LOOK GOOD, FEEL GOOD, DO GOOD Part 3: What I wear matters

An inspiring series on developing a style that expresses who you are, an enjoyable relationship with your clothes, and the rewarding satisfaction of making sustainable fashion choices.

By Helen Redfern, founder and creative director of Green Heart Collective and manager of the Green Heart shop on Gateshead High Street. Helen combines her passion for clothes with a passion for the health of this wonderful world in which we live. Speaking from her personal experience of exploring her own style, Helen aims to inspire others to develop the confidence to express their identity and values through what they wear in a fun and affirming way.

Part 3: What I Wear Matters

“Fashion is superficial and you're a superficial person if you care about it.”

“Fashion is meaningless and hollow.”

“Fashion is materialistic.”

“No one cares about what you wear.”

“People who dress up are attention seekers.”

These voices are out there in the world. You’ll find these opinions on online opinion platforms, on the streets, in your own home, probably regularly in your own head….

You may have said these things. You may believe them to be true. But tell me this: would you be happy if we all wore the same as each other all of the time, like some adult uniform? How boring and restrictive would our lives be then? How drab would the world appear? So where should we draw the line? And who gets to choose where that line should be drawn?

I’m a big fan of dystopian fiction (which Young Adult writers do so well) and am fascinated with how dull and unimaginative clothing becomes in a dystopian future where survival is the only thing anyone can think about and individual identity and creative expression become lost. Check out the film ‘Children of Men’ if you don’t know what I’m talking about.

And then there are the imposed colour and style directives in the Divergent Series, where Abnegation, the modest civil servants, wear a simple shape in shades of grey; Dauntless wear a close-fitting stretch black fabric with accents of colour; Erudite wear tailored clothing in shades of blue; Candor, the honest, wear black and white; and Amity wear earth-tone costumes made of cotton. I find it fascinating, don’t you? Creative in its own way, but so devoid of individual self-expression. That is the point.

And then there’s Margaret Atwood’s ‘Handmaid’s Tale’, wonderfully made into a vivid and memorable TV series, in which the red capes worn by the handmaids have become a symbol of the oppression of women and the wives get to wear more fitted, stylish, and flattering dresses in shades of blue. You can read more about the fashion on the Handmaid’s Tale here.

Imagine if there was an imposed uniform for our private life as well as our work life - for each stage of life, each role and each profession - would that really make life easier or would it remove any sense of self identity?

You see, what we choose to wear really does matter. Having that choice matters.

Life would be less without that choice, for a life without colour is a life without beauty, a life without joy. We crave colour and variety and artistic expression. We need it to flourish and be nourished.

Let us consider for a moment the ultimate act of creation and expression of the divine that we have: this wonderful world in which we live.

"Nature is the art of God." - Dante Alighieri

The animals are clothed in the most amazing patterns and designs, the flowers are a riot of colour, the oceans are teeming with life in all its glory.

When it comes to creative expression, we can take our inspiration from the natural world - the ‘more than humans’ have it nailed! There’s not a lot of grey in nature - that’s what we humans have introduced with our concrete buildings and roads and smoke. Thinking about that makes me sad.

Expressing who we are through what we wear is not about money or status or academic learning…people all over the world have been expressing themselves through what they wear for thousands of years. The incredible ‘Atlas of Beauty’ by Mihaela Noroc (@the.atlas.of.beauty on Instagram) is bursting with stunning portraits & stories of amazing women from all over the world. Her work will never be finished. She will never run out of places to go and wonderful women to photograph, all touchingly beautiful in their own way. Mihaela Noroc redefines beauty.

Diversity, culture, creativity, imagination, celebration, texture, style, expression - they’re all wrapped up together in a breath-taking bundle of joy. How did we lose sight of this? When did we stop enjoying wearing clothes? When did we become so boring? When did style and sophistication become synonymous with restraint, with capsule wardrobes in muted shades, with minimalist efficacy?

Most kids love dressing up. My 6 year old granddaughter has ALL the princess dresses and never grows tired of dressing up - and her little brother loves it too! Isn’t it sad that when we grow up, we grow out of that love of dressing up? Or worse still, we are ‘forced’ by society to grow out of it? I love colour and am embracing colour in my wardrobe more and more as I get older. I don’t know if age has anything to do with it, whether it’s because as you get older, you care less about what other people think. We’ll talk more about the individual colours and what they signify in a later post. For now, let’s just celebrate colour in the natural world, in our daily lives and in our wardrobes.

Helen browses at the People's Exchange in Ouseburn

Action point:

Open your eyes when you’re out and about. Take time to really notice. Discover beauty everywhere it is to be found. Celebrate it, savour it, take photos of it. This is creation in all its fullness.

Then take a look in your wardrobe - how would you describe the contents? What are the predominant colours/styles/items? How do you feel when you scrutinise your clothing like this?

If you’re content with what you see and confident in what you wear, then this series is not for you. However, if you feel frustrated or embarrassed or ashamed or in any way negative, it doesn’t have to be this way. The contents of your wardrobe can be a source of joy.

Set yourself free to wear some colour each day. It doesn’t have to be a whole outfit - start with a scarf or a piece of jewellery or even socks! And it doesn’t have to be expensive - shopping preloved means you can experiment with colour for less.