Balancing Elegance & Practicality

I will be the first to admit that I not only grew up going to camp, going on camping trips, both tent and camper, and I spent the first few years of my life living in a small town far away from any “rush hours”. Though since moving to the Twin Cities at about 6 I’ve largely considered myself a city girl. That said I I am trying to figure out where I find myself wanting to be. At this point though I find myself wanting to live a lifestyle that is both beautiful, budget conscious, practical, and elegant.

I live in the suburbs and I like that to a certain extent, I can pick up groceries easier, I can shop if I feel so inclined, and I love a good museum, and lovely restarants which tend to be more prevalent in busier areas. Though I also want our next home to have a little more land and be more private.

Additionally even as I mention shopping, I am consciously cutting back on that habit more and more as i’ve tried to declutter my spaces and minimize the unneccessary.

I quite enjoy dressing up, we had a formal wedding, and I enjoy wearing dresses, and skirts and sometimes a heel, and often jewelry. But I also enjoy sports, and I see the practicality of having simple tshirts for working in the garden or spending unstructured time outside. These dicotomes are part of the reason my wardrobe is admittedly the hardest element to pare down, I think it will always be a challenge since I thankfully don’t grow out of things like I did growing up. I am also trying to buy more investment pieces these days as well.

I think the dichotomies intersect at a few points, actually; I like to dress up elegantly, and that often means minimalistic silhouettes, styles and classic styling. I only have a few black tie elements but they were curated intentionally for the most part (read: the ones I got more recently).

Another intersection is purchasing clean lined, simple toned pieces for more casual everyday life. A simple example would be that we got black, grey and white patio and garden furniture and accessories,in addition to our fair share of plain black tshirts. Another is that we love having beautiful furniture but we don’t keep much on surfaces to keep it easy to maintain, though I love meaningful art so i’ve definitely curated our walls to be beautiful but most of it doesn’t sit on tables.

I think clean spaces tend to lend themselves more naturally to elegance, though I ad comfy textures, for just that – comfiness, and cozieness, I don’t want our spaces to feel cold and lifeless, or messy, whether we lived in a palace, in a old cabin in the woods, or in our suburban home.

I think it’s also is one of the spices of life to add some variety to life, you can go to a black tie dance in down town Minneapolis, but you can also enjoy a barn dance out in the country in cowboy boots, you have more than one weekend in your life after all. You can enjoy a comfy Christmas at the family cabin, or in your parent’s basement, or you can rent a beautiful down town event space for an “upscale” Christmas with extended friends and family. Maybe in the same year, again, multiple weekends in December too. You can have an elegant wedding like we did while also enjoying a honeymoon on the beach, or you could enjoy a campnig trip to the rockies if that is more what interests the two or you. I would argue you can pick the more “pretty” camping equipment, over the neon, or logoed version in most cases, picking a neutral color tent, classic cut shirts, and black or natural colored hiking shoes, if going to look more “elegant” in my opinion than stuff with athletic logos all over it, bright pink shoes, and a red and orange tent for instance.

You can (and I would encourage you if you attend) dress up for Sunday morning church services, but you could probably go more casual to the church retreat, the church bonfire night, or small group meeting if it’s at someones house.

So all this to say you don’t have to pick one, always dress up or always dresses for say working in your garden or going for a run. Though you can usually pick a more elegant choice and I would encourage you to do so. I will add that I would also encourage you to dress to the more formal end of an event. Say you’re out for a nicer dinner with friends and if you’re a man, wear a polo or maybe a patterned dress shirt (you pick tie or not) and grab shoes that aren’t your gym sneakers or flip flops, If you’re a women chose classic (non-holey) jeans, and a blouse with some cute flats or mules, or choose a skirt with the blouse, or a casual dress.

I think dressing to the more formal end of things can make you feel more polished, put together, and classic. If you don’t care about these things maybe you ignore this whole post, idk, your choice, but I thought I’d share some thoughts.

I plan on keeping variety in my closet, from my formal dresses, to my sport shorts and athletic shirts.

The biggest caveat that I want to add is to be aware of not letting your “fantasy self” overtake your wardrobe if you don’t intend to go to overly fancy events don’t keep more than one formal dress maybe, if you’re not into running you can probably do with one pair of athletic sneakers. Build up if you find yourself with more events to go to perhaps.

So I would encourage you to keep in a practice of practical elegance, and find a balance that makes you feel your best while also, allowing you function in the context you’re in well.