Thank you for all of you who weighed in on the suit quandary. I am relieved that the majority of people (save for my best friend; thanks for throwing me under the bus, TRIBECCA,) thought that it was no big deal to wear the suit twice, because that is what I did.
What happened was this: my colleague only had one suit that wasn’t at the dry cleaners, and when the trial was pushed back she was worried about wearing the same suit two days in a row. So I told her I’d do the same thing out of solidarity, and also to minimize dry cleaning bills. We both wore different blouses, and I don’t think anyone noticed. But I did worry about it a little bit, because Americans seem sort of uniquely obsessed with clothing cleanliness (which, as Jess pointed out, is viewed as wasteful by the rest of the world).
I suspect that the answers to “is it okay to wear it twice in a row” would have been different if the item of clothing in question had been, say, a sweater. And I think that’s so interesting, because I definitely don’t wash a sweater every time I wear it (that’s why you wear a tshirt under the sweater, amiright?) but I would still feel self-conscious wearing the same sweater two days in a row. I would worry that people would THINK I was unhygienic. Perhaps the lesson here is that I should stop worrying so much what other people think.
It’s funny that this has come up because my husband and I were just talking about this very subject. He noticed that the clothes we were folding were nearly all his and he asked if I ever washed my clothes! Of course I do, but I don’t wash my jeans or my work clothes after every wearing because they would wear out too soon. I would feel weird, too, wearing a shirt or a sweater two days in a row, but I might not feel the same way about a suit because it’s a little more generic.
I think sometimes it’s less about thinking the clothing must be DIRTY and thinking that it’s weird that you don’t have enough outfits to wear something new every day of the week. I think Americans are a culture obsessed with having a LOT of stuff, rather than being so concerned about the quality of the stuff. From what I understand, a typical European wardrobe is probably a lot smaller than what a normal American adult thinks they need in their closet. Yet the items in the European closet are probably a lot more expensive and of much higher quality. A lot of the stuff in the American wardrobe is from Old Navy and is going to wear out after a season of washings and look crappy. We are a cheaper and more disposable culture, I guess.
Things I wear multiple times without washing: jeans, dress pants, cardigans, sweaters (if I ever wore them, which I don’t because I’m a freak who hates them), tights/nylons/socks, and jackets.
Things I wash EVERY time: underwear, shirts, and blouses.
But I agree that with the exception of a cardigan or black pants, I’d never wear anything more than once a week. We are complete tools of societal norms.
You’re right. I wear t-shirts under sweaters and don’t wash them every time. But I wouldn’t wear the same sweater two days in a row. I think this is somehow related to our Puritanical nature. Or our judgmental nature. Or both.
You’re right. I wear t-shirts under sweaters and don’t wash them every time. But I wouldn’t wear the same sweater two days in a row. I think this is somehow related to our Puritanical nature. Or our judgmental nature. Or both.
Ho take from me a little pussycat ? see video