As a worker bee in Corporate America, I was required to wear certain clothes every day (they called it “Business Casual”). At one point I worked at a law firm in San Francisco where the dress code was a lot more relaxed (jeans and a T-shirt or even sweats, if one was so inclined). They figured comfortable workers meant happy workers too. This proved to be VERY true for me because I never understood to whose advantage I was dressing nicely after all. Would the documents I draft look better if my khakis came from the Republic of Bananas? Would I automatically respect someone in a suit simply because theyre wearing one, even though they are rude and mistreat everyone around them? This new perspective really got me thinking about the costumes we wear and why we wear them… People ask me sometimes about my decision to wear casual clothes instead of monks robes, and it really got me thinking… Robes or no robes, living in a monastery or an apartment, my vows and intentions in life are the same. So, why do we wear what we do? Many moons ago I used to go out dancing with a good friend of mine every Friday night. She was an extremely attractive young woman who could dance all night, and we always had a great time together. The only problem was that it always took her two hours to get ready before we went out (outfit, hair, makeup, you name it). We got to the club together one day and I pointed to a girl dancing by the speakers and said to my friend, Do you see her? SHE is hot! My friend looked really confused. Shes wearing a T-shirt, sneakers, and a baseball cap! You think THATS hot!? Yes! I answered, Because it took her five minutes to leave the house.. lol. THAT is appealing to me! She looks comfortable, ready to dance all night without constantly having to check her hair or complain about how much her shoes hurt, and.. did I mention it took her only five minutes to get ready!?! :) I’m sorry if this post ends up upsetting a lot of people who dress nicely for work (or spend a great deal of time, money and effort to look good”), but my intention isnt to upset you. Im simply curious how much of what we decide to wear is based on our assumption (and even expectation) that we will be judged by others… And do we then judge others in return? In-fact, isn’t that what I’m doing by choosing NOT to dress up? To quote Tyler Durden again (because, let’s face it, the man can’t be quoted enough), “You are not your khakis!” :)
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 03:00:00 +0000
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