Would you ever consider wearing the same thing to work every day? As in, the exact same thing?
Last night on Marketplace, Kai Ryssdal interviewed Matilda Kahl, who recently wrote a piece for Harper’s Bazaar on her decision to wear the same thing to work every day. Black pants, white silk shirts, and a sweet leather bow.
It all began one day when she had an important meeting and couldn’t decide what to wear. She not only ended up in an outfit that she hated, she also showed up to work late and with mind scattered before the meeting. As she put it, “You know what? I’m just gonna opt out of this.”
In her article, she notes that women bear the burden of not only having to express themselves creatively through clothing every day, but “the extensive pressure on women to uphold a flawless appearance. Here, we ultimately end up with an unscalable mountain of high expectations. No wonder many people walk around feeling that the world owns them, when it really should be the other way around.”
Are you on board yet?
When I started my first job out of college, my sister gave me some of her no-nonsense advice: “Just go to the sale section of Ann Taylor and Banana Republic and buy whatever fits you. It doesn’t matter if you like it; you’ll look nice and put together.” (Perhaps needless to say, we were both engineers. A highly practical people.)
Nearly 10 years later, my work closet consisted solely of identical J. Crew suits (one black, one grey, one navy, all with skirt and pants options), silk blouses, and a stack of identical Banana Republic wool sweaters in various colors. All of the blouses matched all of the sweaters matched all of the suits. Because all of the pants were tailored to the same length, I even bought the same heels in different colors (black, navy, and burgundy).
Work wardrobe: done. It took me minutes to get dressed in the morning and I always looked nice and presentable, and I could spend my morning preparing for the upcoming work day, not worrying about what to wear.
Do you have a work uniform? Would you consider wearing one after reading Matilda Kahl’s piece?
