Cut and Collage: Somewhere between Seasons
On subtle shifts in dressing and the quiet approach of summer.
The shift into summer is easy to miss. It’s not really the heat, it’s more that you stay out one evening without planning to, and then suddenly it’s nearly ten and no one’s suggested going home.
In spring I always think I’ve got it right, and then end up carrying something around all day. Usually a coat I don’t need but don’t quite trust myself to leave behind. It spends most of its time over my arm, which is annoying, but also feels safer than not having it.
Then at some point you just stop doing that. You leave without the extra layer and don’t really think about it again. Later you realise you haven’t once wished you’d brought it, which feels slightly surprising.
Everything gets a bit simpler. You put something on in the morning and it more or less stays. It creases, it loosens, it looks different by the evening, but in a way that’s fine. Better, probably.
You also notice you’re out for longer without meaning to be. You go somewhere for a quick drink and then it isn’t quick, and no one seems particularly concerned about that.
There’s less to hide behind, I suppose. Not in a big way, just in the sense that what you put on is what people get. Which sounds worse than it is. It’s actually quite a relief.
By the time it’s properly summer, you’re not really dressing for all the possible versions of the day anymore. You just get dressed and leave.
And then one day you realise you haven’t thought about a coat in ages. Not because you decided not to wear one, just because it stopped occurring to you.
AE x