Repeating Outfits -- The New Trend?!

Recently I encountered two separate articles with the same theme: repeating outfits.

The first, from the Telegraph.co.uk is titled Vogue Editor Anna Wintour Wears Same Dress Three Times by Anita Singh. From the article: "It is unthinkable that she would make a fashion faux pas. So when Vogue editor Anna Wintour made her third appearance wearing the same dress in the space of a fortnight, observers could only conclude she was making a style statement."

But the fun doesn't end there. More recently, Derek Blasberg posted at Style.com a little gem titled Hallelujah: It's OK to Wear Things Twice. This fun little piece mentions that Emanuelle Alt, the Paris Vogue stylist was caught wearing the same pair of pants in one week. Quelle Horreur! And then she was seen wearing not only the same pair of shoes in one week, but the exact same pair of shoes that Carine Roitfeld was wearing at the same time! Non!

The somewhat tongue-in-cheek message behind both these articles is that if the big names in fashion are now recycling their outfits, it must mean that it's now trendy to do so. Repeating your outfit has now been officially sanctioned from on high. Yay!

When I read articles like these, my first reaction is to be ever so thankful that I'm not in the spotlight so much as to have every detail of my daily wardrobe documented and criticized. Jiminy Crickets! It's enough to make me want to become a hermit and live on a desert island.

But then I also muse on the sheer ridiculousness of the whole idea of never repeating an outfit. Since when is it not ok to wear an outfit more than once? I get it that these women in question are in the public eye constantly, in a way that few people ever have to deal with, and in an industry that absolutely requires a near-perfect designer wardrobe. Perhaps they are an exception. But even so, what gives us the right to criticize them for opening showing affection for an outfit by wearing it a few times? And why must we conform to their industry standard by editing what we wear in the same way?

And just for a moment, think about men. Are men looked down on as fashion imbeciles for daring to wear a suit more than once? I think not.

The clothing that you wear defines you and helps create your personal brand. While you wouldn't want to wear the same thing day in and day out, I can't think of any reason why wearing clothing that you love and looks great on you over and over again is anything akin to a crime. In fact, I would say that it is a real fashion coup to have built for yourself a wardrobe that you can wear repeatedly and still look amazing every day. This is the ideal... Not wasting time and money and effort worrying about whether or not it's ok to be seen in the same sweater more than once.

Just remember -- no one thinks about you as much or as often as as you think about yourself. And if they do, they are the one with the problem, not you!

Just my 2 cents.

See you next time...same blog time...same blog channel....

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