Could You Wear the Same Thing Every Day?
Why Wear the Same Thing Every Day?
While wearing the same thing every day may sound strange, if I called it “developing your signature style,” chances are you’d consider it an effective way to make a fashion statement.
Wearing the same thing every day isn’t about owning one dress or one tee shirt. It’s about dressing in the same type of outfit so to free up your creativity and problem-solving capacity. Instead of worrying about whether you’ll wear the green shirt or a blue one, the black cardigan or the jeans jacket, the red heels or the black flats, black jeans or khakis, you make that decision once and then make it your only option.
Keep Your Outfit Simple
Define Your Signature Fashion Style
Creating and wearing a uniform allows you to express a personal style even with its simplicity.
Do People Really Dress in One Outfit Over and Over?
Think of Steve Jobs’ black turtleneck or Mark Zuckerberg’s grey tee. Minimalist blogger Joshua Becker wears a dark tee and khakis.
Do an Internet search for “people who wear the same thing every day” and you’ll see art directors who wear a white blouse and black trousers to work, teachers who wear the same dress, and other celebrities and regular people who have a go-to outfit.
Obviously, when these people attend special events, they break away from their uniform.
Choose a Uniform (or Two)
It only needs to suit one area of your life – work uniform, gym uniform, etc. You could have a few uniforms, one for each activity.
Aren’t People Going to Notice?
Yes and no. You may feel self-conscious if you wear a navy dress to work every day. Chances are that your coworkers won’t notice because they have other things to be concerned about. Not sure? Can you name what three of your coworkers wore yesterday? See?
And, even if they do notice, you get the chance to explain that you are experimenting wearing a uniform so that you have more mental energy for creativity and problem-solving.
If your outfit is appropriate for the situation (no tee shirt and khakis at a law office), people won’t care.
When I was a teacher, I always wore black pants. I once had a student ask if I only owned one pair of pants! So, yes, some people will notice.
Feel Comfortable in Your Uniform
Declutter Your Closet Over Time
Remove items that don’t fit your uniform look. When you do need to shop for clothes, focus on what fits your look. You’ll end up with less clothing, and that’s okay.
Create Your Signature Look
While creating your uniform may take a bit of work up front (or, not), once you have it, you’re set.
One way to notice if you already have a uniform is to look through your closet. Do you have a lot of jeans or yoga pants or cardigans or white tops? A uniform component doesn’t have to be in a single color. Maybe you always wear jeans and a tee shirt, with the tee shirt in a variety of colors. That still counts as a component of your uniform.
Another way to recognize what you wear is to list the activities you engage in over a couple of weeks. (work, school, date night, time with kids, gym, hiking, etc.) Next to each activity, list the basic outfit you wear – blouse, skirt, pumps; leggings and tunic, etc.
Chances are you’ll see that for some areas of your life you wear similar items, even if they have different colors and styles.
Pull from your closet the items that fit the uniform you’ve defined. Focus on wearing those pieces for a week and see if you can free up time you used to spend on deciding what to wear each day.
Fit Your Clothes to Your Activity
My Unintentional Uniform
I was in my late 40s, teaching a summer art program for preteens and teens at a camp. We were supposed to receive five staff shirts, but they only had three in my size. I had three pairs of black capris. So, yes, every three days, I went home and did laundry to make certain I’d have clean clothing the next day.
Weekends were casual. On Saturdays, my husband and I would hang out in a local restaurant. I’d wear a sleeveless blouse with the capris I wore to work. I’d spend Sunday mornings in the garden wearing yoga pants and a tee. After a shower, I’d wear my second sleeveless top and either capris or another pair of yoga pants which would cover either a low-key day or any company coming over for a cookout. I’d wear yoga pants and a camisole to bed. I had a cardigan available to combat chilly air-conditioned spaces.
So, my entire summer wardrobe consisted of three work tee shirts, three pairs of capris, two sleeveless blouses, a cardigan, and a couple pair of yoga pants. (I didn’t count sleepwear or the clothing I wore to exercise or to garden.) Add in sneakers and a pair of sandals and that was pretty much it.
Less than 15 items are more of a long weekend wardrobe than a seasonal one, but it was doable. I had no reason to question what I was going to wear each day. Without much thought, I’d created a workday uniform and a weekend uniform.
Yes, I did laundry every three days but then it took me all of five minutes to put everything away. Overall, this was the simplest seasonal wardrobe I ever wore.
