Thursday, November 29, 2007

Dressing Up - Is it for Yourself or for the Others?

One day, at office we had quite a discussion on whether we dress up for ourselves or we dress up for others. My say was that - its for ourselves. We feel good about ourselves if we dress well. Three of my collegues / friends / neighborhood cubicle dwellers- were of the opinion that it was for the others. They even came up with '' Eat for Yourself and Dress for Others''. Well i still differ.
You dress up to feel good about yourself. Who would'nt like compliments from someone?
Reminded me of one incident...
It was Oct 18, 2006. It was my birthday. I was wearing a Calcutta cotton saree, and i thought i looked good. That morning, i still remember, George and me had an argument. It all started with a statement, that he would not be able to pick me up in the evening. Then we used to live with my in laws, and their house was quite a distance from my office. On my Birthday, the thought of bargaining rates with an autorickshaw driver in the evening and so on, depressed me so much.
He was dropping me at office, by bike. We stopped at a signal, next to an autorickshaw, when a lady (I guess an office goer) from inside looked up at me and said ''You are looking very nice''. I was shocked, because in India,its unlikely that a stranger compliments you. That person, whom i would not recognize the next time i see her, lifted up my spirit and i felt so good about my self. She made my day !!
Actually in the evening, George did come to pick me up :-)

4 comments:

Srinidhi said...

Good one. What you wear must make you comfortable first. I always have the feeling that if I dress for others and not feel comfortable in what I am wearing, my self-esteem and confidence goes down making me feel bad the whole day.

Anooja said...

Perfect...

Jewels said...

Anooja, I remember in my first job after college one of the guys in my predominantly male actuarial office said, we don't care what you wear, Julia. It made me prefer to dress for comfort. Now that I'm older, I like to dress both ways but I have always gotten hot very easily, so I lean towards cool and comfortable. OOO

Anooja said...

yes actually... dress for comfort.. whether for urself or the otheres :)