365 days. Three hundred and sixty five days. CCCLXV days. Any way I type this I still can’t believe that it’s been 365 days of no pants. The Hun, my loyal and trusting editor, has always told me that I have to keep it brief. “500 words is all an internet audience wants in an article!” But I can’t keep this one brief. I just can’t… so sit down, grab a cup of your favorite beverage and take a read.
Over a year ago I spoke to my friend Lynne about this crazy idea I had. NO PANTS! I yelled to her over the phone. She laughed in that way that I knew it would be great. We talked about what this could mean for me, my career, my soul. She gave me the permission I needed. It was The Hun who helped me with everything… how to be a better writer, how to get my ideas of the ground and running, she built my website and hosted my articles, when I needed pep she was there with pom poms. We gave talks together and laughed together. There wouldn’t be NO PANTS without either of these two ladies. The thanks I have to them would fill Fort Knox.
It’s a silly thing… this NO PANTS. I mean, let’s be real. I’m not curing cancer over here. I’m just, well, not wearing pants. A women’s denim designer… not wearing pants. I needed something to shift, something to change in my life. Things had gotten to a very bad place for me emotionally. A car accident had riddled me with daily pain, robbed me of my rising career, and had thrown me into a wheel of depression. I thought if I could just have fun again with clothing I could fall back in love with clothing. And you know what? It worked. I started wearing clothing like I did when I was a teenager- there were no rules! Clothing was costume and costume was clothing. The lines melted and I had fun. I learned that I don’t own nearly as much black as I thought and that if I am to make anything for myself it’s going to be a metric boatload of shirts. Homegirl needs more shirts.
Looking over the photos from this past year I see that I’ve done more than just not wear pants. I look at photos and see amazing moments- NO PANTS helps NO SOCKS! Burning Man. Landmark days of 100, 200, and 300. Birthdays and funerals. The Day (aka, when John Fluevog wrote about me.) I’ve made more clothing for myself than I have since the days I was in school. I’ve written articles and how-tos and spoken at a conference. I’ve won San Francisco’s Best of the Bay for my style blog. I’ve met people from all over the world. I’ve pulled myself out of a slump.
So why stop here? I’m not. I’m raising the bar. Upping the ante. Adding a twist. I’m going another 365. I’m going to start posting here with articles and how-tos. I’m going to make something and post about it every month. What am I going to make? Pants. The only pants that I will be allowed to wear in fact. Why? Because I can’t count the number of times I wished that Carhartts fit a girl’s body. I want sexy Carhartts dammit! I know a lot of women who do in fact! I want to make the pants that I can never find so I resort to just wearing jeans. Don't get me wrong, I love the jeans I designed because they are cute and comfortable but they are jeans. They never really say anything outside of that. No one ever says “OMG, the way you wear those jeans is so CUTE.” Pants can be just as fun as skirts and dresses but NO ONE makes really adorable, awesome pants that fit and are cute. So I will.
So I hope you’ll still follow along. I hope that you will still spread the love and the word. What is the word? Mmmmm… how about:
Something as silly as not wearing pants changed my life. Make a small change and stick with it and see how your entire life can shape around it…
Yeah, I think that’s it.
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5 comments:
You did great and helped me bust out my skirts and dresses out of the closet and get me to buy more. Kinda like when I used to watch What Not to Wear and I'd have Stacey's voice in my head going try that! I still have that skirt. I don't have enough to go a whole month of now wearing pants but I can make it about half the month and I hope it gets me off my butt to get my sewing machine fixed and sew some things for myself. If I can't do that I can at least fine cute fabric and pay my friend to do it! Thanks for inspiring me to be more feminine, and stop wearing the same old thing.
Your commitment to wearing skirts and dresses fired my own. Thanks to you, I thought a lot more creatively about what is in my closet and what made me excited about getting dressed in the morning. Thanks, and looking forward to another 365 days!
I loved catching up with your no pants adventures in 2011. I'm excited about your pants adventures for 2012, in fact- this year on my website will be about my search for better fitting/flattering pants and clothing. I look forward to your tips and tricks!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG. you are amazing. I am so proud of you for what you did, I know what you did to get there... and this is a very big deal. Can't wait to buy you a drink and talk about this!!
I'm so proud of you! You did something really amazing with love and commitment. And the whole internets know it.
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