I think everyone has the best outfit they’ve ever worn crystalized in their memory. If nothing comes to mind when you read this, it means you haven’t worn it yet. It’s truly a win-win situation. You either have this sartorial success keen in your mind, or you have not yet experienced the unabated thrill of wearing The Best Outfit™. Now let’s be clear. The best outfit is entirely personal. The best outfit for you could actually be an unrelenting fashion failure on another person. It’s a mysterious thing. It’s a subjective thing. No one can tell you what your best outfit has been, they can only confirm, or if they so wish to take up a hopeless cause, deny it.
I haven’t worn my best outfit yet. I’ve very come close though. My 30th birthday party with my best friend. A Friday afternoon I left work early to go drink at The Monkey Bar alone. A gallery opening in Braamfontein. These are a good collection of examples because they represent the gamut of try-hard commitment. My birthday party? I tried extremely hard. I threatened to cancel if I didn’t find the winning suit. The Gallery opening? I got dressed in a sweaty rush and felt like the ballet dress I chose was too short until I felt like it wasn’t at all and that I was the only person in the world appropriately dressed. The solo date? I took a photo in the elevator and felt so inordinately fortunate that Topshop had seemingly made jeans just for my thighs and my thighs alone.
The best outfit isn’t about effort. The best outfit is about magic. Or at least a combination of magic and willingness to try new things. You see, you won’t find your best outfit if you subscribe to what I consider to be one of the worst takes on the internet à la Mark Zuckerberg’s wear-the-same-thing-every-day nonsense. How utterly dull. I understand that we value time and so this might seem like a good ploy to have more of it. But I’m of the school of thought that we shouldn’t reduce all the ways in which we waste time but rather cherish all the delicious ways in which we do. The time you enjoy wasting isn’t wasted. But what is a waste is to deny yourself the private pleasure of your best outfit. If you’ve already had it, congrats! If you haven’t, maybe today is your day — take photos just in case.
