When Your Fantasy-Self Steals Your Summer Vacation (And Your Closet)
I love summer and I love summer fashion. It’s my favorite season to get dressed.
Maybe it’s because I’m an August baby and so the summer automatically comes with positive poolside birthday party associations. Maybe it’s because I now live in San Francisco, where summer barely exists and I long for the feeling of heat on my skin. Or, maybe it’s because summer so often presents a big fat reason to shop: a summer vacation.
A lot of shopping is driven by aspirations of your fantasy-self…and, what is more fantasy inducing than imagining yourself totally free of your daily responsibilities, sunning yourself in some exotic location? It’s rare to have an actual occasion where you’ll be doing things completely out of your norm - and, it’s easy to make the quick jump to imagining yourself as a completely different person. Vacation me IS a different me!
Heck, the capital-F Fashion Industry has even turned this idea into a whole season! “Resort” isn’t dictated by the movement of the earth relative to the sun, but instead simply an idea of what we should be wearing while we all lounge in some far-off locale, completely separate from the rest of our wardrobes.
And so, what does “resort” fashion offer us? Crochet pants. Breezy transparent caftans. More bikinis than you can ever imagine.
The problem? Well, it’s the same one that always emerges when we shop for our fantasy-self: you risk amassing a closet full of clothes that don’t actually serve the real you. This is a huge source of the oh-so-common “closet full of clothes but nothing to wear” conundrum.
To be super clear about it: I (and, by extension, Indyx) am not anti-shopping! Adding new pieces to your wardrobe is a natural thing to do. We evolve. We have new needs. And sometimes, we just want something new to spice things up. You are allowed to shop for summer! What I strongly discourage - both for its impact on the planet but also its impact on your satisfaction with your closet - is buying for your fantasy self. And my point here is that “vacation shopping” is a huge fantasy self trigger.
So, what to do instead? Your vacation might be the prompt for you to shop for summer pieces. But don’t let it dictate which summer pieces you buy. Continue as always to buy for the real you. The real you in hot weather.
I’ll share one of my own mistakes.
Last summer, I had a dream trip to the South-of-France. Think: dry and hot, in the countryside. Striped towels by a light blue pool surrounded by a garden full of lavender and buzzing bees. Ripe tomatoes bought from a small-town market. Imagining myself within this ‘aesthetic’, I bought this floaty, milkmaid-y coverup dress in black. Did I enjoy wearing it in France? Sure. But, how do I feel trying to wear it on even the hottest day here in San Francisco? A little ridiculous. It is a costume for a certain time and place.
A similar purchase I made for that same trip was this much simpler, more streamlined black silk-blend ribbed dress. Did it give me good vibes on the trip? Yes. Have I worn it since? Yes! I wore it just this week because it fits in completely with my real life and real style back home, too.
Both are black dresses. One was for my fantasy-self, conforming to the specific imagined aesthetic of the place I was visiting for two weeks. The other was a dress that is still “me” regardless of where in the world I am.
So, when shopping for your vacation I encourage you to ask one simple question: can I imagine myself wearing this at home, too? How? When? Upload it to your Indyx wardrobe and outfit with it. Would I wear this to the grocery store? Would I wear it to dinner with friends? A trip to the park? Make sure it fits in with your at-home style and at-home occasions.
Your real self will thank you later.
Devon is a co-founder of Indyx and currently leads Growth for the company from San Francisco. She enjoys admiring other people’s gardens and sleeping in with her French Bulldog, Reggie.
