Maybe I should just Wear Black Every Day

I open my closet and look around. Then I open a couple of drawers in my dresser and consider my options. Do I wear a dress today? Pants? What colour shirt? It’s cool this morning but the weather forecast says it’s going to be hot this afternoon. Maybe I should wear a sweater? I can’t decide. The daily decision, to choose what to wear, is just too hard. Maybe it would be easier if I just wear black every day.

I will admit that I probably own too much clothing. I will further admit that I probably don’t wear much of the clothes I own, but I am unable to go through my clothes and discard the stuff I don’t wear anymore. So, my closet is stuffed with too much clothing, which makes my decision of what to wear each day even harder.

I know that I am not alone in having this daily challenge. As my father puts it well, it’s a first-world problem. But it’s something so many of us face. And it’s not only adults who deal with this problem, but kids and teens too.

I remember when I was a teenager, and each morning I carefully chose my outfit for school. I’m not a fashionista, but back then I cared about what I looked like and how I carried myself. It would have been much easier if I went to a school that had a uniform. My gosh, it must be so much easier each morning to put on the same shirt and pants (or skirt) and head out for the day. Yes, I’m in favour of school uniforms.

By the time I hit university I didn’t care as much what I wore. I noticed that many of my fellow students, especially those who lived in a dorm, often looked like they just rolled out of bed. In particular, if I attended an early morning class, few people were awake during a lecture, never mind wearing anything close to high fashion.

My first “real” job was at a sports radio station, where I worked with a great group of people. It was me and a few dozen guys. Jeans and a t-shirt was considered dressed up for work. I literally threw on whatever I found first in my closet. When I switched over to sports television I wouldn’t say the dress code improved much. I remember when I then moved over to an office, when I started to work in communications, I had nothing to wear!

How often do you wake up in the morning, open your closet and say to yourself, I have nothing to wear? Or you look at your clothes, ponder what to wear and just say to yourself, maybe I should just wear black every day. Wouldn’t life be much easier? Black shirts, black pants, black skirts, black shorts. I understand why waiters wear black in restaurants or clerks dress in black in stores.

When I wear black I think I look chic, neat, tidy and always in style. Okay, some could say that black is the “colour” when in mourning, but really, it’s a come a long way. Others could say that getting dressed is more than just about the colour you wear. Fair point. If I owned 30 black shirts I would still have to choose one of them each day. But at least it would be one less step in the line of decisions. I would know it would always be black.

And so it’s Monday today, the start of another week. Another week with crazy weather when I just don’t know what to wear. Maybe the Paper Bag Princess had a good idea….