JEAN-MICHEL TIXIER POUR M LE MAGAZINE DU MONDE
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efore getting to the heart of the matter, it is worth noting that there are two kinds of people who dress the same way every day. Despite their similarities, they are not equals. The first, out of laziness, wear exactly the same items from one day to the next, without washing or airing them out. The second group, by contrast, consistently build their look around the same pieces, which are regularly washed but bought in multiples. The latter deserve a few lines of admiration.
Wearing an outfit akin to a uniform is much more about clever strategy than it is about sartorial laziness. To fashion enthusiasts, this might seem like a missed opportunity to enjoy getting dressed. But those who opt for this choice will tell you, with a smile, that it simplifies their day-to-day life as much as replacing paper maps with a GPS app has. As Steve Jobs and Barack Obama once explained, adopting a uniform wardrobe saves an impressive amount of time and provides significant mental relief.
But that is not the most important point. More than their relentless productivity (not everyone has the same job as Jobs), those who choose to dress the same each day stand out for their independence of mind and resistance to the consumerist impulses of our era. In a world where every new clothing purchase is an excuse to set up a phone on a tripod to film a "get ready with me" video, providing proof of life to an online community, the person in uniform embraces their outsider status.
