Four years ago I did one of those 365-days-of-Facebook things, posting what I was wearing every day (only missed one!). It was a writing exercise so there were some rules.  The posts were just lists of items of clothing: the skirt in that material, the shirt with those sleeves, these tights with the pattern on them, the boots, a scarf. No explanations of why I was wearing something, how I felt about a particular item, what people usually said when I wore it, although I would sometimes name the designer or the brand, or say where I bought a piece of clothing if it was someplace interesting.

People commented on the posts and on what I was wearing:  “Great dress!” “What’s the purpose of open-toed boots?” Occasionally “I have no idea what any of those words mean.”  Some of them would request that I post photos.  And sometimes when I saw a friend who’d read that day’s post they’d say, “Oh, that’s what you were talking about!” or “If I didn’t already know you I could have looked for your outfit!”

I started the daily posts again on New Year’s Day of this year but this time I decided to do something more. I’ve always loved clothes and shoes and all the accoutrements and although I’ve never really been “fashionable,” I’ve always had a recognizable look.  Years ago, when I wrote for a weekly paper, I’d occasionally write about that kind of thing and in the late ’90s a friend and I even organized an academic conference on style.  I wrote a long essay about skirts and my understanding of femininity,  I gave a paper about getting my first tattoo, and I read a lot of books about clothes and fashion and shopping. But then shit happened and I got distracted and never got back to the subject.

Now I’m back. I expect to describe some of the things I wear in more detail and consider what particular items mean to me. I’ll also write about my tattoos and my hair and my increasingly large collection (well, two collections, really) of vintage purses. I will attempt to answer important questions like “Why do I own four pairs of black leather motorcycle boots?” and “Is it possible for someone in her 60s to wear Converse sneakers unironically?” along with some others that don’t involve footwear. I will probably say something about scarves and about wearing my mother’s jewelry and about the differences between fashion and style.  If my level of disgust continues at its present level I will speculate about why the language in fashion magazines is so repellant.

And yes, there will be pictures.