A little what-if exercise. Here’s the setup:
Imagine you’re living in a country — or maybe *cough* an institution — with a peculiar sort of dress code. You may wear anything you want there… but once you choose it, you must wear it forever. Not the same exact article of clothing, of course: I just mean multiple identical garments, uniforms, matching in color, fabric, style, and other respects. When you opened your closet or bureau drawer, there’d be no diversity at all. Don’t bend the rules, don’t color outside the lines, none of this “Well, depending on the day of the week/phase of the moon/season/latitude” sort of weaseling qualification: it’s a game, already. No one in the real world will lock you into whatever you say now.
And yes, this is a wholly unnatural thought experiment. I’m just curious.
For the record, mine would probably be what I’m wearing today: pale blue cotton Oxford shirt (with button-down collar), denim blue jeans, some sort of socks in a non-clashing color (depending on what I chose at the moment I had to decide for good), and docksiders/moccasins. I could wear this every day. (And, frankly, I often must fight the urge.)
whaddayamean says
ok, the difficult hoop to jump here is really deciding what image of yourself you want to project to the REST OF THE WORLD for the REST OF YOUR LIFE. and whether or not that’s more important than your comfort, for the rest of your life.
in my case, I think the answer is kinda no. so … brown cords, a v-neck long-sleeve t-shirt (probably blue), brown pumas.
Ashleigh Burroughs says
Whaddaya’s right – it’s comfort and image at war with fashion.
I’d choose my not-a-natural-fiber-among-them elastic waist black pants from Lucy, which look dressy but can be used for hiking or long road trips, too. Top will be an oversized silk shirt over a camisole (hmm…. I have to choose colors…… ok, my Tommy Bahama coral shirt and a CasaBella camisole to match) . Do I get to change shoes for exercise? If not, I’ll pick a comfy pair of Nikes. If so, I choose my short yellow leather cowboy boots for everyday.
I imagine you dressed as you describe yourself. I’m in jeans and a tucked in shirt when it’s cool enough here – like today – but mostly I live in gym clothes.
This was fun.
a/b
John says
whaddayamean: Yeah, it’s kind of discomfiting. That’s one of the things I was curious about: clothing as display, vs. clothing as cover (I guess you could say) — and how people would choose. It’s something like forcing them to choose between an eye-catching book cover, and a dull but nearly indestructible one.
John says
a/b: I think tucked vs. untucked works very nicely to distinguish formal from casual.
And wow, you gave this a lot of thought (colors, etc.). I’m almost embarrassed to put that all to waste. :)
Tessa says
Pretty much what I do wear everyday – jeans, tee, coverall (sweater/cardigan/hoodie) and loafers. And damn the (fashion) torpedoes!
John says
Tessa: That outfit sounds about like what I’d imagine for you. Back a couple of summers ago, which you spent sailing and tweeting — your icon back then, if I remember, was a pair of bare feet (which I assumed to be yours) propped up on the gunwales or whatever the hell the word is. Even then I remember being surprised to see you utterly unshod. :)
marta says
I refuse to believe that I can’t look good and feel comfortable at the same time. Oh. What about weather? Anyway, jeans. Not lumpy jeans. Flattering ones because that’s the way I am. Then something with layers because I like layers and I’m not sure about the weather. Could I have different bracelets, earrings, and scarves? Same haircut? That would drive me crazy.
John says
marta: I just knew somebody would bring up weather, although I was hoping otherwise because I didn’t really have a good answer. The only thing I could come up with was: the weather’s immaterial, because you are free to don and remove outerwear as necessary. This thought experiment would restrict only your basic wardrobe.
In the world in which this experiment runs, I picture you establishing some sort of underground resistance movement with all that obsessive accessorizing. Or at least, you’d spend an awful lot of time looking nervously over your shoulder. Also, I know you’d mentioned that you recently got a new haircut, but I didn’t see that as something you did often. Hmm.
s.o.m.e.one's brudder says
Not sure what it says that my choice is damn near identical to yours. I think the primary difference being that I would choose my current hiking shoes with associated, fairly thick hiking socks. I’ve considered the possibility of lining the shirts portion of my closet with blue oxfords.
John says
brudder: What it says is probably just that we watched TV starting at about the same point in history. :)
A weird little factoid: I actually have a role model for a “look.” It’s Robert Culp, in his role as Kelly Whatsisname on I Spy. Because he was a tennis player (as well as a spy), he tended to favor sneakers over regular shoes — and he also did the knit shirt thing way more often (and with much more panache) than I, given my cotton Oxford shirt preference. (Always long sleeve, btw, and with the sleeves unbuttoned and rolled up more often than not.) But he seemed to sort of carry the clothes on his skin rather than wear them. If that makes any sense.
John says
P.S. In the first 20 pages of Google Image search results just now, I found not a single photograph of the “look” I remember from I Spy. I might find it on YouTube but now I’m too distracted by worry — that all this time I should have been wearing off-white long-sleeve V-neck sweaters. And/Or tuxedos.
cynth says
Ohh, if only I could…I would wear drawstring sweats with a blue long sleeve shirt and sneakers. I was so involved in thinking about something else today, I put on one shoe from one pair and another from another pair. At least they were the same color. I’m with Marta, I love fun pins, earrings, bracelets. I would HAVE to have these things, but the rest is a wash.