Forget the adage ‘SAVING FOR BEST’
How to make your summer event outfit work harder
Getting good mileage out of the clothes you buy is, I’d say, pretty imperative and I recently came to the conclusion that I’d wear things a lot more if I stopped saving my posh things “for the best occasions.”
The three reasons that generally stop people from doing so?
1. There is a social media-conditioned fear of being seen in the same outfit twice.
2. No one wants to be considered “overdressed,” a risk that increases if you’re trying to make fancy frocks work in casual scenarios.
3. We worry that we might “wear out” or break something we spent a bit more money on. And make sure that I enjoy wearing the things I really love.
Fashion environmentalists will tell you that wearing anything fewer than 30 times before sending it to landfill is bad for the planet.
“I think it is a very British thing to do, to keep clothes for good occasions,” Ines de la Fressange, the French fashion model and poster woman of Parisian chic recently told me.
“In France, we have no such thing as this. We mix sophisticated things with casual things and it works wherever you go. We don’t respect the clothes — we will wear the silk with the denim, or whatever.”
Respecting the clothes, as de la Fressange puts it, is an interesting notion. Dress codes, generally, are not as strict as they used to be. Black tie no longer requires a gown. Ascot is allowing variety into its enclosures and, for a wedding, you might wear anything from a maxi dress to a silk kimono.
On the catwalk, designers are mixing things up to the point where almost anything goes. Gucci’s Alessandro Michele has perhaps led the demise of the onceacknowledged occasionwear boundaries, as he will pair trainers with chiffon gowns, or denim jackets with Lurex dress pants in his collections, no qualms about it, and others have duly followed. All of this makes that idea of keeping things “for best” sound quite oldfashioned. When the events we now attend are less easy to define, perhaps our wardrobes should be more fluid, too.
That all said, learning how to rewear your occasion outfits is not as simple as it sounds. Inevitably, too, there will be a time when only a ball gown will suffice, or you’ll want to shell out on a one-off outfit for a milestone event. For occasions that are not so momentous, though, there are formulas that you can employ when out shopping and which will help anyone to appreciate an outfit’s potential beyond that initial event.
Buying separates is probably the easiest way to guarantee more wears per item if you’re looking for occasionwear. You’ll probably surprise yourself at which pieces you end up reusing the most.
When buying a dress, look at the upper and lower halves as separate entities. Would you wear its skirt as a skirt? Would it look good with a T-shirt or a light knit worn over the top? Take extra bits into the changing room with you so that you can judge there and then, if you’re looking at a one-hit wonder, or if something has restyle opportunity.
With tops, try tucking it into a skirt as well as wearing it loose over jeans — does it give flattering proportions in both instances? On bags: can it be worn as a cross-body (more useful for day) or will it only ever work as an evening clutch? In all cases, is the item made of a fabric so delicate that it would disintegrate on the bus, or couldn’t be washed?
Shoes, also, can make or break a piece’s afterlife potential. Pencil skirts apparently don’t look very good with flats, as the tighter fit jars with anything other than a poised heel.
This isn’t a decree to only choose practical clothes over fanciful ones henceforward. It’s the absolute opposite, in fact. Buying things that are sparkly, fun, luxurious, frivolous, and so on, is entirely the point.
Rather, use the money that would otherwise have been misspent to buy that gorgeous silk blouse that you’ve had your eye on for ages, and style it with a great skirt or smart dress pants that you already own.
You’ll wear that blouse again and again because it’s versatile and because you really, honestly love it. London Daily Telegraph