Jen attempts to develop style: observations and step one

Let's start off with a word dump.

Observations from hits post and past makes:

saturated colours
solids
graphic and tonal prints
black tights
sleeves
movement
structural details
streamlined
navy + white
shoulder detail
wrap style
waist emphasis
minimalist accessorising
red
comfort
very dark + very bright

And now some words I think of when I think about an aspirational style I'd like to have:

olive green
balanced proportions
deep shades + cream
vintage inspired
soft
swishy trousers
Italian style
legs
headwear
drape
effortless

There's a bit of crossover there, but Imaginary Jen appears to be more elegant, sophisticated, and subdued than Actual Jen. Given that so many of my favourite clothes are crazy bright colours I'm not going to try and bring Imaginary Jen to life, but I think I can accommodate a few elements of the second list. Enough that I can choose to swish around and pretend to be Sophia Loren and/or Phryne Fisher every once in a while and nobody will think it's weird.

And now, the tremendously exciting debut of my first step towards this whole style thing: after looking back at my old photos, I decided to cut my hair again. Now it looks like this:

I was worried it might be a tiny bit too short when I first saw it, but now that I'm used to it I think it's a lot better. My hair is super-thick, sort of curly but not curly enough to be actually curly, and never behaves in the same way twice, so when it's a bit longer it sometimes looks fine and sometimes looks like I've had some sort of horrendous accident with an electrical socket.  It was starting to drive me nuts, and the time was right for a symbolic chopping of hair, so here is my proper-short bob!

Having an actual hairstyle as opposed to a mop forces me to pay more attention to what I wear, and one of my resolutions (which you will be seeing in a couple of weeks) is to commit to regular hairdressing appointments. If my hair is up together I'm a lot less likely to fall back into the "eh, fuck it, that'll do" manner of dressing. I do think that what I wear is likely to shift slightly now that my hair is this short and I'll be keeping an eye on that.

Technically I've done step two as well; a few hours after I had my hair cut, a van turned up and took away several bin bags' worth of clothes and shoes I don't wear anymore, so there is now a small amount of space in my room for me to accumulate new and better things. Marching with grim determination down the road to progress, that's me. Also it's just over a week until I leave for Christmas and I'm having serious trouble convincing my brain that that's not sufficient time in which to make three and a half dresses. Sigh.