Come Along On My Tibi Journey
I’m kind of obsessed with Tibi lately you guys. I didn’t even know about the brand until I joined Substack and then most of the stuff I read was kind of negative. It seemed like some sort of cult clothing company that got popular during covid where there were these videos that people watched and that’s how they joined the cult and then the cult took all their money and gave them clothes.
And there were weird terms you had to learn such as Creative Pragmatist and the vibe was like do you want to be special and become a Creative Pragmatist? And I was all no thank you I hate labels and I’m not a joiner.
So how did I go from that to being obsessed with Tibi and currently reading a book called the Creative Pragmatist? I think it was a slow process. I’m pretty sure it started when I saw
in a pair of Calder sweatpants and (just an aside here I loooove sweatpants. I tried to embrace jeans for awhile and while they’re great for an occasion I’m pretty committed to elastic waist pants for the long haul) these sweatpants were suhweet on Irene. They looked different, they had style. Irene has great style in general so that didn’t hurt the appeal (here's her post about sweatpants). As someone who is always trying to up my casual pants game, I decided I needed a pair. The problem is they’re chronically sold out so I had to wait awhile, but I finally got them in navy in the small/short size. And they didn’t disappoint; they were pretty great. They didn’t bag out like many sweatpants, they had structure. To use a Tibi term (ugh) they had a “point of view.”
And then I started looking at other Tibi stuff and I still had this aversion I’m not sure what it was - I think it’s partly the formula of it all and how they give you a system for getting dressed and there’s all this terminology and it seems in some ways it can limit creativity? I don’t know. But at the same time I found the clothes really suited me, they were well made. The addition of synthetic fibers which initially bugged me keeps them from getting as wrinkled as my sustainable clothes so they’re pretty low maintenance. And, I hate to say it, but they kind of work well for a middle-aged body and the aesthetic of someone who is older and wants to be casual and comfortable without looking sloppy. Basically, me.
I started watching the Tibi style videos that come out on YouTube and wow are they ever fun! I love watching them while puttering around in my bedroom organizing things. I don’t know what it is about the filming but the clothes all look so good on those videos. Or maybe it’s just the clothes themselves! Because I went to a Tibi event in Marin several weeks ago and the clothes were really great in person too.
This is not a Tibi promotional ad, I still think there’s something creepy about the whole thing and the terms freak me out. And the clothes are EXPENSIVE. I think they’re definitely targeting middle aged women who have money and want a system to look stylish. Luckily the resale market is robust and there are some great deals out there.
Anyway since I’m kind of Tibi’s target audience I decided to go on the journey and I bought the book and thought I’d talk about it here as I go through it and discover what it is to be a Creative Pragmatist, and if that even feels like me (although I hate calling myself a creative person and I’m certainly not pragmatic). I’m more of a Dreamy Surrealist so perhaps this will bring me down to earth a bit and distract me from actually shopping, because I notice I’ve been using shopping too much to try to feel in control of my life and it’s having the opposite effect - I’m feeling guilty and overwhelmed. So perhaps a little bit of pragmatism is not unwarranted at the moment.
Chapter One
Okay so let’s dig into chapter one which is really short. The first part is about finding your style adjectives. Which kind of shocked me because I thought that was Allison Bornstein’s thing and now I’m wondering who coined this first?? I also don’t know if Amy is asking us to come up with our own style words or she’s sharing the ones all Creative Pragmatists should adopt which are Classic, Modern, and Chill. I like those words but I don’t know if they’re MY words and I’ve had a hard time coming up with my own words, honestly. I mean, this isn’t the first time I’ve thought about this three words thing. The problem is I’m very changeable and I can’t stick to any words. Right now I want to say Bohemian, Playful, and Casual. Those will be my words for this week.
The only thing is I don’t think those words have enough tension, which Amy talks about (see? I’m already changing my words). If there’s tension between your words then your outfits become more nuanced and interesting. Tension is interesting. Isn’t that crazy? It’s hard to imagine that in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep. But I get it and Amy talks about this in chapter one. If you’re wearing something chill like sweatpants but you add a modern element such as a trench coat it’s more interesting than adding another chill item like a plain t-shirt. Or, as in the case of the Calder sweats, the pants themselves have both chill and modern vibes because of the unique shape. So you can look for clothes that contain two opposing elements to make them interesting and more versatile and I do think that’s what Tibi does well. They create clothes which (in Amy’s words again) have multiple points of view within one piece.
The second part of Chapter One is about the Creative Pragmatist scale. It goes from one to ten with one being the lowest of either Creative or Pragmatist and ten being the highest. So you can be at a Creative (C) 1 and a Pragmatist (P) 10 and that will mean you’ll tend towards a more conservative outfit. Or you can be a C10 and a P1 and then you’re more artsy and alternative in how you put together your style.
In the Tibi videos the women often rate themselves as being more on the creative or pragmatist scale, but everyone slides around on that scale depending on what they’re dressing for. For example, I went to work at the museum this week so I wore a more P outfit, but then when hanging out with friends or doing anything social, I’ll definitely up the C factor. However much of the time I’m an S for Sloppy around the house clothes and I feel okay about that.
That’s my intro to the CP book and I’m hoping to go through all the chapters here and EXPLORE style with you all but knowing me the whole undertaking will be somewhat erratic. My goal here isn’t to buy and feature all the Tibi clothes but to read the book as a way to explore my style and gain some understanding, so I can shop less and smarter and use what’s already in my closet in new and creative ways. You know, Creative Pragmatism.
If you want more Tibi content
is an expert and has many great posts on the subject. You can find a lot of them in the post below:
I wanted to leave you with a thought on skincare. I’ve been neglecting it lately because I’ve had so many medical appointments that I can’t deal with any more self-care besides slapping on sunscreen before I go out and sometimes washing it off at night. I was feeling stressed that I’m not doing any aggressive anti-aging stuff but then I read this interview with Joomee Song and it made me feel like maybe I’m not messing up so badly by ignoring my skin, that it could actually be a good thing.
Sita your whole intro made me chuckle hard!! My first intro to Tibi was in regard to Ring 3 colors (a great into TBH) but when I bought the book I really felt myself drinking the koolaid. I went deep into Tibi for a bit (though I could never really afford their stuff) and now I can hold it all at a pleasant arms-length. Which is to say I enjoy it without feeling like I need to buy all Tibi or follow all Tibi rules.
I joined Substack already a cult member. So it was surprising to see all the vitriol here against the brand. Maybe not ALL, but I did see a bunch of articles when I joined. The criticism is fair, tbh. I just didn’t join the cult brainwashed like some of these authors had in the past. I don’t consider Amy to be an infallible god, and I’m under no delusions that they do style classes out of the goodness of their hearts. I’m saying all this here because I’ve seen people on here being apologetic about being into Tibi, perhaps because of the general distaste towards the brand in these circles. But hey, if the clothes work for you, like they do for me and many others, welcome ❤️ Its a business, we are their consumers. If their product works for us, great!