When you pick the clothes you want to wear, do you choose them after the colour or after their material?

Once I went to a secondhand shop, back in Switzerland, with a friend. And the reason why this otherwise very ordinary day had stuck to my mind is…

When we walked through the many clothes hanging from different poles, touching, trying on, looking, she came up to me with some sweater. “Look how soft it is!!” She invited me to touch the fabric. I reach out my hands, but couldn’t share her enthusiasm for the fluffy piece of polyester. Screaming synthetics to my senses the fabric had left me with a bitter taste and no inspiration to hold or try it on at all.

How different we react to those sensations!

It does happen to me sometimes, that I find pieces of clothing that I love the look of. But they feel absolutely terrible, thus I am not able to wear them.

One week in Albania, I went for a walk along the beach. Finding some random secondhand stalls there, to my delight. Because I had noticed that I like all the pieces in my wardrobe, as they are. I didn’t have much fabric to play with. Missing a few pieces to de- and re-construct, I spend some time searching through all the messy piles of tangled garments.

Pulling out, trowing back, inspecting, thinking, imagining.

In the end I found some silk, linen, fur, green, gray and turquoise.

I started to wash, cut and sew back a few parts.

Trying on the turquoise piece. A knitted linen cardigan with an attached silk scarf. Great idea but terrible look, in my eyes. The colour started to really bother me. I couldn’t stand it. “If I change the piece my aversion might heal.”, I thought and started to cut.

I was about to turn it into a simple top…

...by sewing together the open front.

...cutting off some randomly attached scarf and shortening the piece.

The linen, silk blend feels great on my skin.

But the turquoise hurts my eyes.

I think I found the only colour I can absolutely not relate to.

When I look at the top I feel like getting rid of it, as soon as I touch it I change my mind.

I love the fabric but hate the colour.

How am I supposed to choose?

Do you pick your clothes after their look or their material?

Thank you to all of you stopping by! Have a wonderful Monday!

All photos and words are my own, taken and written by myself ©kesityu.