Wearing the same thing every day. A good idea?

Important men with important jobs all have one thing in common: they wear a suit. Because, as Obama once said about his suits, “I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.” A suit is neutral, but the idea of wearing a suit is mainly so that the gentlemen in in high positions don’t have to break their precious brain cells over trivialities like clothes.

And that has never changed. What has changed is that women have moved from the kitchen to the boardroom and therefore also with have to deal with difficult decisions. Only, a woman doesn’t wear a suit but stands in front of her closet every morning. “Ridiculous,” thought Matilda Kahl, Art Director at the world-famous advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi. Every morning she would rack her brain in front of the closet, and every time it caused unnecessary stress, so she decided to put an end to it and from now on wear the same thing every day. She bought 15 identical white silk blouses, just as many black pants et voilà, her suit in which she always feels good was born. In a piece she wrote on this subject for Harper’s Bazaar, she writes the following, following an important meeting whereto she was late I already came out as a Belieber due to an outfit crisis: “I had completely stressed myself out, and for what? This was not the first morning I’d felt this unnecessary panic, but I decided it would be the last.”

And actually, I can relate to that so much. My mood is largely determined by what I wear that day. If I feel good in my clothes, I feel good in my head, but if my outfit starts to annoy me halfway through the day, I immediately lose interest in everything. That half appointment with a friend to maybe go for a drink after work I cancel, or I first bike all the way across town to change. Idiotic and being dramatic maybe, but that’s just how it is.

To a certain extent, I let the success of an appointment or even an entire day depend on my clothes.

If I have something important on the agenda, you can bet that I’ll be worrying for days in advance about what on earth I should wear. Last week visiting Bill Cunningham for example, what do you wear when you’re going to meet Bill Cunningham?! Keep in mind that it was pouring rain that day, I wanted to look fashionable but not too much, that Bill likes feminine, colorful, and original, and that I was going to the editorial office of De the New York Times and was there among the big and important journalists, and therefore didn’t want to come across as a silly fashion doll. In short, enough factors to block completely.

And this happens quite often. If I have a drink after work, then I need to wear something that is both office-proof and drink-proof that morning. If important people come to the office for a meeting, then I want to wear a damn good suit because “then it will go well.” To a certain extent, I let the success of an appointment or even an entire day depend on my clothes, and I actually don’t like that at all. Now on the other hand, I generally love nice clothes and shoes too much to make such a drastic decision as Matilda did, but maybe it’s time to create a few emergency outfits. Or outfits that I know are always good. Or maybe just try for a week how it feels to wear the same thing every time. Dear colleagues, if this happens soon, no my washing machine is not broken and no I am not sleeping somewhere else for a week, it’s an experiment. In the name of science. And so on. So maybe: to be continued.