Amy Lu's View

Today was “Concert shirt” day for the Library Senior Team.

Not surprisingly, it took me a while to decide on which concert shirt to wear. I started with my Jason Isbell “Something More Than Free.” It’s my most flattering. But I soon realized that if I was wearing something over it (which I needed to because of temperature considerations), flattering really didn’t matter. I thought about wearing my Pigeons From Hell t-shirt, which is one of MY bands, but that felt too self-promoting or self-revealing or something.

So I wore my, also very awesome, Hold Steady shirt which fashions their logo in an homage to the Grain Belt sign. Also an awesome shirt, and large enough to be worn over something long sleve (still under a race track jackets).

But once the meeting actually started two hours later, I decided that I SHOULD wear my Pigeons From Hell t-shirt, damnit. If the apocalypse isn’t the time to be weirdly vulernable and vain, when is?So as the meeting was starting, I took my laptop and ran into the bedroom and changed my shirt. I remembered to mute the camera, no worries!

And I made everyone who was wearing a concert shirt talk about their shirts.

I would say I spend a surprising amount of time deciding what to wear for working from home and attending video meetings, but since it’s me, it really should surprise no one how much time I spend on a clothing related decision.

But I do think my decision process is a little unique because it’s not just the pants/no-pants dilemma or “What differentiates day from night pajamas?” question. (When it comes to pants, I think it’s hardest to find pants that will let me feel like I made an effort and yet allow for freedom of movement and desperation kitchen aerobics). I certainly wrestle with those universal WFH questions and also the classic “Bra or no bra?” and “What will pick-up the least cat hair?”

But I also feel that WFH and actually, CLFH (Completely Living From Home–is that an official acroynm yet?) affords me a chance to rock some mid-level casual chic that I don’t normally get too. I am pretty much a dress or day pajama lady, so I don’t have much occassion to wear concert t-shirts, or race t-shirts, or geek culture shirts, but yet, I have many.

And no matter if it’s, casual, dressy or somewhere in-between, there is always the hair up or down question and how it impacts my attaire. Why wear something with an awesome logo if it’s just going to be covered up by my hair? Even without a logo, hoodies and collars pose great challenges. I know many folks with long hair wear it down and rock a hoodie but I always feel weird. Plus, my temperature fluctuates every 5 minutes and hoodies are hard to take on and off so I definitely prefer track jackets.

My attempt to capture the equation of my clothing decisions: temperature + exposure to cat hair/dressiness-casualness of situation – hairstyle * body image = it’s a wonder I’m ever not naked