Yesterday, Arianna Huffington spoke at HR Tech World in Amsterdam wearing the same dress she’s worn at other conferences and the same dress she plans to wear later this week at another conference. This is on purpose. “Why do women feel they need to buy a new outfit for every event?”
It’s a good question, I thought, as I sat there in my new outfit that I purchased specifically for this conference. (Full disclosure, I do some work for HR Tech.) In my defense, I work at home and my daily wardrobe isn’t what I want to wear to a professional conference.
Why do women focus so much on clothing? Why do we think we need new outfits, or at least different outfits, for every important event?
To keep reading, click here: Why Arianna Huffington Wears the Same Dress Over and Over (and You Should, Too
Bottom line: Most people are WAY too self-involved to notice what you’re wearing.
Definitely! When I started my new job – working with almost all male engineers, I thought, “I bet I can go a whole year without buying new work clothes.”
And I did. And I continue to not buy new clothes. I wear mostly the same things in a one week rotation and if anyone even notices, I don’t care. I don’t care.
I’m a female and I wish we had to wear uniforms instead of business casual. It would take all the decisions out of it. Plus I am shocked at the number of people in my company that think sweatpants are business casual. Shiny fake jewels on flip flops do not make them business casual either.
I agree with this piece. I’m a woman who generally doesn’t notice other people’s clothing (unless they wear something extremely unusual for my workplace), but the other women in my office do notice. A lot. I had only been working there for about 9 months when I bought a new shirt. By the time I’d worn it twice (not in the same week), every woman that I see on a regular basis (over a dozen women) had each commented, “Oh, did you get a new shirt?”
The kicker is that all of my shirts for this job were new 9 months ago, because I switched careers and needed a new wardrobe for the new office culture. Adding in the season change (I started in winter and this was my even newer summer wardrobe), they had only see my shirts for about three or four months anyway but somehow knew it wasn’t one of my other 15 summer shirts. How do people remember all of the clothes that other people own?! Why do they care?
I keep asking for a work polo or something to wear with my business’s logo, so I don’t have to worry about shirts anymore. I would buy 10 of the same shirt and wear it every day if it wouldn’t be frowned upon. (My male boss can and does wear the same two shirts on alternating days, but I only know this because he told me.)
In my experience, women notice. Men do not.
I love working with almost all men.
And even the few men who notice, don’t care.
For some unknown reason, some women care what others are wearing. IJDGI
I am totally not a fashionista so my taste in clothes tends not to be trendy but what is defined as classic. I have a basic wardrobe that I change around with tops and some accessories. I also buy top quality items so I get value for my money. I don’t see the need for a full new wardrobe every season.
For situations like conferences which don’t occur daily, you don’t have get a brand new complete outfit especially when you won’t be wearing more than once.
If you realy feel the need to change thngs up, there’s a site called –Rent the Runway– where you can rent an outfit for the occassion for less than the cost of buying it.
Does this mean that it’s okay to wear your best interview outfit on both the first and second interviews? I’ve always heard that’s a sin.
If the outfit is a traditional business suit, I sincerely doubt if anyone would even realize that it’s the same one.
Unless you are wearing all animal print – NOT THAT THAT’S WRONG, you should be fine.
Swap out the blouse and you should be fine.