On Monday, Anna and I attended a rendition of The Giver, put on by the Jewish Theatre Project. There were only seven people in the play - each one did a wonderful job (the woman who played Lily, especially — very childish for a 20-something year old). I read the book a while ago, in high school - which is quite late for this read, I hear. When I read the book, I was not all that impressed — too much hype, I suppose. This play was not entirely different — same questions, same characters, and same end. The ideas raised are very important & intriguing, however, and I think this book is a very important read for young audiences.

So, the next day, while walking down the street, I was thinking about the idea of sameness — in terms of fashion. So many people are concerned with standing out in the way they dress, while at the same time keeping up with the trends. Our culture seems so obsessed with the way we look! Most fashion “dares” that I have come across have deal with wearing a different outfit or shirt or shoes everyday, as if wearing a unique thing each day is the hardest thing to do. But…is that so hard? I suppose not, if you have enough clothes. I think the real trick is keeping track of what you have already worn (I can’t even remember what I ate for breakfast yesterday).

My fashion challenge - if I ever did choose to accept it - would be to wear a different outfit on each day of the week, but repeating. So, for instance: a particular shirt/pants/shoes every Monday. A different shirt/pants/shoes every Tuesday. A Wednesday outfit. And so on and so forth. Ideally, each outfit would fit a different personality style — that way, I could showcase a different part of myself each day. This is just an example of what my weekly closet my look like:

Wouldn’t this be neat? I would love to see and hear people’s reactions. Would they notice? How long would it take? I think this would be even funnier when done in college, not high school or in a real-world job situation. This increased hilariousness is due to the alternating schedules college students have — different classes on different days of the week. The people in my art and Native Americans classes, for example, only see me on Tuesdays and Thursdays. My bird class only meets on Friday. I can just imagine someone noticing my always-the-same outfit and then seeing me on a different day of the week… Utter confusion! Muahahahaha…

Now some people might say that wearing the same clothes each Monday wouldn’t be a hard thing to do. I disagree. Yes, it would be nice not to have to think about or make clothing decisions, but I believe there are other hardships that need to be taken into consideration. Hardships in a psychological sense. When people figure out that you are wearing the same clothes every day (or every week, in this case) imagine the societal pressures you will be faced with! The stares, the questions, the taunts…

I remember one kid in my sixth grade class who wore the same clothes to school every day - or at least we thought they were the same (hard to tell with an unmarked white t-shirt and jeans). We didn’t have uniforms at our school, and I have a feeling his family must have been pretty poor (hence the only one outfit for school). I have no idea if he changed when he got home, or if these were potentially the only clothes he owned, but I do remember snickers and insults being tossed his way. And those were just sixth graders — imagine what well-to-do college “adults” would say! Hmmm..this is sort of ending on a low note. The only question I have left: how long would this last? A month? Two? A whole semester? The longer the better, I suppose. Oh, and the weekends are free days, as I feel that they are close to sacred.

Anyone willing to pick up the challenge?

From M->F: M, T, W, R, F.

Tags: fashion, giver

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