Sarah Screams (Fashion Advice) is The Michigan Daily’s biweekly fashion advice column. Submit your questions here!
After getting drinks with a friend on Wednesday, I think life just might be beautiful. I’ve been finding the joy in the in-between recently: changing outfits in the middle of the day while I make myself a warm lunch between classes. I’m no longer at the point of exhaustion where finding clothes to wear is an inconsolable, mundane task that takes me down with it. Fashion is fun again — I’m feeling the opulence everywhere, even in the grass frozen under sheets of ice. I’m feeling the sunshine I’ve created in my greatest fantasy and making it reality one fashion risk at a time. Anyway, that’s my explanation for the weird outfit I wore to class on Thursday. Thank you for your understanding, all.
How do I stop feeling overdressed wearing things like dresses or heeled boots and sandals? — A
The key here is “feeling.” To take on the concept of overdressing, we must first dismantle the social customs that created the term.
Dress codes have always been about making someone else powerful. Even in the 16th century, the late great Queen Elizabeth I reckoned with the consequences of overdressing. She was threatened by the way theatre performers dressed — their costumes acting as an artificial symbol of nobility — leading her to create sumptuary laws dictating who could wear what. As a powerful woman whose throne was constantly at risk, she had to keep the social hierarchy, lest she empower the people who wanted her out.
By dressing to avoid going overboard, we fall in line socially. We sheepishly agree to blend in to maintain the status quo. While we are now exempt from the fingertip-length short rule, I find myself very much still trying to embody the girl who fits easily into the mold — a mold I have to squeeze and hold my breath to fit in to.
How do I dress myself so I don’t give off something I’m not? How can I fit myself into an outfit that doesn’t disrupt the image I want people to perceive?
This is, in the simplest and funnest of terms, silly. I don’t know how you go about dressing yourself, A, but I do think there has to be a degree of insecurity that is making you scared of heels or sandals.
If you’re afraid of drawing attention to yourself, remember that by choosing to be eye-catching, you also are choosing to be unapologetically yourself — something many can’t figure out how to do until they’ve left their 20s. Even though adding a heeled boot seems like something that wouldn’t change your life, it’s the beginning of a journey of risks that could lead to your most confident self.
Being overdressed is a myth, A. We’ll all sleep better knowing the best version of you comes with a skinny-strapped sandal.
Daily Arts Writer Sarah Patterson can be reached at sarahpat@umich.edu.