“Remoted” Day 320 (Saturday)

The work from home lifestyle has resulted in limited selections from the wardrobe being invited to come to work. Five or six sweaters have risen to the top of the list to become favorites in the rotation. Lately, three pairs of pants are in the mix – blue-gray pinwale cords, black Tommy Hilfiger chinos, and black Vera Wang pull-on pants that long johns fit under. Usually, the same pair of pants is worn for a week straight. The pandemic wardrobe is miles from the wardrobe philosophy of my first job out of college where it was three months before an outfit was repeated and that actually felt important.

The sweaters on the short list include a winter white alpaca pullover, light gray cashmere pullover, dark gray men’s pullover with a shawl collar, navy ribbed cashmere cardigan, charcoal gray cashmere cardigan, and winter white vintage cashmere pullover. Yes, winter white is a color and it is a creamier white than the crisp summer whites of summer. The current favorites are all hip length or longer, a style feature that emerged as important when winter set in with the awareness that the office is the coldest spot in the house.  

The alpaca is the most expensive sweater I’ve ever bought. It’s soft, lightweight, and warm. The men’s pullover is a Marc Anthony sweater from the clearance rack at Kohl’s and the sleeves are too long, which is great, because I pull them over my hands like instant mittens when I let the dogs out. The cashmere sweaters are from various thrift shops, and none cost more than $8. My varied super powers include making chocolate disappear, whipping up decent dinners in under 30 minutes, and spotting a cashmere sweater in a thrift shop from a rack away.

Today required a trip out of the house to pick up the poorly drawn pet portrait from the Humane Society fundraiser. The Humane Society is conveniently located down the street from the Saint Vincent de Paul Thrift Store, so there was no way I wasn’t going there, too.

Today’s trip to Vinnie’s had the mission of finding sweaters to mix into the regular lineup because the same few sweaters are marching steadily towards “familiarity breeds contempt.” The current spots in heavy rotation were earned by being warm and long and therefore well-suited for the daily stretch in the home office. One-by-one, they go downstairs and depending upon the angle of the sunlight and the angle of the computer, may even appear in video meetings.

The current favorites are my warmest sweaters that are also not itchy, but they have become tiresome. Even still, putting them aside out of boredom in the midst of a cold snap without replacement sweaters on the bench is not smart. Winter is far from over.

New used sweaters.

The yellow tag items at Vinnie’s were half off, and three yellow tag success stories came home. The lucky winners are a white zip front sweater with a made in Italy tag, a brand-new looking white vee neck pullover of indeterminate material and a tag written in Korean, and a very soft heather purple long cardigan with pockets. There were a few cashmere sweaters, but one was a shade of gray identical to the sweater I was wearing, and the others were too big. The gray sweater infatuation is a mystery and it takes a lot of effort to not buy every single one I see, especially when they are cashmere and only a few dollars. 

Today’s $6 injection to the sweater rotation should help with the wardrobe fatigue. Hopefully, they will break up the monotony and help with the “what day is this/was that?” Assuming I get them run through a hand wash cycle tomorrow, next week I could have three days of not having to play “Do I have a team video meeting today and did I wear this during the last one?”