Anyone who watches my Flickr photostream has doubtlessly noticed the ridiculous documentarian fashion shots I’ve been taking for the last month or two.

I find these photos so embarrassing that I considered starting a separate Flickr account for them, but I’ve gotten lots of feedback that people (ok, fine: women) find them interesting, so I’m leaving them. That said, I figured I’d offer an explanation of what’s going on.

A few months ago I found myself totally bored with my clothing. It was stupid, really: I have an enormous closet full of incredibly awesome interesting weird colorful wacky clothes, but it’s easy to fall into a rut. I considered challenging myself to wear each thing in my closet once, without repeating, until I’d worn everything. If I put something on that I hadn’t worn in ages and decided I didn’t like it, I’d put it in the give-away bag and be done with it.

Then I stumbled on wardrobe_remix, a Flickr group that’s all about everyday folks documenting their own brand of street fashion. It’s not about shopping (lots of the clothing is vintage, reconstructed, and otherwise one-of-a-kind) but about getting inspired. I’m a huge fan of street fashion — I find designer stuff boring and expensive and really, who cares? I’m interested in fashion that’s entertaining and creative and trends that bubble up from the sidewalks — not couture dictated from the top of the runway. My favorite articles of clothing are ones where, when you look at it on a hanger, you wonder “Uh, what is it?” For me, fashion isn’t about the runways, it’s about sidewalks and festivals and clubs and even creative-class conference rooms.

Therefore, the wardrobe_remix photo pool is infinitely more inspiring to me than the pages of a glossy magazine. I don’t care what people are wearing in New York, London, or Paris. I want to know what people are wearing in Montreal, Austin, Melbourne, San Francisco, and Portland, OR.

In exchange, I give them a little look at what people are wearing in Seattle. Or at least what weirdos like me wear in Seattle. I was a little hesitant to join the group at first — there’s definitely a heavy lean towards the skinny jeans/’80s vintage look in the photo pool, and that is SO NOT ME. I have no idea how I’d describe my fashion (layered post-raver bohemian kaleidoscopic, maybe?), but I don’t really rock the vintage much. That said, I’ve found the community to be totally friendly, inviting, and inspirational.

There’s a group rule that you can’t whine about yourself (ie, no “I look dumpy today!”) and there seems to be a culture of positive comments only (ie, no “Uh, those pants don’t fit, honey”). It’s supportive, and there’s no denying that it’s encouraged me to be more creative in my dressing. No more wardrobe rut for me. Now it’s always fun to see what weird combination I can come up with each morning. My coworkers seem entertained, and anyone who doesn’t like it can suck it back and forth (as my coworker Dana would say).

I think I’ve mostly gotten over my embarrassment at posting self-portraits of my outfits. I mean, I like looking at other people’s pictures, so why should I be embarrassed of my own? I guess taking the time to snap a shot of what I’m wearing each morning starts to get a little too close to my line in the sand of what’s interesting vs. what’s just painfully awful narcissistic navel-gazing blogger-horror. Today pictures of my clothes, tomorrow videos of me dancing around my room lip syncing Scissors Sisters songs while making “blogger face” at the camera and holding up hand-written signs that say “I’m so cute, I’m so cute, I’m so cute”? Ug. But whatever. I’m willing to sacrifice my pride to contribute to the fashion dialog and provide entertainment in the form of over-the-top wtf outfits.

And the slightly OCD documentarian in me gets a sick satisfaction out of seeing all the outfits in a row. *twitch* As one person pointed out, it’s like paper dolls! But, ME!!