Bought some clothes I really like for work.

It feels very strange to me. Growing up, my mum always bought us the cheapest clothes. I'm talking fake-brands level cheap you'd find in a street market. Even when I got a job and started buying my own clothes, going home with a shopping bag of clothes felt like smuggling drugs inside the house. She had this idea in her head that branding is a scam, and buying normal-priced clothes is falling for this scam.

I'm 34 now and haven't lived with her in years, but I still feel this shame whenever I buy clothes, even though I know my mother was wrong. It's ingrained at this point.

I think I finally started feeling like I have a wardrobe of decent clothes about 3 years ago. Mind you, I have an MSc, a good salary, and a nice home. I'm doing well. Even when I first had this wardrobe of decent clothes, they were all meant for weekends or special occasions. My everyday clothes were old and some even had small holes in them. My work clothes fell in this category. I work in an office, but we're chill and have casual attire. A close colleague of mine actually hinted at me once a few years ago that I needed better clothes when I was expressing how happy I was with a raise and promotion I got. That's something I'll remember because I always noticed how well people dressed at work but it never occurred to me that I actually make good money and could do the same thing until then. Something still held me back, though.

I just ordered a bunch of clothes online specifically for work, and they're good clothes. They are good, new clothes that I bought specifically for work, for the first time in my life. Usually, it's clothes I bought for special occasions 10 years before, relegated to work attire, or plain, €10 t-shirts if bought specifically for work. No, these are good quality, branded clothes. Buying new, good-quality clothes is such a big deal to me. Feels weird in a good way that not only did I buy new, good quality clothes, but I bought them specifically for work.

It's strange to me, but also well overdue now that I think of it. I'm excited to look more presentable at work.