Your Style Philosophy

[stagename]

Transitioning to a uniform?

I came to the realization that I have way too much clothes and I needed to size down. I'm thinking of transitioning to a few number of pieces that would reflect my overall aesthetic, and keeping another set of pieces for work-related activities.

Any tips and tricks/dos and don'ts from members who've done the same, i.e. greatly reducing their wardrobe to a few number of pieces?

edit: thanks guys, all great suggestions I'll follow! I'm already decided on a few central items. I'm wondering if I'll regret it on the long run, you know, on that one day where I really wished I wouldn't have sold by bbs double-zip.

[gaborb]

^I'd start by selecting a few of my favourite pieces from each category (like outerwear, knits, tees, pants, etc) and would put away the rest.

[Dorje]

stagename, if I don't wear something I get rid of it with few exceptions. I keep a suit around even though I haven't worn it in a few years... but for most things if I go a season without wearing it I will sell it or give it away.

[messenoire]

i get rid of things in season, if it's fall i'll purge fall items. if it's summer, i'll purge summer items. i rarely will purge out of season because i feel it kind of messes with your judgement because of course you're not going to need that sheer tank in the snow but you probably will when its warm again.

[Faust]

Transitioning to a uniform?

I came to the realization that I have way too much clothes and I needed to size down. I'm thinking of transitioning to a few number of pieces that would reflect my overall aesthetic, and keeping another set of pieces for work-related activities.

Any tips and tricks/dos and don'ts from members who've done the same, i.e. greatly reducing their wardrobe to a few number of pieces?

edit: thanks guys, all great suggestions I'll follow! I'm already decided on a few central items. I'm wondering if I'll regret it on the long run, you know, on that one day where I really wished I wouldn't have sold by bbs double-zip.

That's why we have a "What are you really wearing" thread. Monitor yourself for a month or two each season and see what you stick with on daily basis. Let go of the rest.

Funny, was just talking with Shucks yesterday about how a uniform simplifies life.

[Tafkap]

I'm about to go uniform myself. I did it before about 6 or 7 years ago. I only wore black jeans and plain t-shirts. I had a couple black button downs and a jacket. Carpe Diem reverses. My girlfriend ended up going back to her ex....haha.
Well beyond that, i became bored of it myself. The problem that I have been dealing with is the fact that I don't want my uniform to be too crazy. In other words, yes, I like sz style but if I only go uniform for some situations this won't work....like when I paint, when I'm working around the house, if I want to find a new job - I will need to make an impression that works for that type of job that isn't sz....But that's the problem that I have....I purchased a few months ago some clothing that wasn't really me, just a plaid button down and khakis with new chucks....something more conservative....because i was applying for a new job and I knew dressing this way would get me the job. Not only did I get the job but the boss complemented me a few times during the interview about how I was dressed.
So my question is - what is your style philosophy based on things like that? I really don't like dressing this way, but if you want to go uniform, do you have to find a happy-medium, have any of you come to the point where you can go full sz style at all times? I'm purchasing new clothes now because I have in a way gone uniform for the past few years for the most part, in a different way, but is the idea in this thing we call life to go uniform in our very own style at all times, or while we have to function in society, do we have to deal in clothing in that way too, maybe find a happy medium, or, have two uniforms?

[Faust]

Well, dressing for work doesn't really count, I think, because it's a uniform dictated by a societal force.*

I know we have had a lot of talk about whether authenticity is real or purely perceptional, but I tell you that when I worked on Wall St. I felt totally dispirited having to dress up for work and I bent every single rule of workplace dress code as far as humanely possible. I actually had seriously pondered whether dressing to feel myself could be calculated as a benefit akin to health insurance.

*BSR, Fuuma, and other French who had read too much Foucault in college, I fully understand that peer approval of the kind that can be perceived (erroneously, in my opinion) on SZ can be construed as a form of such a diktat, but it is not the same thing as what a workplace demands - the stakes are different (once livelihood vs. perception of being cool or seeking approval or whatever the fuck you think makes people post in WAYWT).

[trentk]

[...]when I worked on Wall St. I felt totally dispirited having to dress up for work and I bent every single rule of workplace dress code as far as humanely possible.

Just out of curiosity what was the wildest you could get away with on wall st? (I'm 85% certain that I'll never work on wall st b/c I'm too dedicated to academic research... but if I do prostitute myself as a quant for a few years, I will strongly consider (when I want to leave) showing up in progressively weirder shit in order to get myself fired. "a blazer is no longer considered a blazer when you remove the lapels?" "sorry I didn't know that a drop crotch suit doesn't count as a suit")

[Tafkap]

well said Faust... I wonder how it varies outside of America, the attitude that one needs to conform in a way to the 9-5 way of a dress that is seen as fitting for the job. I'm sure showing up to Wall Street you have to wear a suit, McDonalds, mickey Ds garb, an athlete must wear a uniform...But an athlete wears a uniform for certain functional reasons...I wonder why we haven't been able to break out of that way of thinking in most all "real jobs"....I know it is this way in other countries, but I wonder how much of it is sort of a way of seeing things as far as living in America...I do think a lot lately especially that I want to forever drop off the face off that planet where I don't have to have clothing in my wardrobe that I only wear for "work"....this of course means not having this job or that job, so my options become very very very thin.

[Faust]

Just out of curiosity what was the wildest you could get away with on wall st? (I'm 85% certain that I'll never work on wall st b/c I'm too dedicated to academic research... but if I do prostitute myself as a quant for a few years, I will strongly consider (when I want to leave) showing up in progressively weirder shit in order to get myself fired. "a blazer is no longer considered a blazer when you remove the lapels?" "sorry I didn't know that a drop crotch suit doesn't count as a suit")

A Dior Homme polo shirt

[stagename]

an athlete wears a uniform for certain functional reasons

So do lawyers, salespersons, and most people working in environment where a professional image is required. Most professional fields are regimented by an internal logic. Like you would wear a suit if you worked as a lawyer, you probably wouldn't if you worked as an advertising creative. In both cases, attire serves a particular function as it conveys signals to the recipients. Maybe not as "functional" as athletes in the literary sense, but still quite so.

[Faust]

I think he meant function in a physical and not in a metaphysical sense.

[Dorje]

/\ right, and as I've said in other threads, dressing is a form of communication, and for work situations as variance from the norm is only tolerated to a certain degree.

I am lucky enough to be self employed...

I was just thinking the idea of a uniform sounds good but it doesn't work for me. I like to dress up a little more for going out, dates, etc... and sometimes I want to dial things back and wear a simple jeans and a tee/workshirt/knit depending on the situation. Most of the time I do wear the same kind of outfit and it leans towards this forums' aesthetic, but looking in my closet, I have a lot of other stuff that rarely gets worn that I can't get rid of. #1 is the suit, it's been years...

[stagename]

I think he meant function in a physical and not in a metaphysical sense.

I agree, but given that most products nowadays have more symbolic than utilitarian functions I thought it was an important omission to point out ..

Also, his point that we haven't been able to "break out" of social conventions in most day jobs point to the idea that symbolic functions are not "real" ones, they are ones we can "break out" of, as if I was saying, it's strange that athletes haven't broken out of the convention of weating specialized clothing. Both are functional, albeit on different levels, and their function could be equally weighted when it comes to their respective benefits to their field imo.

I totally agree with you Dorje regarding suits. I haven't put on a suit in the last 6 months but I bought some. Go figure. I feel a uniform will restrict my buying habits, as well as simplify my life more generally, as pointed by Faust ...

[Faust]

I agree, but given that most products nowadays have more symbolic than utilitarian functions I thought it was an important omission to point out ..

I don't know, I might have changed my opinion about that since the DKRSDW parka I bought a few weeks ago has been saving my ass this winter