Even casual clothes deserve some thought

I walked the dog in the rain this morning.

It set me thinking about clothing, versus fashion, and how appropriate clothing can make your life so much easier. 

It's what we all need in our wardrobe really - those basics that always work. The dress you can comfortably eat in, the shoes you can comfortably walk in, the jacket that can take you from the office out to dinner. But so often we're seduced by some gorgeous little number and forget about practicalities.

We also forget that the greater part of a clothing budget should go on things you're actually going to wear.  

I lead a country life but it took a lot of resetting my head to learn to spend as much on my 'mess' clothes as on my evening wear, say. This in spite of the fact that I no longer go to the theatre and the opera and even out to dinner much, so my need for evening wear is pretty minimal - I could probably get by the rest of my life on what I've got already. I used to happily spend a fortune on something evening-y, but then I'd scrimp balk at paying the same when it came to a casual jacket, say. But no more. 

This morning I realised that at some point, I must have made the switch.

I set off in fitful sun but it was clearly going to rain later, so I automatically reached for my go-to coat - a knee-length bright yellow waterproof yachting jacket from Guy Cotton. I got this from a feed store about seven years ago and it's been worth its weight in gold. Lightweight, hooded, with huge pockets and liberally adorned with both zips and Velcro closures, it's one of those items that's just a no-brainer. In it, I'm highly visible, snug and dry, and I can keep the dog's lead in one pocket and some dried apricots for nibbling in the other. When the rain came down, I just flipped up the hood and strode on oblivious. 

Nor was the cost of all this perfection expensive, as it happens - 350 francs, which was £35 in those days, as opposed to my hugely more expensive but much heavier weight and high-maintenance Barbours. Barbours are lovely items, and I owned a bunch of them when I lived in London, just pretending to be a country girl, but I find wearing one all day very tiring, and they do have the disadvantage of making you not very visible to traffic.

My walking boots, which I wear through the summer months, came from Lidl and cost 10 euros. Nevertheless, they're as good as many that cost five times as much. Steel reinforced, very lightweight, with open mesh tops, these are boots that I can walk all day and never get tired. In winter, I switch to Aigle wellies with neoprene linings. Accustomed as I was to the idea of cheap wellies in Britain, paying £65 for these some six years ago seemed like madness, but here we are all these years later, with this footwear given some serious hammer, and they're as good as new. Nothing else will keep you so warm and dry and they are possibly the most comfortable things I've ever worn: even if I had to stand in freezing water all day, I'd be OK in these.

I also have proper walking socks these days, with a Left and Right, reinforced heels and toes, and a support section on the arch of the foot. They were expensive, but again they're worth their weight, and being nylon can just be left to dry, or rinsed out for their next use, unlike the cotton socks I was formerly addicted to, but which are truly no use for any conditions in which you're going to sweat.  

I usually come back covered in mud from my walk and I certainly did this morning, after cutting through a maize field (carefully banging the maize plants with a stick in case there were any wild boar about). But once home, it's just a case of peel off, put the stuff to dry or in the wash, and change into something more girly.  

Time was, I used to get back from my walk freezing cold, or with blisters or sore heels, or with scratches from the maize and the brambles, or a slightly turned ankle from walking in my sandals. But it looks like, even in my case,  sense might finally be getting through... :)