Whoever came up with the Dress Code thing on invitation cards ought to be shot. I don’t think she knows (must certainly be a she) how many parties she has locked me out of because of this tiny clause in the corner!
You sift through your wardrobe and think, what the heck!
Today they want you ‘smart casual’, tomorrow you have got to look ‘formal’, the other day it requests for ‘African wear’ and the next invitation you receive asks for something traditional.
Okay, maybe it puts fun into things, but I also think it is to blame for taking women’s fretting to a new level. You see, we mind a lot about who else is wearing what we are wearing. We would prefer that the designer makes only one outfit and flushes the sketch down the loo.
I don’t know whether it is just maalo, or us being stylish.
For example, the day Woolworths opened in town I bumped into a socialite woman, who never steps off the gossip pages, admiring the great outfits hanging in dozens of the same fashion and colour on each rack, as is typical of such stores.
When her husband asked her which one they should pay for, she looked appalled: “And find half the city’s women dressed like me? No way!”
And it is not just her. When I walk into a shop and find an outfit I love, the killer is the shopkeeper showing me the same outfit in blue, another in black, and others in all colours of the rainbow.
When I think of the invitation card that says ‘formal’ and imagine ten women walking into the ballroom in my frock but in different colours, I beat a hasty exit. Do you know how even just a necklace that looks exactly like yours can ruin a good party?
And I guess it is this requirement on the card that has driven us to some outrageous fashions – sometimes looking like we are out of The Emperor’s New Clothes – in a bid to stand out from the crowd.
The card said ‘Dress Code: Traditional’, right? So some girl turns up wearing just a bra and a skirt that looks more like a loin cloth and you don’t see the Bushmen tradition in that? Come on!
We just like to turn heads at a party. It hurts to turn up and find that someone in your exact outfit already stole the show! Men may not so much mind who is wearing a similar suit, but us…?!
And a tip to designers and shopkeepers, when selling a dress or piece of jewellery it is not a good time to namedrop who bought the exact piece the other week, unless it was Angelina Jolie!
But this business of: “Ah! Those are lovely clip-ons… I just sold a similar pair to Julianna the other day…” may cost you a potential buyer.
Well, for now let me hit the streets and look for something formal for the latest cocktail. That is the other problem; we think about who was at the last ‘Dress Code: Formal’ cocktail we attended, and is likely to attend the latest one and that alone can render the formal outfit in the wardrobe useless! It is expensive being a woman!
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