The Daily Struggle of Getting Dressed 2024 - 5 Ways To Prevent Wardrobe Panic
When you think about a high-achieving professional you think about their work, the success rate, their integrity and for some, their digital footprint. But when it comes to their wardrobe style and getting dressed, that area of their professional brand may not be all that like it is in their work performance. Take a listen to a few client wardrobe troubles, who constantly have these fights with daily dress up.
If you listened to the audio files above, you most likely heard the frustration of these professionals (both male and female) when it comes to their appearance and managing their wardrobe.
Do these troubles sound familiar to you? The dressing experience for many of our clients seems to be a dreadful daily task that they never want to think about (let alone do confidently).
For the other portion of clients, it’s another task with no intentionality or plan of action assigned to it. The truth is, this is what adults have to do, if you were a child, you have the option of someone else picking out your clothes. As you grow out of that, the obvious would be to now take charge of that aspect of your life. Many visible professionals are feeling tired of the same old result, frustration and want more out of life.
We talk about how many people only use 20% of what’s in their closet but in this research it was reported how unorganized people are. Yet another study conducted by Marks and Spencer which sampled 2,000 men and women revealed that women spend an average of 17 minutes getting dressed while men take 13 minutes, which translates to 4 full days in a year for the women and 3 full days for the men and eventually 6 months of their working lives.
We could agree that 17 minutes could work when you have a rough idea of what you’re going to be wearing because it takes much more time when there’s no plan in sight. Hence the study also reports that the dilemma that comes from getting dressed causes 1 in 10 people to arrive late and 1 in 20 even miss the event eventually.
So one could ask, what’s the deal with getting dressed as an adult, a professional at that – why is it such a constant struggle? With the clients we consult, a lot of them didn’t realize initially that their calendar activities vary week-to-week or day-to-day. After the hit of the covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the whole world had to adjust and for some parts still adjusting to the effect of the pandemic on businesses, economy etc. Hence in 2023, the 9 to 5 job is not your only way of making money or earning a living if you’re going to be ahead of the constantly rising cost of living.
Why do many people struggle to get dressed?
The study by Trunk Club, a personal styling service, found that nearly 61 percent of Americans admitted they regularly find themselves struggling to find something to wear, even though their closet is full of clothing. This experience is in no way unique to regular people but also a lot of professionals and leaders of industry struggle with getting dressed and sometimes it comes with anxiety about what people would think of their outfit.
Famous reality tv star Kim Kadarshian was in Milan mid June 2023 for the Dolce and Gabbana show where she was given responsibility as the creative director and it happened that her stylist wasn’t able to make it on time. It must have been quite shocking to some people when she expressed her insecurities and anxiety about styling herself especially considering how long she has been in show biz.
This goes to show that it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been dressing up, as a professional who is constantly in the public eye, following fashion trends are not always helpful especially when you have no plan or consistency in your appearance. A lot of intentionality has to be put into the way you appear because whether or not you are aware or like it, majority of the people who meet you have their first judgement of you from the way you carry yourself and look or your personal presentation. That’s why personal style consultant Mikara Reid took the liberty to compile a personal style reflection book, What’s Your Miien! ?, to help you discover your own style.
With so many unique elements about a person’s life, insecurities, work environment, and body shape, we are going to share some of the common frustrations that many of you have addressed during your daily routine of getting dressed as a professional. Let’s dive into these 5 ways you can stop struggling with getting dressed as a high-achieving professional
Getting dressed with a daily rhythm
It’s another day, a work day to be specific. You’re walking towards your closet, and you reach for the easiest items to get through for today since there’s an important person you are meeting. You open the other door and notice nothing goes well with the first item or it doesn’t look sharp as the first item.
You go through this underlining struggle every single day, and you constantly say to yourself, I’m tired of this shit! Something has to give, but how?!
This struggle is very common and you shouldn’t feel alone, in fact it’s called Wardrobe Panic. Fashion may be a common word that’s used but the art and science of getting dressed and having individual style is a rhythm that needs to be created within your professional and personal lifestyle. Your wardrobe, closet organization, calendar activities, wardrobe inventory, self-confidence (the list goes on) all should be harmonious with one another.
That’s why it's a rhythm, a dance you need to have, constantly. We say constantly because you go through seasons in your life where things change a little bit or a lot and when you have the foundation already laid, it won’t be so hard for you to pivot your rhythm of getting dressed. When it seems like inspiration isn’t anywhere close, we can guide you through our uniquely created Look books to help you make reference in your choices.
As an active personal style consultant, Mikara Reid interacts with clients that have internal struggles which spills over to getting dressed or having something worth wearing. Not only has Mikara experienced them first-hand , but she’s been working with men and women clients for years who have come to her with many of these struggles at the forefront of their personal style and closet organization issues. This is actually the top challenge we’ve noted with our private VIP clients for 5 years straight.
2. Know your style mission & intention
Just like running a business, you should have a strategy, purpose, a goal for why you are getting dressed, why are you buying that shirt, why do you organize your closet this way. Do you notice a pattern here? This is the why part - knowing the backstory to dressing, shopping and organizing all funnels down to how successful your dressing routine will be often.
As a consultancy that specializes in fashion identity and individual style this comes with personal inventory so that you dress the part no matter if it’s a great day or a not so great day - no one will notice but you. Why is that, because you did the groundwork for identifying your personal/professional needs so that the wardrobe aspect can follow suit to that. Just a reminder, MIIEN Consultancy is You-driven, not Trend-driven, so if you are expecting the get-fly-quick-scheme, we’re not for you! I’m sure the admirable person for their clothes has a strong grip on their sense of self, lifestyle and what works for their body shape and that's because they did the work or personal inventory.
3. Identifying your body shape.
Having a clear understanding of how your body shape is and what flatters you can help you eliminate a lot of the clutter in your closet. Many people are not aware of their body proportions, and how the clothes conform to their body shape. For some, if they are doing it right, this makes your dressing experience so much more comforting.
The very first step to achieving confidence when you dress up is knowing what suits your body shape and sticking to it. While there’s nothing wrong with experimenting, you should also understand that men and women who are perceived to have a strong dress sense have mastered the act of working around what suits their body shape.
When you try on an outfit and you clearly see in that mirror the picture in front of you is far from flattering, you may want to take note of the type of outfit you need to mark off your wardrobe. Remember fashion is about expressing your personality in your style so you don’t want to come off as being confused about your personality.
4. Knowing Your Color Palette
There’s a reason why in design, color has a wide range. Similarly we (humans) also have a wide range of skin tones. Even if there are some generic classifications to our skin stone, reality actually goes beyond the classification based on race. Hence when picking the colors of clothes you want in your closet, you also have to be sure they complement your skin tone because color is a highlighter. Look at it this way, while a certain shade of blue could make your skin pop and make your outfit look even more stunning, not all shades of blue would give you the same result. Generally in the fashion space, men seem to be more careful about sticking to what suits them compared to the ladies, well they are both built differently.
Just for a personal style case study, think of a certain prominent figure who is known for their grounded sense of style, you can go to the web and check their outfits and you would definitely notice that they seem to have a range of colors that they often appear in. It’s because they’ve discovered what works for them.
5. Wardrobe Organization
A lot of times when people are finding it difficult to pick an outfit, you find that their closets are most likely disorganized. At the point you’re in a rush to pick up something decent to wear and it’s beginning to look like an ultimate search, your ability to focus and to coordinate is very low.
Despite the reoccurring feeling that we have nothing to wear whenever faced with the wardrobe dilemma, most American closets need a clean out. So what’s the solution?
Organize your closet into sections
In order to execute this effectively, you may have to get tags for your shelves for easy identification of what goes where. So, what this means is, it’s not enough that you’ve separated your clothes from your shoes and accessories, you also have to get ALL the clothes sorted. The style of arrangement could vary depending on what works best for you.You should start with doing a personal inventory of yourself by knowing what you do through out the week, where you go and what you currently have in the closet. This way you can spot whether or not the current clothes align with your business dealings or the events you attend or host.
You can learn so much more by listening to MIIEN Notes Podcast!
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