My Wardrobe

I don’t like most of my clothes.

That’s not a small thing to admit. A wardrobe is supposed to be an expression of who you are. Mine has been an expression of who I was pretending to be, or more accurately, who I stopped bothering to argue with. Clothes I bought because they were fine. Colours that didn’t offend anyone. Nothing that said anything in particular.

That ends now.

I’m beginning my transition, and the wardrobe is one of the first places I want to feel that. Not because clothes make the person — they don’t — but because getting dressed in the morning is a daily act of either honesty or performance. I’ve been performing for long enough.

The aesthetic I’m drawn to sits somewhere between two worlds: Dark Academia and Cyberpunk. On the surface they sound like opposites — one candlelit and literary, the other neon-soaked and dystopian — but they share something I find deeply compelling. Both are about a kind of defiant intellectualism. Both are dark. Both, at their best, are completely indifferent to gender.

What I want is androgynous, skewed feminine. Sharp tailoring. Interesting textures. Clothes that feel like armour and poetry at the same time.

Here’s where I’m starting to look.

DEMOBAZA is the most obvious entry point for the cyberpunk side of this. Post-apocalyptic silhouettes, reconstructed fabrics, limited-edition pieces that feel genuinely unwearable in the best possible way. Not cheap, but the kind of thing you buy once and keep forever.

Rick Owens is the gold standard for dark, androgynous dressing with real intellectual weight. Draping, asymmetry, palette restricted almost entirely to black and ivory. A piece from Rick Owens doesn’t go out of fashion because it was never really in fashion to begin with.

Psylo Fashion is where sustainability meets cyberpunk edge — asymmetric cuts, raw hems, waxed fabrics, and a genuine commitment to organic and upcycled materials. Based in the alternative fashion world, this one skews more accessible than DEMOBAZA or Owens while still feeling genuinely considered.

Comme des Garçons for the Dark Academia axis — particularly the Play line for more accessible entry points. The house has been dismantling the gender binary in fashion since the 1980s. Oversized silhouettes, intellectually rigorous design, the kind of clothes that feel like they belong in a library full of secrets.

For the everyday wardrobe backbone, ASOS and & Other Stories are both worth serious time. Neither is alternative in itself, but both carry androgynous tailoring, wide-leg trousers, structured blazers, and draped pieces that work as building blocks. The key is being deliberate — buying shapes, not trends.

Depop and Vinted deserve a mention here because the best Dark Academia and cyberpunk finds are secondhand. The aesthetic is inherently about things with history — worn leather, faded blacks, fabrics that look like they’ve been through something. Charity shops in university towns are worth an afternoon.

The practical plan is this: clear out what doesn’t fit who I’m becoming, keep anything that could work with where I’m going, and start replacing things deliberately rather than randomly. One good piece at a time.

The wardrobe I want is dark, a little severe, quietly feminine, and entirely mine.

I’ll get there.