I’m aware that over the last couple of weeks of the challenge I’ve talked lots about how not being able to shop is doing me good.
I’ve done posts about emotional shopping, and about wasting money trying to look like someone else. I stand by those posts and the lessons I learned
writing them.
That said I’m a bit worried that I may (inadvertently) have
given you the impression I think that clothes and personal style are
unimportant, trivial even. And that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Choosing what we wear every morning is one of the key acts
of control we take over our lives. And whether you consider yourself into
fashion or not, whatever you chose to put on your body today does say something
about you.
The reason that I chose this challenge is because I value
personal expression so much, and use clothes to both express and hide myself. I’m
hoping the challenge will support me to dress more authentically, but I don’t
want to break my relationship with clothes. I value the opportunities for non
verbal communication they provide.
Recently I’ve read loads of interesting articles about
uniforms. These articles talk about people taking an active choice to limit
what they are wearing to one particular look, even in some cases exact copies
of the same items worn every day.
There is an evolution in the increasingly popular choice to
find one look and stick with it that I find beautiful and fascinating. It’s not
just about saving time and energy. I
love that by adopting a uniform people are subverting something that is
traditionally externally imposed on us
(by our schools, workplaces & prisons) and claiming it as a symbol of their
uniqueness.
Throughout history uniforms have been used to strip people
of their individuality, identify them as a type and essentially dehumanise
them. From traditional maids outfits designed to make your ‘staff’ indistinguishable
from each other, to the harrowing
examples of the striped pyjamas of holocaust victims, uniforms make it easier
to ask things of or do things to people than it would be if we saw them as
fully rounded human beings. And if you are not sure this follows check out the
way staff are treated next time you go into a fast food restaurant. Do you
think these guys get treated with that dismissiveness , distain and outright
rudeness when they are dressed in their civvies? Of course not. Like it or not
clothes are used to delineate status, and we humans are total arsewipes when it
comes to the way we treat people we believe to have lower status than us.
I can’t pretend it doesn’t worry me that the people I tend
to see in uniforms are people who we are asking to work for less than a living
wage, people who we expect to obey orders without question and children and
young people in their educational settings (yes I’m aware my first 2 points
also apply to children and young people – they get a bit of a raw deal no?).
Those of us who get to choose what we wear to work are
really privileged, we are offered the opportunity to choose things that fit us,
are comfortable on us and express whatever we want to say about ourselves.
Showing up to work in trackie bottoms is just as powerful a statement as
wearing high heels and lipstick every day. And we are
super lucky to be able to make that choice.
It’s just a shame that that choice has turned into a
brilliant marketing opportunity for clothing companies, who’ve gotten really
good at getting us to spend money on stuff that doesn’t express who we are, but
instead a sense of ‘now’ that is transitory and leads to us constantly updating
our wardrobes rather than confidently choosing what our look is and sticking with
it.
That’s why I totally admire people who are make really
strong choices about what they like to wear and stick with that. For example Matilda
Kahl wears a white silk shirt and black trousers to work everyday,. She
decided she had better things to think about than what to put on every morning,
and says her career and self worth are blossoming
as a result of the time and energy she is saving. She is – in her own way raising the social
value of wearing a uniform. And yes it’s a chosen uniform – but I hope there is
a translation there to the way we feel about everyone who dresses in a consistent
way whether that is chosen or not.
Clothes are important, to how we are seen by others and to
how we see ourselves. And we can make the best of this by taking the good and
leaving the bad. We can choose to wear what we feel comfortable in as often as
we can, and by seeing past the uniforms other people wear to the human being –
worthy of respect- that is wearing it.
Or to put it simply – don’t wear things that chafe or give
you blisters (unless that’s your thing…..) and don’t be an arsewipe to the girl
serving you your burger, or the guy cleaning the street you live on. Clothes
tell you a little something about the person wearing them – but not enough. To
know someone you need to know them.
And those of you that know me will know I’ve been getting my
hugely impractical polka dot dress out to look at everyday this week. I know I
can’t put it in the capsule, it’s too fragile and it doesn’t go with anything.
You can help me to resist temptation and stay strong with a bit of sponsorship.
Here’s the link.
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| And this is that frock I'm missing (and my gorgeous neice) |
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