A Week of Outfits
with an emphasis on functional fashion for variable spring conditions in the mountains
Hello TOGS readers!
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Kellyn here. I hope you’re all doing well in these first weeks of spring. I want to give everyone a squeeze for reading each week, and for understanding when life takes unexpected turns. If your heart feels tight from the weight of the world, loss—whether in the mountains or otherwise—or just the general *trickiness* that comes with being human, I feel ya. I know we write a functional fashion newsletter and we aren’t exactly changing the world when we ramble on about the ‘best barrel leg pants for spring,’ but since we are all out here experiencing life at the same time together, these pockets of community feel really nice. And maybe they are a bit more rich and resonant than what they appear to be on the surface. Connection is connection. And unfortunately, because we don’t all live on the same street of a chic walkable village on a safe little rocky TOGS island somewhere out at sea, at least we can find each other here and talk about hiking shoes and feel like we are escaping whatever it may be, a little bit, all together.
I’m back home in Telluride after being gone for a month (!) and in true Colorado spring fashion, we’ve had every possible weather event. I wore both my shorts and my expedition parka last week.
Clothing is so funny because, at it’s core, it is just a layer of fabric to protect you against the elements (and fit into society I guess.) But we could all just have two gray jumpsuits that we alternate between when one is being washed, and yet we don’t. We chose to wear things that mean something to us and fit into our lives and what we like to do. Things that make us go “ooooh that’s cuuute” and help give the world a glimpse of our souls.
We develop deep relationships and make memories with these garments. Your puffy jacket that you’ve patched on various ski trips is a wearable stamped passport and your lucky socks are only lucky because you’ve worn them through enough of life’s ups and downs.
Your mom’s sweater is the closest thing to a hug from her, herself.
And while, yes, most people would see that t-shirt from a run you did for only what it technically is; a cheap poorly screen printed boxy tee, you see it for what it feels like. It’s a cotton trophy of your hard work, a t-shirt shaped Polaroid of that moment in time. That, and it’s what your fat nonrefundable sign-up fee got you, so damn it it’s gonna mean something.
Hadley muses about this more, beautifully, in her past letter:
And I ramble about how we all actually do care about our style and what it says about us, in my past letter where I’ll take this except from:
“We are all presenting ourselves to the world through the choices that we make. From what we wear to if you have a reusable water bottle or not, to your perfume or the book you’re reading. For good or for bad, these are some of things that the world around us picks up on.
I was musing recently about how someone who said “I don’t care at all about fashion” was participating in such a fashion choice. The casual worn in pieces were so intentional and exactly what this person was wanting to project to the world. Love! Lame metaphor warning, but if you were a book, you’d want your cover to project a very specific feeling, indicative of what the story inside holds. Before anyone can take the time to know what you’re like on the inside, we all look at each other’s cover. It sounds very superficial, but hopefully the people you’re keeping around take the time to open up and delve deeper. It also doesn’t have to be so heavy- think of the amount of times you’ve struck up a conversation because you liked someones shoes or you recognized their Moe’s Bagel Shop hat. We buy things we like, we wear things we love, and we’re all just out here searching for a little human connection.”
And sometimes clothing can be purely functional, and we love it for that too.
For me, springtime tips the scales swiftly in the favor of function. Mountain town dwellers, you know what I mean when I say mud season does a number to our wardrobe rotations. Light colored pants? Out. Shoes that can’t handle a good hosing? No chance. Dry clean only? Do you know how far away the nearest dry cleaner is?! Will not be touching until the roads are dry. And don’t anyone dare put those wool sweaters away because behind every 60 degree day is a storm bringing three feet of snow.
SO this week I documented what a wore living in Telluride; a little mountain town in southwestern Colorado that fluctuates weather and temperature drastically this time of year. With every outfit I put together, I tried to remember to bring in elements of fashion/funk/personality while having to choose something functional. Here’s what I wore this week:
Sunday
Doing: Walking the dog
Wearing: Ulu Outdoor snow boots, Purple Mountain Observatory pants, Knit for Fire sweater, Hestra mittens, Dasoro hat, Vinco Performance sunnies
These boots were kindly sent to me from the brand Ulu Outdoors. This structural heel is truly a work of art. It also has a cinch-able snow gator top and Vibram sole! This is the intersection of funk and function, baby! This brand first caught my eye when they were recognized at IPSO for innovation in extreme cold weather performance with their winter trail running shoe.
But the pièce de résistance is this hand knit sweater from a fiber artist I discovered in Copenhagen, Knit 4 Fire. I commissioned her to make this hooded bell sleeve sweater and I can confidently say it’s one of the best purchases of the year. The year is young but I’m already locking it in! It’s so cool to support artists who are so talented in their craft. Thank you K4F!
Monday
Doing (morning): Running errands in a blizzard
Wearing (morning): Rudy Jude pants, Ulu Outdoors snow boots, Peak Performance puffy, Mom’s vintage Jagged Edge vest, old cheap sunglasses, James Street Co hat
Doing (afternoon): Getting coffee
Wearing (afternoon): Same as above, but swapped for the Soeur Paris Jacket and LL Bean tote.
In between doing some work from home, I had to walk down to town to run a few errands, and later go grab a coffee. This base outfit functioned well for me as a comfy casual outfit that I could sit at the computer in, but then be layered up for these two different purposes. I’ve become a big fan of wearing a non technical coat over a down jacket. It’s all the function of just wearing the puffy, but with a little pizzaz. And then, once you’re inside, you can take off the down jacket and put your other one back on. This puffy from Peak Performance is not only a phenomenal jacket on its own, but this cream color is so versatile and chic for this layering purpose.
Because the algorithm is getting eerily knowledgable, on this same day I saw a photo of this cute gal pop up on my feed- she has it layered under a trench. Big fan.
Tuesday
Doing: Working from home, going to the post office, cooking
Wearing: Uniqlo x JW Anderson jeans, James Street Co. sweater, Xtratuf x Salmon Sisters boots, Chillbies clogs, Mairin baselayer, vintage hat, Akila sunglasses
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