Newsletter Issue No. 2: Sisterhood of the Traveling Circus Pants

I don’t take many risks when it comes to fashion (said no person in fashion). But there is a pair of pants that changed that for me and my experience with them shaped how I helped a friend expand her wardrobe.

It all started with what we now call ‘The Circus Pants.” I’m sure what you envision when you hear that is painfully loud colors and intensely contrasting stripes, but that is not what these were. These pants had a soft balloon shape with low-saturation stripes in earthy colors. These pants may not have made it past my fast filtering system out at the thrift, but after this experience they most certainly will.

For as long as I can remember I’ve considered myself a minimalist and recently realized that this is partly due to my sensory sensitivities. Loud patterns can send my senses into overdrive, so when I’m thrifting and come across a whole rack of them, I usually avoid it.

These pants came to me through a consignment client and I just went about my business, getting them listed online and moving on with my life. Then I had to pack for a trip to Virginia in the heat of the summer and I needed a lightweight pair of pants to take with me so I wouldn’t die of heat exhaustion. I went through what felt like every pair of pants in my shop and nothing was right, too heavy, too tight, too big. Then I picked up these pants and definitely was thinking, ‘absolutely not’. I put them on and it was all over - I loved them. Paired with a simple white tank and forgetaboutit — I was a changed woman. 

When I got back from my trip, the pants went right back into my shop and not long after, my fellow minimalist friend stopped by because she was packing for a hot summer trip and needed a pair of pants. This was my time to shine, I thought. Oh, girl… just trust me.

I’ll never forget the range of emotions she went through as she tried them on: the hesitation, the curiosity, the soft surrender. It was a mirror of my own experience. Now they’re a staple in her wardrobe.

I gently encouraged her by saying, “If you’re unsure, why don’t you just borrow them from me? Take them on your trip, and if you decide you love them, you can buy them.” (I already knew they’d stick.) She took them and came back a changed woman, or at least I like to think so.

Not long after, she ended up buying one of my favorite dresses from my shop. I didn’t even realize at the time it lived in the same vibration as the pants. A whole new style had begun to emerge, and I was here for it. 

Until next time,

Quietly observing the characters at the thrift store…