On Repeat

In a fast-moving trend cycle, where the pressure to step out in a different look is always on, EMILIA PETRARCA explores how freeing it can feel to wear the same outfit again and again... and again.

- EMILIA PETRARCA

In fashion, we focus so often on what's next. Even before I started working in the industry, I whittled away time, energy, and money, constantly evolving my wardrobe so that it reflected the fast-moving trend cycle and what was deemed "current" by those around me. Over the years, my habit has only grown worse. Every day, I click the "What's New" tab on a handful of bookmarked websites. If a morning or evening goes by where I don't check The RealReal for new stock, it's likely I'm terribly ill. During fashion month, I'm absorbed by the latest collections and take mental notes on what I might want in the future. And now, on Substack, I subscribe to a hoard of shopping newsletters that fuel my buying addiction even further. To me, the women who write them are the new influencers, in the sense that, on a weekly and sometimes bi-weekly basis, I see them wearing something that I want to add to my own cart.