I’m very driven by what I do. I am certainly very competitive. I like people who represent the best at what they do, and if that turns you into a perfectionist, then maybe I am. —Anna Wintour
For some people, dressing stylishly is a requirement but what if how we dress were a competitive sport?
Imagine getting up every morning knowing that what you choose to wear could affect your income for the day. What would you choose? Stylish dress with heels that can’t be ignored? Colorful separates with the new ballet flats that are all the rage? Perhaps a dress suit for that meeting this afternoon.
Among the list of characteristics that one might give Americans, casual and competitive are two that would seem to be at odds with each other. How can one be competitive and any portion of them still be relaxed? The answer, of course, is that we’re not competitive and casual about the same things. We’re competitive about our sports, obviously, and a lot of people are competitive about work. Some are competitive about how much stuff they have and what kind of stuff it is. At the same time, we’re very casual about things such as how we dress, what we wear when we go to the store, and how people perceive us when we’re “off duty.”
Many of our workplaces have dress codes, some of which are driven by safety requirements or a need for uniformity and visual recognition. However, what if you were graded based on how stylish you are? Perhaps even more frightening, what would life be like if your compensation and eligibility for advancement were connected to how on trend you are in your choice of clothing? How would that change your life?
Dressing To Be Seen
There is an interesting article in this past Wednesday’s New York Times that is titled The Situation With Street Style.  Coming at the end of a month’s worth of fashion shows, the article focuses on an aspect of fashion that has not only changed dramatically but become rather competitive.  Before the advent of social media and hordes of street style photographers lingering outside every runway venue, most editors and buyers dressed for anonymity. Part of doing their job was to report on the fashion, not be the fashion. So, they dressed in monochrome outfits that were stylishly boring and reasonably comfortable. Those 14- to 16-hour days can be grueling, so best to dress for the long haul.
However, now there are a number of editors and buyers whose Instagram accounts are followed by hundreds of thousands of people. Being anonymous is no longer an option. Everyone who enters a fashion show, especially those in Europe, is photographed multiple times. Pictures are uploaded to Instagram and other social media almost immediately and those who are recognizable are tagged. For those who once enjoyed anonymity, how they dress has become a liability.
Street style among those who attend Europe’s fashion shows is now competitive. Anna Dello Russo, an editor at large for Vogue Japan, changes her clothes as many as six times a day during fashion weeks so that she’s not continually photographed wearing the same thing as she moves from show to show. For many, dressing stylishly enough to capture the attention of street style photographers isn’t a bonus, but a requirement for the job. They must dress to attract attention which, in turn, drives sales for advertisers.
Taking Competition To The Next Level
Would being competitive about how we dress really be all that bad? In some ways, we are already there. The whole reason many schools have switched to requiring uniforms is because, allegedly, individual style had become so competitive that it was giving rise to theft and bullying. Teenagers can take anything and make it hyper-competitive and sometimes that isn’t a good thing. We also see the same competitiveness in urban cultures where the amount and kind of “bling” one wears is a status symbol. The concept of competitive styling really isn’t that foreign to us.
We tend to push off a lot of the competitiveness as we get older. We’re told to work more as a team and to do that we have to set aside at least a certain portion of our competitive drive. We start dressing similarly to those around us, careful to not dress higher than our status. For example, if one’s immediate supervisor dresses in khaki and cotton button-down shirts, wearing a suit and tie might be seen as an aggressively competitive move. Americans are much more comfortable taking a casual approach to clothing in large part because it feels more friendly.
Competitive dressing could potentially be a good thing, though. Taking our appearance more seriously encourages us to take other things more seriously, especially the work we do. When we put more effort into how we dress, our attitude changes. We tend to act more determined, more focused, and more driven. Women who dress stylishly not only command more attention but also give more attention to their peers. Men who are more attentive to how they dress are generally seen as being more reliable and trustworthy. Being competitive in our everyday style could be a good thing for all of us.
How We Score
Of course, if we’re creating a competition, then we need a scoring system that reflects current trends but doesn’t punish those who can’t afford designer labels. Being able to pull together different pieces to create a unique and attractive look needs to have greater value than merely copying what was on the runway. Taking something simple and turning it into something fabulous would earn bonus points. Companies could have a special employee Instagram account with rewards given for those whose style generates the most likes.
Extreme fashion makes assessing penalties difficult, though. It’s not like one could be dinged for wearing pajamas to work when we’ve seen multiple instances of pajamas on the runway mixed with things like suit jackets and button-down shirts. Â Then, there’s the question of how to address the inherent sensuality of some designs. Sheer was huge on the runway this season as was wearing bras outside one’s clothing. Addressing what is appropriate without being unnecessarily inhibitive could be challenging.
Ultimately, though, I think putting more emphasis on how we dress, on styling ourselves to attract attention rather than avoid it, might be just the attitude adjustment we’ve been needing. We need to think more of ourselves rather than trying to hide. Our society and culture shouldn’t be dominated by a handful who happen to dress better than everyone else. Going to the effort of looking good, and let’s face it, looking good takes some serious effort, should be rewarded, not discouraged. Perhaps being compensated for making an effort might encourage more people to make an effort. I see that as being a positive thing.
Competitive street styling, your time has come.
Morning Update: 04/19/24
Everything I’d hoped to do, needed to do yesterday was done. The results, however, were not necessarily what we had hoped. After calling Social Security multiple times, I finally got an answering machine instructing me to leave my contact information. Sigh. Will they call back today? I’ll give them a chance. They’re on central time, which drives me a bit nuts, but I need to know what to expect and/or how to plan before relocating myself. I also contacted some apartments that are supposed to be for people who are over 55. What frustrates me there is that their ads on Facebook, which I’m getting in droves, hide the financial information until you give them your contact info. THEN, you find out their prices are well outside your budget. This isn’t going to be easy but we simply must find a solution somewhere.
A thunderstorm hit early this morning. The result was that I went from having two large dogs and five cats scattered around my bed to two large dogs and five cats all trying to snuggle as close to me as they possibly could. What the hell are they going to do for comfort when I’m gone? I think Hamilton would lie in my lap while I’m typing if he wasn’t so freaking big.
Tipper went to the pediatrician yesterday. She saw a new doctor because her usual pede is out for the month. I was a little concerned about how that would go, but it was fine. Tipper reported that the doctor told her to either get more sunshine or she’d have to take more pills. Tipper said she’d rather take the pills. Is anyone surprised by that surprise? No, not at all.
G got his PSAT scores back. I was impressed that his score puts him in the top 2%. He was disappointed that he didn’t make the top 1%. He said he was tired and hungry while taking the test, problems he’ll be sure to eliminate the next time he takes it. Let’s hope the child doesn’t choose the dark side at any point. Something tells me he’d have the Death Star up and operational in a matter of months.
Perhaps he can devise a way to keep stupid people from doing catastrophically stupid things. When we woke yesterday, we discovered that parts of six states had lost their 911 service just hours after Homeland Security warned that our 911 network is at risk of cyber attacks. Naturally, everyone immediately assumed that the report had been a self-fulfilling prophecy, possibly in an effort to increase funding. Nope. Turns out it was just stupid people doing stupid things. Late yesterday, we were told that workers installing a light pole in Missouri cut into a fiber line, causing the outage. You know all those signs you see everywhere about calling 811 before you did? One might think that doing so would be a natural part of the process for a utility contractor, something completed days before they started installing the new pole. Nope. Stupid people do stupid things that have dangerous consequences. If anything what we’ve learned from this experience is that yes, the nation’s 911 system needs to be protected. From ourselves.
Kat sent me a screenshot last night showing me the insane number of steps she had yesterday. She’d obviously had a full day and she’s feeling the results of that exertion this morning. It was only two years ago that I was putting in a similar number of steps on a daily basis. Now, I’m afraid to walk around the block alone. I almost fell over unfastening the gate this morning. Still, I want to try and stretch my stamina somehow. So, I think I’m going to see how many posts and images I can put in front of your eyes today. I have to try and stay awake to hear from Social Security anyway, so I might as well try to achieve some form of productivity even if it doesn’t really matter to anyone at all.
I find it interesting that since I started posting again, the highest amount of traffic still goes to a three-year-old post that is perhaps the most explicit I’ve ever published. I also find it interesting that a high number of those hits come from outside the country, often from Islamic countries where I’m pretty sure such content is illegal. I’m questioning whether I should try and top that one with something new. I’m pretty sure I still have some images I’ve never processed.
Breakfast time. Ya’ll try to stay out of trouble, okay? 🤣
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