Never Full Dressed Without a Smile

So I know that this is supposed to be about Musical Theatre, but I am finding that because I am limiting myself to this topic, its why the blog keeps starting and stopping, so I apologize in advance, this too is not about musical theatre.

So, after my mile a day challenge I thought that I would do something fun and… seemingly easy. Someone had mentioned  something about a tie-a-day challenge while I was in the middle of the 30 day mile a day challenge. I wont bore you with the details on how that actually came about, but I will tell you that I thought it was a super fun idea!

As I write this post, tomorrow is day 30, and I didn't think I would fail this hard. This week in San Diego has been brutally hot, and the mere idea of wearing a tie made me break out in a sweat. I haven't worn a tie in over a week. I don't have more than a 6 day streak on this. It was difficult.

I love my clothes, I spend a great deal of time (and money) thinking about fun ways to look my best and to spark a conversation with someone. It generally works, and now that I am employed in a space that has very little dress code its even more noticeable when you wear a tie.

As I started the challenge, within a week, I already started having problems. I found that I liked about 5 of the 50 or so ties that I own (I guess technically some of them are owned by my boyfriend, but… that doesn't matter). So I started to but some guidelines on my challenge.

A tie a day, and it SHOULD not be the same tie (I cant be boxed in TOO much, so there were a FEW repeats) and it CANNOT be the same tie/shirt combination.

I find that in California, or to be more specific, Southern California, the idea of wearing a collar, let a lone a tie every day is suffocating for a lot of people. Wearing a tie and a jacket is a symbol. A symbol of varying meaning for most, but a symbol nonetheless. I like to throw in ties, bow ties, and vests into my day to outfits as often as possible, so when the idea came up that I should do a tie a day challenge, it really seemed simple.

But with weekends it became a struggle. Wearing a tie to work may get the staff chatting, but wearing a tie to brunch on Sunday gets major side eye. It was hard. I found that I am really super casual on the weekends, which I don't think I would have admitted to before this. The fanciest I would normally get would be a polo shirt. I went to a house party in a tie and vest, and I heard about it non-stop.

I don't go to church, so I literally would never wear a tie on the Sundays of this challenge. I honestly barely left the house.

I also found some major flaws in my wardrobe. I have a lot of weird patterned ties. They are hard to match to a shirt that isn't plain white, or plain blue (sometimes, even those weren't cutting it) and so once I got through what I would call my "good ties", it started to become a challenge (which I guess was the point).

pictured: not my boyfriend

In the middle of this challenge I was helping my boyfriend pick out an outfit for an important meeting. He needed to wear his business formal suit, nice shoes, a belt that matched, and a tie. Usually he dresses the standard button down and slacks for work, nothing too flashy. Seeing him take the time to get this all together meant that much more. To see a well polished business formal outfit walk out the door, when in general its something very standard really makes a statement. I think that if he wore a suit and tie every single day, this particular outfit would have looked very standard on him. I think that the tie, and the idea of polishing off the suit, made this occasion special, and made him look that much more amazing.

I still like wearing ties, and even bow ties sometimes. I like the extra flash, and the clean look it lends an outfit. I also really enjoy the laid-back So Cal persona that I have come to embody my last 6 years here (and 17 in California all together) to the point if I could get away with a tank top and basketball shorts everyday, it would be so blissful. and I don't feel like challenging that.

So, one big win with the 30 day, mile a day challenge, and one small defeat in the tie a day challenge. I hope the next one goes a little better.

Though, the lessons learned during this challenge were surprisingly numerous. I found some great combinations in my wardrobe that I never would have thought of before, It was also telling me that I need to do some additional purging in the closet. I remain steadfast that dressing up is fun, but its not necessarily as easy as I always pretend it is, and looking good for an occasion can mean more when its not expected of you. I guess having a ton of ties isn't the same as wearing a ton of ties, and most importantly, its okay to fail at something.

That last one is something that is always really hard to swallow.