Why it's important to have bad outfits?

Those reading the coord rundown posts will notice that sometimes I don’t like certain attempts. I still share them, both here and on my Instagram, though that is sort of besides the point. The point is that there are people out there who won’t even try because the risk of the outfit coming out ‘bad’ or not quite the way they wanted scares them too much. And that is sad, so let me try to convince you to wear your clothes, even if the end result isn’t what you had hoped for.

1. Tangible starting point

Truth is, not every idea is crystal clear in our heads. Sometimes you literally need to try and fail to know how to improve on it. Once it’s all together, you can see that something isn’t working and more importantly - you can see what that thing is. And once you know what it is, you know how to change it to be more to your taste. Doesn’t matter if you’ve only just completed your first coord or been a lifestyler for a decade - sometimes you just need to have the outfit in its bad form first.

I probably could've figured out what needed tweaking - but it's also so much easier to do when I can see what needs tweaking.

2. Aesthetic vs occasion

Sometimes the outfit isn’t objectively bad, it’s merely less than appropriate for the occasion. Other times the outfit is perfectly appropriate for the occasion, as that doesn’t call for perfection. I think the part of our brains that had it coded that we need to take pictures of every single coord we wear forgets that what you wear to get bubble tea will be different to what you wear on a post office run to what you wear for a tea party. In other words: is your outfit objectively bad or do you feel subjectively underdressed in comparison? And is your outfit objectively bad or have you made practical adjustments to compromise and wear frills for something that you usually wouldn’t?

I'm not going to deck out in full frills if I need comfort and easy access to my arm for the jab.

3. The social media factor

With the prevalence of social media we all feel under constant scrutiny. That’s on top of consuming a lot of very skewed ideas of the state of the world. We know that we’re putting our best selves online, but forget to apply that same filter to others and assume other people’s posts to be an accurate reflection of their reality. Many people don’t actually share the stuff that they wear on the daily and might not even photograph an outfit they feel didn’t come out so well. Which is perfectly ok, as long as you don’t take what they do share to be the absolute truth. This is also where my personal choice of sharing the outfits I don’t like comes in. I’m not perfect, I don’t want anyone to think that I am, and me documenting the less successful attempts is as much for my own reference as it is for the world to realise that it’s ok to not be perfect all the time.

Work did not demand fashion perfection from me when I wore it whilst working at home, so why should the Internet get to make such demands?

4. Keeps life fun

If your entire decision process of ‘what to wear’ rests on whether it’s an objectively good outfit, then you’re boxing yourself into that perfectionism mentality. The way life is right now, you have to be clothed for a fairly big chunk of it, for either practical or legal reasons. The time we have on this planet can get stressful and downright miserable, so if wearing something fun makes you happy - do it. Even if it’s bad. Especially if it’s bad yet it makes you extra happy that way. You’re not here to be constantly judged on your looks, have a little fun with what you dress your physical shell in.

For someone this many patterns and motifs might be bad. But I enjoyed wearing it, which is what matters most. I trust people to be cool enough to just scroll past if something isn't to their taste.

Have a happy Tuesday and remember that it’s ok to wear a bad outfit.