How many panties do you own? I’m not one for counting how many items are in my wardrobe, with one exception: panties! Here in NYC, I do my laundry at “The Mat” about every one-two weeks. Anything more frequent than that is expensive and inconvenient. I always feel like I’m at the brink of running out of panties to wear. Why haven’t I learned my lesson and bought more? Today while folding laundry, (something which btw, I really learned to enjoy doing while practicing mindfulness and listening to music, especially folding towels, love doing that! seriously), I thought it’d be a good idea to count how many panties I still own to assess how bad the panty shortage is. Drum roll please… so I own a grand total of 8 pairs of panties! Good panties that is. When I dug around my underwear drawer, I found two more pairs that I never wear because although “pretty” I never reach for them because they are made of polyester and don’t feel nice against the skin. Then I found 3 more pairs with holes in them (like the one in the picture). If I stretch out my laundry to every two weeks, I tap into this desperation pile of panties. It’s terrible. I bit the bullet and decided I would replace the ripped and polyester panties with unbleached organic cottons versions, which are on their way. I chose organic cotton because it’s better for the environment, but I read reviews about how it reduces your exposure to pesticides too. Does that really matter though??! The panties get washed presumably so is it really leaching pesticides onto your skin? It’s not like we’re eating the cotton. I have no idea and wonder if that’s just another marketing gimmick. My underwear collection has evolved a lot over the years. Have yours? I’ve always stuck to mostly cottons in the bikini or high waisted cuts (aka. granny panties). Occasionally I’ll have a moment of poor judgment and think I should wear something less boring like lace or panties with ridiculous patterns and embellishments, but I never end up wearing them, and that’s money down the drain! Besides even if I was motivated by the idea of looking “sexy” (cringe), I really don’t think men care all that much about underwear anyway.
Have you guys checked out the new mini release by Elizabeth Suzann? I’m really excited by the Andy Trousers. I’m too short to pull off full on wide leg pants like the Florence pants, but the Andy’s strike a nice balance. They are loose and wide but have a subtle taper at the ankle, that is just enough to give an elongating effect. I’m admiring the ones in midweight linen, but don’t actually want to buy anything right now. And I don’t feel pressure to either because I know these pants will still be there months and maybe even years down the line. I’m also kind of over the Clyde jacket in cotton canvas. I felt the ES cotton canvas in real life when I bought the Tilda pants in that fabric, and it was impressively thick and sturdy (I ended up returning those pants because of the bulk), but for my purposes, I think the fabric in jacket form is a bit overboard. If I worked on a farm, it might make sense. I do really like the same Clyde jacket in midweight linen though. I haven’t made up my mind about the Clyde trench yet. I like the length and lapels, but the batwinging on it is a bit too extreme to be practical for me. Will it feel right when driving a car? I do really like the parabola top in midweight linen and think the black version would pair nicely with a black pair of linen Andy trousers, like the one Chung is wearing here, for a head to toe wrinkly black linen monochrome outfit (it’s so dreamy!).
[image: from the elizabeth suzann website]
Anyway, I’m admiring all the new pieces, can imagine a few of them in my wardrobe, but don’t necessarily have a strong urge to buy anything right now (even if I could afford it right now, which I can’t). Sometimes I do get a sudden urge to replace all my clothes with everything ES. Rachel Hochman on my blog roll, who is an engineering grad student at Berkeley, owns a ton of ES. She’s even featured on the ES website in the community section! I’m so impressed by her outfits and wish more people would post pics of their ES clothes. There must be more people out there, somewhere. Please come out of the shadows and share!
Dr. it girl 
Are you a part of the selltradeES group on Instagram? People in that group are obviously fans of Elizabeth Suzann and many of them post their outfit photos on Instagram.
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Not officially on IG but I did check it out on my browser. Thanks for the rec!
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I don’t think you’re on instagram, but you can still view the selltradeES page, like Kara suggested, in a browser without logging in.
Re: undies – Not sure how many pairs I have but it’s probably around the 20 mark. I’m trying to find the ones I like best and begin cycling out any ratty ones and replacing throughout the year. I think I like the All-Day Briefs from Lively the best, but I still may try a new style or two. I’m not sure how many pairs I own, but I am making a mental note of which ones I reach for the most, or which ones I would only wear if they were the last ones left in the drawer.
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20 seems like a healthy number!
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I immediately wanted to order the parabola dress in ivory, but I already have a midi/maxi dress in that color… I’m still thinking about getting it in navy, though! I think I would size down so it’s a bit more fitted. I might also hem the dress so it falls just below the knee instead of a true midi length. I’m waiting though, because I have an opportunity to interview for an office-based job next month and if I decide to make that switch in working conditions, I’m not sure how much use I’ll get out of another linen dress.
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The maxi and even the midi length is too long for me. Dunno why but I always need to chop inches off dresses too. Good luck on the job hunt/decisions. Hope you still post a lot if you don’t work from home for selfish reasons. 🙂
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I feel like I could have written this post! So many points of agreement. Ditto on panty fabric/style. I do have some thongs for skinny jeans, but generally prefer my cotton grannie panties 🙂 Man repeller did do an article on the best “full” underwear to wear under clothing without a VPL a little while back, though.
I also loved the style of the Clyde jacket, ordered it in canvas, and ultimately found it too voluminous as a result of the cut and the fabric. I got major pterodactyl shoulder blades where the seams on the back were. Considered sizing down, but the shoulders were already ever-so-slightly tight when I raised my arms above my head, so thought the next size down might be too restrictive. Re-ordered the same size in linen, we will see.
Re: pics of folks wearing ES I only recently figured out how to follow a hashtag but now have lots of #elizabethsuzann posts in my feed and it is great! And ditto the selltradees though I recently unfollowed to reduce my exposure the temptation to scoop something discontinued or discounted up!
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lol, never heard of pterodactyl shoulder blades but I can imagine. Lots of great es outfits there but wish there were more ES in the wild full on outfit posts rather than a bunch of flat lays to sell. Cmon people!:)
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I finally stopped torturing myself about underwear and found a style I like from Pact Apparel and bought 8 new pairs. And just threw out the ones that I never wear because they are uncomfortable and resolved not to buy any more of those.
I love the Parabola top and dress in linen from the new ES release–but am on a shopping hiatus for a while so will wait. I have the Rebeka kimono and the Patti shell and they are wonderful
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I guess it’s easy to get into a panty funk when nobody really sees it. I saw pact too. Maybe I’ll try them out. I still need about 3 more pairs to fill two whole weeks.
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I used to have a random assortment of underwear before eventually realized I absolutely hated the minute I’d spend deciding what pair to wear. Since then, I buy the same panty in bulk – 14 pairs. I had Gap’s black, 100% cotton ones for years, but they weren’t 100% cotton the last time I needed them. After trying a couple of options, I ultimately went with Smartwool’s merino wool bikini bottoms. They are exorbitant, but I love wool. Maybe this is TMI, but I never feel sweaty in them – not after getting off my bike, or leaving the gym, or just walking around during super humid swampy summers – and that’s worth it. If they don’t last as long as the cotton underwear did (3 years), however, I probably won’t buy them again. So we’ll see.
As for ES, I toured the studio/factory and tried on EVERYTHING when I visited Nashville last year. I was surprised to find I was really meh about a lot of stuff. I loved the linen fabric – it truly is the best linen I’ve encountered, but I wouldn’t wear any item in the other fabrics enough for them to be worth the price tag.
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Whoa didn’t even know wool panties existed! And wow a factory tour! I might have to stop by when I move across country in the summer. Did you need an appointment or you just showed up?
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I needed an appointment. Info was on the website. Though it looks like they’ve paused visits because of construction:
https://elizabethsuzann.com/pages/visit-us
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Thanks for the info. That might make for a fun pit stop.
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I think I have 12 panties. I’ve not counted, but I know I have 6 of one kind and 6 of another. The first kind I wear more often and the second set I wear when I’m wearing more fitted pants because I don’t get VPL with them. Both are from Target. Although the set I got for the VLP are falling apart really quickly, so I may have to find another kind of panties for VLP or just say screw it I don’t care anymore and get more of the other kind I like. None of mine are cotton and except for 1 in nude, all the others are black.
I’ve not bought anything from ES and while the clothes look nice, I don’t think they really suit my style. I’m not saying I’ll never buy anything from ES because some of the newer items do look nice, but I don’t have an immediate need for anything from her collection. Plus, I’m not sure how work friendly they may be for me – especially since I’m getting promoted to a new position soon at work.
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I think only one of mine have an invisible panty line bc most of my pants are loose enough/ I have no backside to speak of. ES is leaning more masculine now but still skews fem and flowy…
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