Many of us have had the experience of sorting through several clothing options before leaving the house, spending much more time on it than we expected.
So, one evening a married couple was heading to a corporate party, but halfway through the wife suddenly realized that she was “not dressed like that”. She became so anxious that her husband had to turn the car around so that when he returned home, his wife could change her dress.
How many delays and family misunderstandings are connected with protracted fees! Why, then, on responsible exits (where toilets serve as an object of scrutiny), some of us are seized with anxiety?
One explanation is what fashion theorists call «mixed motivations»—clothes have to perform multiple functions at once in order to provide the feeling that everything is fine with me.
The simplest of them is to warm and give the opportunity to act, that is, conformity to the weather and comfort.
However, personal comfort is a very subjective indicator: many are ready to endure this or that dose of discomfort — high heels or a tight waist — for the sake of more significant goals for themselves. And if a scientist, for example, does not make a report in tight clothes — this makes it difficult to think — then a thin girl will gladly go on a date in a super-tight dress, since the erotic function of the outfit is the main one for her.
It is a personal attitude to a thing that creates a convincing — for oneself and for others — a sense of the right choice.
In general, the opinion of a significant Other (not necessarily a lover, but rather just that person who constantly notices and evaluates our outfit) often plays a colossal role: even in public situations, we sometimes dress for one main spectator. But the determining criterion, as a rule, remains the adequacy of what is happening — this was the reason for the uncertainty of the lady, who did not fully understand the dress code adopted at the corporate parties of her husband’s company.
So what do we try on ourselves in front of the mirror — clothes or other people’s views?
In addition, voices sometimes sound in our souls not only from the present, but also from the family past: “Green categorically does not suit you”, “Light makes you fat”, “Can you really go with such hair?”. Our mothers and grandmothers are invisibly behind us. And, if you try to comply with all internal and external norms, the final choice, as a rule, falls on a “win-win”, but essentially conformist faceless option: a little black dress, versatile jeans with a top, a gray business suit. And how many more imperceptibly ingrained taboos and prohibitions imperiously determine our choice: “not according to age”, “frivolous”, “too defiant”.
In this conflict of «mixed motivations», the aesthetic function of clothing, oddly enough, becomes far from decisive. Today, there are many fashion styles to choose from, and the old demand for total suit coordination in tone and matching with accessories has given way to a more liberal mix-and-match aesthetic.
Against the background of all these contradictions, the main parameter, in my opinion, can be our personal attitude to things. There will always be favorite pieces of clothing in the wardrobe, whether it be a white shirt or a Scottish motley sweater. Pleasant memories may be associated with the thing, or the owner, for deeply subjective reasons, considers it a talisman that brings good luck (a relic of the archaic function of magical clothing). It is this attitude that creates a convincing (not only for oneself, but also for others) feeling of the “right” outfit.
With it comes unmistakable certainty, or, as anthropologists say, «quiet knowledge» of the goodness of our choice.