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Why I Wear The Same Thing Every Day, And What I Wear

blog.timoni.org

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Re: Why I Wear The Same Thing Every Day, And What I Wear

#131

Post by ajross »

timoni wrote: post #116
ajross wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. I hesitate to call it "sexism," as there's no adverse discrimination going on, but the double standard here is turned up to 11. What is described in this article is, basically, the way almost every western man in a casual profession dresses. I wake up in the morning and pull on jeans, a t-shirt, and top it with a long sleeve, sweater or nothing depending on the weather. Yet no one would have any interest in re…

This is true; a lot of guys dress this way naturally. I'm hoping the difference is that I actually _thought_ about what I wanted to wear every day, rather than just wearing jeans every day. I only know one guy who's consciously done this, and he's a designer, too.

Right. What interested me was the double standard I mentioned (and I should be really clear: I'm not sitting here and being a men's rights whiner about reverse sexism or anything like that, I'm honestly interested). Clearly guys aren't doing this out of instinct, we were taught to do it too. But it happened at an age and in a context where there was no value placed on the decision. It's just "how it's done", like brushing one's teeth.

For women, coming to the same kind of decision is a lifestyle hack. I don't know what to think about that.

Re: Why I Wear The Same Thing Every Day, And What I Wear

#132

Post by X-Istence »

As a guy I am extremely lucky. Jeans, dickies short-sleeve shirt, black socks, magnum boots and a fedora hat and I am set.

It is what I wear day in day out. Sure, I have different colours, black jeans, {dark, light} blue jeans and the dickies shirts come in various colours {red, black, blue, marine blue, navy blue, white, green} but that is pretty much where it ends. Sometimes I'll switch out my fedora for a flat cap.

I own four pairs of jeans, and 8 pairs of dickies shirts, and those dickies shirts have been with me for a VERY long time. My oldest one is now 6 years old and still going strong.

Re: Why I Wear The Same Thing Every Day, And What I Wear

#134

Post by ravejk »

I'm also a female, a designer (ux/ui) and I try to spend as little time as possible thinking about my clothing and hair, while still looking like a designer.

The look described here sounds simple, but super casual and perhaps a bit dumpy for a designer. I find that the easiest thing for me is to wear all black clothing that fits well (don't buy it unless you feel great in that shape and material, no compromises). Avoid cotton because it fades and has a gross texture. Done.

Re: Why I Wear The Same Thing Every Day, And What I Wear

#135

Post by MSM »

adrianbravo wrote: post #102
MSM wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I too couldn't help but notice that she spent an awful lot of timing thinking through her fashion to be "liberated" from "taking up too much time and energy" deciding what to wear.

I couldn't help but notice that she does not write a full blog post every time she gets dressed.

That's certainly a step in the right direction.

Re: Why I Wear The Same Thing Every Day, And What I Wear

#136

Post by sneak »

dminor wrote: post #78
bryanlarsen wrote: post #53

I appreciate her effort to find a look not subject to the whims of fashion. However, she will have to adapt her look in a few years when the leggings under a skirt look goes out of style. I'm sure she'll adapt, perhaps switching back to tights. It's also a look that will be difficult to pull off when she's 20 years older. For some reason, women have to dress their age. My guess is because there is so much societal pr…

> Men have it easy. A well fitted Saville Row cut suit has been relatively fashionable for at least a century. I'd be laughed out of the office if I wore that.

Find a better office, quick.

Re: Why I Wear The Same Thing Every Day, And What I Wear

#137

Post by [deleted] »

rodolphoarruda wrote: post #28
jasonkester wrote: post #3

Funny to see what a female thinks of as "wearing the same thing every day". For most dudes I know, That's a lot of clothes to own. I think I made it to age 30 without ever owning 3 pairs of pants at one time.

For the past 5 years I've been owning a single pair of shoes. In January of each year I give away the old pair and get a new one.

[deleted]

Re: Why I Wear The Same Thing Every Day, And What I Wear

#138

Post by Mz »

Fascinating piece. I am saving a link to both the article and the discussion here, which is also very eye opening for me. I happen to be female and my mother sewed beautifully and shopped sales. I grew up with tons of clothes, much of it custom made just for me and I would stand for fittings. I also studied clothing and at one time I wanted to be an image consultant. But I eventually came to hate shopping for clothes. All the time I spent studying clothes made it possible for me to buy stuff without trying it on. I walk into a store, pull stuff off the rack -- oftentimes the sale rack in fact -- pay and leave. This became a really vital skill while I was getting well. Last year, when I was shrinking so dramatically, I threw out my clothes after one or two wearings. If I couldn't have grabbed clothes for $2 an item off the clearance racks that fit, met dress code, and looked good enough to wear to work at Bigco, I couldn't have made the healing journey I made.

I am currently homeless and currently literally own only (clothes-wise) the jeans, long sleeved T and sandals I am currently wearing. That is not due to being homeless. Instead, it is made possible by being homeless. It is a health choice, rooted in my ongoing efforts to kill the infection that nearly took my life eleven years ago. My relationship to clothing has been complicated and it was when I got over caring so much about how I looked that my background came in handy for flying under the radar socially while living a very strange life. I have had the most fun with clothes in recent years while not being a slave to societal expectations about how women should look/dress.

Anyway, it is something I want to write about but do not know where to start. I am hoping this piece helps me with those plans. So thanks for writing this. I feel like I have a million things to say about it but I want a) to not let my day get eaten by this distraction and b) would rather write it for one of my websites than for discussion here.

Re: Why I Wear The Same Thing Every Day, And What I Wear

#139

Post by sneak »

cletus wrote: post #94

I saw this post and ignored it on first glance. I just assumed it was some guy and as such it's pretty easy, particularly as an engineer. At work picking out the engineers is largely trivial (jeans, tshirt, runners). There are variations (eg SF engineers have more an affectation for, say, checked shirts at present). As a guy this seems totally fine. Women seem to have it much harder and not really because of men eith…

There is huge variance in t-shirt quality and fit. In my experience, American Apparel tees are the best I've ever found, and I order them 150-200 at a time (in black, of course). I have to lie and say they're for screenprinting, due to some weird requirements Am Appy instituted for their (now pretty restricted) wholesale customers. In bulk and in quantity (free shipping), they are $6/ea stateside. (Retail where I live is €27.)

I firmly believe from experience that no t-shirt looks better than a washed-once American Apparel black T in the right size. It's the closest thing we hackers have to a suit, I think.

By "runners" I assume you mean running shoes? Those aren't all-weather and can't be worn with an actual suit. I've a nice pair of black Doc Martens which shine up wonderfully, and have been treated to be fairly waterproof. They are perfect universal-occasion shoes, and incredibly comfortable.

Re: Why I Wear The Same Thing Every Day, And What I Wear

#140

Post by TeMPOraL »

GuiA wrote: post #89
djbender wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did her sitting down and thinking about her clothes sudden "consume all her time?"

Well, for example she states that she came up with this system to not lose time getting dressed in the morning. Writing that blog post in itself probably took more than a few hours — to write, review, edit, do the graphics for it, etc. If the initial goal was to spend time not thinking about clothes, that doesn't really feel like an optimal way to reach it.

> If the initial goal was to spend time not thinking about clothes, that doesn't really feel like an optimal way to reach it.

Why not? It's called optimization. You spend time once to improve a process, and reap savings from that moment on.

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