Platonic Shopping: an introduction

While Im usually jealous of impressed by girls who have the kind of wardrobes that allow them to sport something new and different virtually every day, I personally tend towards Uniform Dressing--that is, consistently wearing essentially the same (of course, seasonal) outfit, because why bother messing about when you already know exactly what suits you. And of course it does lend itself well to young motherhood, as these days I find I no longer have the time to play dress-up in my own closet, nor periodic access to the substance that used to make my otherwise repetitive dress-up sessions so enjoyable... if you know what I mean. But not only is this method of dressing ideally suited to my current lifestyle, it is also apparently my Sartorial Destiny, for despite attempts to add variety to my wardrobe when shopping, I invariably pick out slightly different but more or less exact copies of the approximately ten articles of clothing already in my possession. Its not that Im trying to repeat myself, its just that Im forever drawn to a few certain pieces. Unfortunately, it isnt Investment Shopping, due to my unwillingness/inability to invest any decent amount of cash in my purchases; instead, I like to call it Platonic Shopping: forever seeking, and failing to find, the ideal anything. Its sad, and its a real problem for me. But knowing that you dont actually have the Perfect Anything makes you relatively detached, which is great if youre Nomadic; when we left for England, I easily shed at least half of my wardrobe. Now Im left with only one of the most elusive items in my wardrobe: the Striped Shirt. People who know me personally mayb be familiar with this obsession of mine--but despite the literally dozens of iterations Ive owned in the past, I have still yet to find the Perfect One. This is the version I have now:

 and its fine, though there are some problems with it, which I wont go into just yet (this is only an introduction, after all). The point is, Im sick of wearing things that are sort of, but not quite, what Id like to be wearing. Maybe it doesnt bother other people so much, but when you have only one of something, you want it to be the right one, no? So, because of everything Ive just said, Ive decided to bite the bullet and start really looking for, and more importantly, paying for, those ten-odd elements of my probably very boring, but undeniably reliable, wardrobe, to which I will introduce you shortly. Stay tuned!