For this week’s my closet, I decided to re-connect with an old friend named Alex. Alex and I initially met about six years ago through a church community we were both involved with. I always found her creative side to be intriguing. For many years she worked in a bakery making cupcakes and pastries. She is now refinishing furniture and is excited to see where that takes her. Her creative side was often expressed through her clothing, so I thought she would be fun to photograph and chat with. Due to both of our busy schedules, we met at Carabello Coffee in Newport Monday evening. The space provided for a wonderful backdrop.
Alex is currently going through a de-cluttering process. This is something I commend. It’s called the KonMari method as the book (The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up) is written by a woman named Marie Kondo. The idea is simple: you take each item and ask yourself if it truly brings you joy. If the answer is no, you get rid of this. Kondo recommends that you de-clutter by category so that you don’t feel like you’re repeating the same thing over and over as you go through your home. Alex just finished going through her clothing, something I feel is quite fitting for this blog. These are the four dresses that made the cut for Alex. As I asked her about each one, I can understand why each brings her joy.
The dark plaid dress
As we spoke about each story, it became very apparent how important Alex’s husband Cory is to her. This story behind this dress is quite a sweet one. Alex currently works at the GAP. Last November/December, Alex and he were in the store together. She had set aside a few things to show him and this dress was one he particularly like. Since she worked at the store, she put it back in hopes that it would go on sale at some point. Yet the more she thought about it that day, she realized she wanted it. The next day when she came to work, she was devastated that the last one in her size had been bought. She just figured some random person bought it and so she moved on. When Christmas came, she found out that Cory was the one who bought that last dress and he of course bought it for her. How sweet. Also, he’s great at keeping a secret!
The black t-shirt dress
Alex is trying to incorporate more black into her wardrobe, so this is a great way to do so! She said Cory likes when she wears black. She said she finds this funny, though, as most people have too much black in their wardrobe. Not her, however. This t-shirt dress and hat are from Old Navy, and her bolo tie horse necklace used to be her dad’s.
The striped dress
This is another piece from Old Navy. At one point Alex joked that this may seem like a sponsored post for Old Navy and GAP. Not this time around at least. Here she pairs it with a whistle necklace she bought at J.Crew. The black shoes are a GAP find, I believe.
One thing she noticed after she finished going through her clothing and getting rid of the things that did not bring her joy, what was left just seemed to fit together better. While her wardrobe was smaller than before, together it just seemed to all work. As she paired her shoes and accessories with her dresses, I definitely felt that.
The date dress
Honestly, this last one is my favorite. I just love the cute, girly look to it. It comes from Madewell. Several years ago, Alex actually ironically bought it to wear on dates. She said she felt as though she was in a rut and planned to “get back out there” with some online dating. Right as she decided to do that, she 
met her husband Cory through work. She actually wore it on a few dates with him. It’s also lucky that he came along then … online dating can be an adventure.
Her leather jacket has made an appearance in several of these photos. It’s an Inc. by Macy’s jacket. It was a Christmas gift from her sister.
It was good to catch up with Alex. I’m excited to see where her creative passions take her. Also, since Cory seems to be pretty amazing, we thought we’d give his music a shout-out on here. It’s called Zoo and you can check out their Bandcamp page here.
