stripe it all

I was reading an old Garance Doré blog post about her closet essentials, which included great tips like basic silk shirts to wear with everything (but she also loves gray jeans - something I cannot get my head around) and the mention that her closet is full of striped tops, she being French and all. I thought immediately, who would have a closet full of stripes? Then I looked in my closet.

Me. Me would have a closet full stripes. Dresses, shirts, sweaters - no striped pants because, while I think they are cool on others, I feel like a clown girl in them. The thing is, they look good, and they look good with a lot. Black and white stripes are great with any bright color, navy and white are perfect with red, brown, and honey-beige, and striped espadrilles are perfect with everything from a sundress to jeans and a blazer. To be fair, I have always loved stripes, and my mother before me - the love began with an Oilily multi-stripe cotton pullover top that I stole from her for most of high school and which is still the most perfect shirt in the world. 

In my mind my closet is navy blue, 

plain as the sidewalk. But then one day,

I slid the door open and realized

that everything I owned was really stripes - 

some so fine they looked solid - 

and now I feel summer breathing down the streets.
And the wind seems to be filling invisible sails 
and my stripes are chanting for sunshine.