A Black Uniform

I have a thing, maybe its infatuation, maybe it is love but I has been going on for some time. What can this thing be, well I love black things. If you know me and we have been shopping together, I always ask “Dose this come in black?” if I can’t initially find the item in black, I am usually heavily disappointed if it doesn’t.

I’ve been reading a few books on making decisions and designing your life and decided that choosing what to wear was taking huge chucks of time in the morning that I can use to do other things. The energy and frustration it was taking to decide what I wanted to wear and pulling many options out of my closet and still not finding anything was driving me crazy. Having an over filled closet with many options and I still couldn’t find anything to wear, like the more options I had, the less I had to wear.

Over the last year I have become an enthusiast about the concept of self-editing.  One of the self-edits I needed to make was me arriving places late. The self-edit required me to take stock of how and on what I was spending my time, and choosing an outfit in the morning was clearly eating up time, it was munching away at the clock.

I also took an inventory of my closet and realized most of the clothing was black or contained black elements, if there were other colors it was because there was a trend I was following or someone bought me a present and tried to impose their color choice on me. That really irks me, when people refuse to give people what they like, but I’ve digressed.

I’ve opted for a uniform. I use the word uniform broadly and because I get bored fast and I couldn’t limit myself to just a few pieces of clothing, so I’ve limited the color. As you may have guessed it, it is black.  Black is very versatile, and I feel comfortable in black and when I’m comfortable I’m the most confident. I have left a few other colors in my closet, but that is for when I have extra time or out of the ordinary event. However, in the morning I can grab anything black from my closet and look appropriate for work or running an errand or hanging out. A quick check of the weather, will determine if it is a turtle neck or a crew neck sweater, and if it is really cold an extra layer from my Uniqlo heat tech under garments.

There are the initial benefits of a personal uniform that make life easier. 

Conservation of Energy – I don’t have to use brain power to make a simple and easy choice. The rest of the day is filled with making choices, I can use that energy to make impactful decisions. I don’t have to unpack my entire closet to find something to wear and then repack it, I can use that energy to work out or stretch to stay flexible.

Financial Conservation – I spend less money. I’m using clothing from my closet, but when I do have to buy an item now, I don’t buy for quantity, I buy for quality.  This lends to stopping the mindless shopping.

Refined Taste - Upgrading the quality of the items insures longer wearing ability. Making sure all items in my closet fit and fit well.  

Distinguished Style – I would become associated with the color being my personal brand, it would become timeless making me timeless, my clothing will no longer be a distraction. Tip – buying clothing that are free from logos allows me to wear them more often because there are no distinguishable markings.

Confidence – Having well fiting and comfortable clothes allows confidence to shine through. People rarely care what you are wearing if you have something important to say. Honestly, you shouldn’t care what other people think.

Reduction in Waste – If you care anything about the planet, reducing the amount of waste by throwing away less and buying less products that will end up in a land fill is a major plus.

There are quite a few people who have maintained wearing a uniform like, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Karl Lagerfeld and Coco Chanel. Coco Chanel said “I’m for style. Fashion changes too quickly.”

Design and define your personal style by having a uniform, that’s what I am doing. My personal uniform is about having both function and form blend effortlessly. My personal uniform is affording me freedom, you just have to change your perspective, It is part of designing your life. Your uniform is just that, yours.