Back in the early '80s, I'd go with the family down to Mexico and buy these great embroidered Mexican dresses and wear them all summer. Five days of summer camp, 5 Mexican dresses. It was my earliest foray into uniform dressing — where you pick a certain look and wear it on a regular basis — and I loved it.
I've done uniform dressing – off and on — for most of my adult life. In college my uniform was ripped up sweats a la Flashdance. When I was a buyer, it was the black pantsuit. As a work-from-home mom, it was tees and jeans.
Some doubters look at uniform dressing as boring or unimaginative. I look at it as the greatest fashion tool of all. Here's why:
- Uniform dressing requires you to pick a look (or two) that you'll adopt for at least a season. For example, this spring I really like print tops with cropped black pants (not capris, but ankle pants that show off statement shoes.) I also love tunics and leggings so that's sort of my second uniform.
- To dress in some uniforms, it requires that you buy in multiples. Last fall, I was all about a particular long-sleve V-neck lightweight tee and jeans (some bootcut, some skinny) from Gap. I bought the shirt in 6 colors and about as many jeans. I save lots of money wearing my pre-determined looks: I don't stray much from my everyday looks, so I don't end up buying a closetful of clothes I'll never wear.
- Although my base outfit stays the same, my accessories and layering pieces almost never do. I switch up layering pieces — jackets, vests, cardis — and accessories all the time to have some fun. I also switch out shoes.
- The beauty of uniform dressing is that it saves you from staring at your closet and wondering what to wear. Let's say you work in an office, and have decided to make a white shirt and black pants your uniform for the spring months. Assuming you have multiple sets of these two items, you can add blazers, cardigans, scarves, pearls, chains, vests, etc. to switch up your base look every day.
- Uniform dressing de-clutters your mind so that you can experiment with fashion. Sound counterintuitive? It's not. Basically by having your set outfits already decided, you can free your mind to think about that hot outfit you're going to wear on date night or what spectacular dress you are going to wear to the family reunion.
