feel like it right now, but what we are experiencing will come to an end. We will return to meeting our friends in West Hartford Center for cocktails, traveling to remote locations for weddings, re-entering the dating scene, and for some, going back into the office. Our jobs have vied for control of our closets up until this point in our lives, but we now have the opportunity to ask ourselves; “What actually is MY style?” Your first reaction may be to scream out “Comfort! Comfort is my style!”. Humor me, join me in an exercise.

This does not need to be travail; in fact, I guarantee you will find some catharsis. Stand in front of your wardrobe, closet, drawers, plastic bins under your bed, all of it. You are going to make 3 piles: r Keep r Tailor r Donate

Be brutally honest when you do this. We all have that leather jacket that we have never worn but can’t get rid of because, well, it’s a leather jacket. Now is the time. Take every single article out of your closet and put it into these 3 piles. If you have a pair of pants you wear all the time, put it in the keep pile and ask yourself, “What do I like about these pants? What do they say about me?” And buy more of that. Focus on what you’re keeping: Do you see any commonalities? Style, color, length, comfort, durability. Are there areas for opportunity?

This should become a regular routine. If you need help, don’t have time to drop off the donations, or need alterations, call me. All clothing will be donated to GHREC (Greater Hartford Reentry Council), Best Chance Program, and various programs assisting vetted individuals looking for employment.

Matthew Banever Bards Clothing, Founder, Owner (860) 978-6234 Matthew@BardsClothing.com

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