Thursday, October 23, 2008

Costume Contest Update, and a Question about Everyday Costumes

Thanks SO much to everyone who entered the Halloween Costume Chronicles contest! Your stories were fantastic and I'm currently sorting through over 100 hilarious/poignant/humiliating entries to determine the winner. I'll probably start posting some runners up later today and then, hopefully, announce the winner tomorrow.

In the meantime,  I have a question for all of you. Yesterday one of my editors came into my office and said, "Is there a word for a person who wears the same thing every day?" He explained that a few years ago he had realized that the outfit equation of khakis and a white button-up shirt could meet all of his sartorial needs. He could add a sport coat to make it more formal, different shoes for different occasions, etc, but basically, he could wear slightly differing versions of this outfit every day for the rest of his life, if he wanted, and live a perfectly good and successful life.  

I thought immediately of Joanna's awesome article about people who only wear one color, but that wasn't quite what he was talking about. He meant one outfit. "Well, my dad wears Carhartt dungarees and a stained t-shirt everyday," I said.

"Why does he do that?" he asked.

"Because he doesn't give a shit."

"See, what I'm talking about is opposite of that, it's about giving a lot of shit. It's planned and purposeful and well thought-out."

So, do you guys know if there's a word for this? I think a lot of people do it, from people who wear jeans and a black tanktop every day to Karl Lagerfeld never leaving home without his black suit, skinny tie, and fingerless gloves. Can you create a word to describe it? "Lazy" will not count.

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

"style"

Lots of people out there who's style I do not like or agree with, but it's their style.

the upper vest side said...

Hmmmm...perhaps, "signature style" or maybe you can just name the look after the wearer, and turn it into an adjective. "You look so Karl Lagerfeld today"

TheSundayBest said...

If his idea of thinking a lot about it involves khakis then I wager he has not thought about this nearly enough. But I'll give it some thought - I'm always up for a bit of labelling.

FutureLint said...

hmm... I would call him "The Stapler", cause I think of a white shirt, khakis, and various ties and sportcoats to be the staples of a man's wardrobe (or in Spanish, my favorite word ever... la engrapadora!) My boyfriend has a staple outfit, he wears a grey Hanes T-shirt, Levi's red tab jeans, and his fathers beat up ranch coyboy boots.Every.Day.

Mindy said...

O.C.D.

Regardez Moi said...

Signature, I think is the word for it. Although I don't know if that really captures the 'every day'-ness of it. how about 'uniform'?

Liv said...

Yeah, I'd call it a "personal uniform" that he wears. Oooh, he's "fashionally homogeneous". Hm, I like that phrase...must find a way to work that into conversation sometime. :)

hollarback said...

How about a "Brundle"? In the movie The Fly - Jeff Goldblum's character does just that - he has methodically assembled a wardrobe that is essentially the same outfit over and over. He has a closet of identical interchangeable items.

hollarback said...

Good movie too. Although scary :(

Anonymous said...

Self-selected Uniform Wearer, or SUW for short. You could even pronounce it "sue." Eh? Eh?

Anonymous said...

I like liv's "fashionably homogeneous" and in fact have a good friend who doesn't exactly wear the same shirt and pants but has 15 pairs of the same jeans and same shirt but in different colors from J-Crew. I always tell her she needs to switch it up a bit, but she is not a fashion risk taker sooooo next time we have the discussion I am going to tell her she is fashionably homogeneous :-) Thanks Liv.

Katy said...

Fashonoutfiter (fash-WON-ou-fit-ter). Fash = fashion, one = 1, outfitter = outfit. Because they only wear one outfit. Genius, I know. ;-)

WendyB said...

It's called "neurotic."

Claire said...

Monovestmented, perhaps?

sophie said...

I would call it MICHAEL FRICKING KORS.

Anonymous said...

Monowardrobic?

Anonymous said...

futurelint... your b/f sounds like my b/f. except every now and then he'll wear a white or black shirt with his red tab levis.

Bekah said...

signature outfit?
personal uniform?
this is going to drive me insane now

Rachel said...

monovestmented is really good

Unknown said...

I was going to agree with the uniform. but I like the fashionly homogenous line.

Anonymous said...

i agree with uniform. I'm a uniform-y girl and that's what my friends have labelled me with :)

meliasaurus said...

bland?

no offense. i just hate to not wear color... i've been trying to concentrate on toning down my wardrobe to more neutral colors so they match but it's so hard!

Vancouverista said...

Uniformed.

Anonymous said...

"Creative Workaholic That Still Gives a Sh.it"

:]]]

One loooong word haha.

- Lindsay P.

daddylikeyblog said...

TheSundayBest--
He's actually very stylish, so I'm sure they were special khakis.

futurelint--
The stapler! I love it!

hollarback--
I'm down with any suggestion that references The Fly. Yeeessss!

Liv--
Fashionably homogeneous--not bad at all!

Sal--
Veerrrryyy clever!

Claire--
MONOVESTMENTED! That is awesome.

Elizabeth said...

I'm with "Jozette," and anyone else who said "uniform."

However, in the Kaiser's case, I think "costume" might be appropos.

Rachel said...

Monosartorial. Or homosartorial, heh heh heh.

It reminds me of the scene in the trailer for "Spice World" (I never saw the movie, but the trailer was everywhere!) when Posh goes "What to wear? Little black dress, little black dress, or little black dress?"

Man, I always wish I could be like that - secure in my Perfect Signature Look. I'm so sartorially schizophrenic I doubt I'll ever master it, but a girl can dream.

GLC said...

One word: "Anal".

Anonymous said...

hmm..how about "sartorial monogamist"?

Kristina said...

i like monosart. Also fashionably homogenous, which has a nice ring to it, despite being so long.

TheSundayBest said...

If it didn't sound like a disease, monovestmented would be the runaway winner. Every time I say it it makes me laugh.

Anna M. said...

I like the previously suggested names better, but my friend always referred to people like that as having a "cartoon character closet", since there's always that episode where a character opens their closet to reveal nothing but several pairs of their signature outfit.

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