O-N-I-T: A No-Recipe Recipe For "Salad-Style" Dressing

(No shopping required.)

I’ve been having so much fun getting dressed lately. It’s felt SOOOO good to hear myself say that out loud to friends when they compliment my outfits, but also exciting because the “high” of it all has had more to do with putting new spins what’s already crammed into my two little closets, than from shopping or the dopey rush of new purchases. So what’s the hack here? No big thunder strikes, just an easy ‘no-recipe’ recipe that’s been getting my bacon sizzling.

You don’t have to be an Ina or a Martha to nail this formula, but using simple kitchen-speak, you want three main ingredients: something OLD, something NEW, and everything else to tie IT TOGETHER. Let’s call it, O-N-I-T salad-style dressing. It’s like making a salad with a head of lettuce that’s about two days out from getting tossed in the compost, then livening it up with some chunks of that new oil-soaked feta you’ve been addicted to lately, and a couple of other pantry staples like nuts, dried cherries, flavored oils, etc. Bon! It’s delicious, easy, and probably a little different every time.

So apply that same thinking to your closets and wardrobe. Open a drawer, reach all the way back—like all the way to the last row or pile—and pull out whatever’s been lurking beyond sight. Sometimes the surprise of whatever it is can be delightfully revelatory. Is it something you remembered you even owned? Is it clothing you still want? (If not, bid it farewell.) But most of all, is it an item you’d still wear? If so, that’s your something “old.” Now find a more current counterbalance. The first time I practiced this exercise, I yanked out a pair of dark indigo stovepipe-leg jeans from Uniqlo (c. 2014), which I paired with a trompe l’oeil t-shirt by Bevza (c. September—my something “new”), and a tried-and-true navy cardigan from Studio Nicholson (my something to bring “it together”). The jeans, which are almost like trousers in weight and cut, looked like something l could have bought last week, especially given how the whole look so effortlessly embodied the way I’m mostly dressing these days. And even better, now they’re back in the regular dressing rotation.

Other recent excavations resulted in the resurrection of a pair of Madewell 70s-inspired flare jeans (c. 2018), a midi-length charcoal grey pleated skirt that bore the trademarks of something from any of the recent Prada collections (vintage, purchased in 2016), a barely-worn t-shirt with the slogan “New York Woman” scripted across the front that feels eerily urgent (c. 2022), and an ice-blue satin slip dress that I wore to high school sophomore prom (my PROM, guys!!!). I recently wore it with my collarless Kallmeyer blazer—a new fall staple— and a tangle of chain necklaces, and felt like such a chic, adult Manhattan woman.

If it’s tricky, a little challenging, that’s ok. You’re not supposed to nail the “perfect” outfit every time. (What even is the perfect outfit? Who gets to make that call?) The magic is in the in-between—in that liminal space where you sketch the lines between who you are, how you feel, and what you’re wearing. And it’s fine if it’s all a bit messy. Sure there’s something to be said for go-to comfort dressing, and those failsafe outfits you can practically put on in the dark, but frankly, when everything is too polished and easy, it get boring fast. A friend recently shared her own name for my O-N-I-T recipe: closet roulette. I like how that denotes a certain degree of risk in the inherent unpredictability of the process, only we’re pulling clothes, not firearms. There’s today’s outfit, and then there’s always tomorrow’s, too.

The idea of all this isn’t to re-program or even assess your personal style, but to reconnect with it, have a little fun with it, and find real affirmation in that fun. And to also reconnect with yourself. We’re confronted with a daily deluge of social media and things telling us what to buy that we can easily allow ourselves to lose sense of what we actually want (for our own selves). Sometimes it’s there in our closets all along, which is maybe the most gratifying part of all, especially during these uncertain times. There you are. Something old that may suddenly feel new again—fresh, but not unfamiliar—and from that alchemy a sense of self-assurance and even joy.

Be good to yourselves this week, everyone. ❤️