@autism101@actuallyautistic I'm actually in the process of allowing myself to dress how I want now I realise I'm Autistic. I basically live in dungarees, especially the cord ones, because I adore them. And I'm slowly changing my wardrobe to be entirely pink because I love it but people have shamed me a lot in the past for wearing too much pink.
@actuallyautistic@autism101 for work (I teach) I wear the same black untucked dress shirt every day and rotate thru 3 pairs of basically identical very light fabric slate pants
for play I usually stick w plain or print black Ts bc they’re slimming. I prefer lighter, longer, and more close fitting pants and shorts. Shoe and ring shopping are self care routines 🤗
my wardrobe like me rn is however in a state of sway…doing more color lately
I divide my clothes into strata — decorating, gardening, kicking around the house, shopping, meeting friends, formal — and wear whatever I find first from the stratum I need. I have several similar-looking shirts, so I make sure that today's shirt doesn't look too similar to yesterday's, so that no one thinks I rewear them without laundering them.
Jeans and sweatshirts do get reworn. As a result, I'll have two or sometimes three on the go at once. My bedside chair is a mess.
Demoting clothes to a lower stratum when they're no longer pristine always feels profligate. And I have far more decorating shirts than I need, given how little decorating I do!
@nddev@autism101@actuallyautistic I'm similar in my approach. I have various sartorial levels ranging from comfortable/scruffy to smart/bit oppressive.
My day to day work attire is the "smarter side of smart casual" with a collection of cravats, smart shirts and suits.
But at weekends I wear jeans and T-shirts. Although which shirt/T-shirt I wear is inconsequential. Whatever is next in the clean pile will do.
My clothes are such that I don't really need to worry much about clashing colours
@autism101@actuallyautistic Loose fitting clothing only. Mostly plain and simple. Solid colors. I've always been in the dark on clothing trends and spend most of my life having no idea how to determine if a shirt and pants went together well. Get laughed at a lot for my clothing choices. People try to be nice, but it's obvious I still regularly fail. Have mostly stopped trying.
@autism101@actuallyautistic
Nope. I’m a sensory seeker. I like colour & texture (not scratchy tags!) & variety in my clothes.
But when I was working, I would have dearly appreciated having someone to choose & lay out my clothes of a morning, or a uniform, because I didn’t always have the spoons.
@autism101@actuallyautistic i've always bought similar of certain things since they're comfortable. just started wearing pajama pants for working from home.
@autism101@actuallyautistic Same as everyone else here, it seems. :) Basically one outfit, only the colour of the (plain, obviously) T-shirt changes. First come, first serve, though, I grab whatever T-shirt is next in the wardrobe, no energy wasted on deciding what to wear.
I've got the added bonus of no seasons, nor any other weather variations to speak of, so there's no need to keep adjusting the outfit to different temperatures or whatever. Highly recommended.
I wear jeans and variants of a t-shirt - sometimes used to be a polo shirt - every day for every occasion. Clothes do not make this man. My reaction to people is that if they're unable to judge a person by USEFUL metrics then they can fuck off and ignore me with my blessing. Superficiality is boring as hell.
@autism101@actuallyautistic I've been buying the same jeans for the last 5+ years (have bought others in a pinch but they end up only being worn when my favorites run out) and will buy multiples of any pant that actually fits me. Same goes for bras, underwear.. most of my shirts are black band shirts 😅
@Uair@AutisticDoctorStruggles@autism101@actuallyautistic band shirt usually refers to a T-shirt with a musician or band logo on it. The kinds that you can usually buy at concerts. In this case, ones with a black base colour.
@autism101@actuallyautistic Like many other contributors to this thread, I have basically one outfit. I have multiple almost identical items so I can wash them without changing too much: sets of t-shirts, the same hoodie in two colours, always the same type of socks. I have a favourite design of skirt and am so glad now I've found an online shop which keeps selling the same one over and over. Seasonal fashion changes make shopping in person very difficult.
@autism101@actuallyautistic Only in the past 10 years, give or take, have I started experimenting with what I like and want; I was too busy being an anxious and undiagnosed girl for most of my life that I didn't have time to pay attention to my clothes unless they were truly unbearable. So far I've developed an obsession with wool socks.
@autism101@actuallyautistic LL Bean lounge pants and a white tank every day at home. Black and white clothes. Same type of socks. Cargo joggers and a tee.
@autism101@actuallyautistic Always the same jeans (Levi 501's). Once in awhile I'll have a reason to wear something different (shorts or something), but those times are rare.
Always a t-shirt of some sort, usually with a sarcastic/sardonic message on it. Since they're all snarky and anti-people there's usually not much of a decision to make.
If I'm in public I will usually wear my coat (armor) and oftentimes my hat (a distraction).
@roknrol@autism101@actuallyautistic I used to work part time for a guy who printed political T shirts. His employee theft policy was "you don't have enough shirts. Here, take this one". I have probably 100 T shirts 10 years later. They're basically all I wear.
My clothing is more "what's cheap that I can put up with", so I have quite a lot of found and donated clothing. People I know say "this has a stain or a hole, I can't wear it any more but Moz will" and they're right :)
@autism101@actuallyautistic I have one type of pants in 6 colors. I have one type of shirt in 5 colors (all they had ☹️). I have one type of socks in 6 colors. They are all tagless and super soft.
At home alone I wear exactly one thing, sweatpants and an exquisitely soft long sleeve tunic blouse. I wash it about once a week.
One time the person who had the washing machine before me had used some kind of horrible scented detergent and my beloved safe, comfortable house clothes picked up not only an unbearable smell but some kind of chemical residue that made it itchy and miserable. I washed it maybe a dozen times and nothing could restore it.
The story has a happy ending, I was able to get the exact same item and only had a short adjustment period for the new one. But I also bought a spare, just in case.
@autism101@actuallyautistic On a related note, I wonder how many other autistic folks need to use special soaps, shampoos and laundry detergent especially for sensitive skin?
@octonion@autism101@actuallyautistic I'm a filthy hippy... I use very little soap and since I'm a guy I can get away with a buzzcut and almost never using shampoo (did you know that it separates if you don't shake it every few months?)
For me just avoiding anything scented works pretty well. And using white vinegar to clean stuff (including putting half a cup in the washing machine after smeone put enstinkerated detergent through it).
I have nonscented laundry detergent, and I often wash my clothes with water only. I use unscented soap. Shampoo is more difficult, but I find a scent I can tolerate.
Some soap scents, like almond, make me nauseous, and I can't have "normal" soap in my house at all, I can smell it in every room. I've found a completely unscented soap that works for me.
I also try to find unscented dish washing solution and only use household cleaning solutions when I really have to, most cleaning I use dilute vinegar, or water, or small quantities od unscented soap.
@octonion@Zumbador@autism101@actuallyautistic I can tolerate shampoo with a fruit smell but nothing else. I can’t have highly scented flowers in the house or air fresheners etc. Same with chemical smells. I use white vinegar added to water with a drop of detergent for cleaning ( in a spray bottle) My dish detergent has no fragrance. Same with the sensitive laundry liquid I use.
@octonion my sympathies for the unfortunate demise of your clothing to the stinky washer!
i need unscented soap and laundry detergent too, not only because i can't bear the odor, but also most fragrance irritates my skin awfully. sometimes a medicated product that i need is scented... then i don't have much choice but to use it. that shouldn't be a thing!
@miaoue@autism101@actuallyautistic Thanks for the condolences! Medical products absolutely shouldn't be scented, I've had a hard enough time finding good skin care products that aren't!
When I’ve been sick, I’m more sensitive. After I caught Covid on the way to NZ in January, I developed a nasty rash & had to source some laundry powder while staying with in-laws. I like scented soaps, shampoo & dish detergent, but have to source ones that are naturally scented to reduce the risk of skin irritation.
@Susan60@nddev@moz@Zumbador@octonion@autism101@actuallyautistic it was a secondary school teacher who took me aside one day and told me (kindly) that i didn't need to use so much and that perhaps mixing Hi Karate/Brut/Denim/Lynx/Old Spice etc all at the same time probably was counter productive XD
After that I stopped using it completely. I just became obsessed with cleanliness.. to the point of washing my self until my skin bled.
I got over that too to an extent. I still wash too often
Had a gf who was stunned to discover that, and when she performed the experiment it turned out that a couple of days later she developed a sharp, not entirely pleasant, scent. She went back to soap+deodorant at that point.
That was educational for both of us. In the "people like Moz really exist" sense.
@nddev@hlangeveld@moz@Zumbador@autism101@actuallyautistic Ewwww. I've never used fabric softener just on the basis that the fewer chemicals touching my skin the better but I had no idea they were this awful. Thanks for the info!
@octonion@autism101@actuallyautistic Bold! That smell makes me and my son nauseous, and Comfort. I find I can't even watch the adverts - it revives the memory! Apple shampoo is OK. Absolutely NO perfumes. We have also had problems with a wash that my son was prescribed for his acne. I had to add lime scented shower get to it and even then it was difficult to use.
@octonion@autism101@actuallyautistic oh yeah especially when I had to wear safety-toe boots and helmets and hi-vis vests and stuff all the time for work, every moment of my off-time I could spend in tunic mode was such a relief
@autism101@actuallyautistic I have a lot of socks that are the same type but different colours. I realised straight away that finding two the same colour might sometimes be difficult, so I made a rule to always wear two different colours together. Got to have a rule.