Woman Wears the Same Outfit to Work for Three Years
There's been a story making the rounds on several media outlets lately, about an art director of one of NYC’s biggest advertising firms (Saatchi & Saatchi) who's been wearing the same outfit to work for the past 3 years. You would think that any woman over the age of 13 would be thrilled to not have to wear a uniform ever again in her life, but Matilda Kahl makes an interesting, if not valid, point in favour of them.
In her column on Harper’s Bazaar, where the story was first published, Matilda mentions that the whole concept was born one Monday while she was trying to decide on an outfit for a very important meeting. As with most women who have a career her problem revolved around what people, or in this case the clients she was meeting with, would think of her once they saw what she was wearing. She questioned herself over and over about the length of one particular dress, or if that other item was too formal, or too “out there”; needless to say that she ended up showing late and frazzled wearing an inside out sweater. This daily struggle to try and fit in with the stipulated fashion norms made her decide to eliminate the frustration and unnecessary panic, and give in to what men had been privy of for a very long time already: The Work Uniform, or how men call it - the suit. She settled on a classic white silk shirt combined with black trousers and accessorized with a black leather rosette, a detail that had roots in her childhood and so it added a small personal touch to an otherwise generic outfit.
The question remains, still, if this strategy would work just as well in a fashion environment where what you wear is actually who you are. Not so much in a "if you're not sporting the latest Chanel we're not talking to you" aspect but more from the idea that the way you style yourself reflects the style of the brand you work for. Those who work at Prada don't dress the same as those who work at Kenzo, and that right there is what makes each company so individually identifiable. That being said, the pressure of having to constantly look a certain way does tend to take a toll on people. You end up burned out and emerge unispired about what to wear; and when you work in an industry that revolves mainly around outfit choices, not feeling like keeping up with the latest runway trend is not really a smart option.
In my personal opinion a healthy mix of both things usually does the trick. If you work in retail, for example, pick and choose a few of your favourite pieces from the current season of the brand you work for, and play with those until the next collection comes out. Having fewer options will actually make it easier to decide on what to wear, and since brands always produce up-to-date designs, you'll know for certain that what you have to pick from will be within the "seasonal trends" parameters.
* Article revised and originally published for Styleninetofive.com | Images from Instagram