[This is my Trail] Things I love about China: Outfit Repeating

[Rachelle]

Yes, outfit repeating. In many places in China, it is common to wear the exact same outfit two (maybe three?) days in a row. At first, you might kind of think, "Ewww." And I will admit it takes a little getting used to because it somehow just feels wrong. But then one day it all clicks and you realize the brilliance of it. You wake up late, throw on the same clothes and no one judges you at all. It also just cuts down on the amount of clothes you really need to have. In the US, you might have a pair of black pants or something that you wear quite frequently, but it always has to be with different sweaters or shirts. Not here. You could literally have three work outfits for summer and three for winter and always wear the exact same things together and no one would judge. In fact, one of my friends told me many Chinese people would think it's strange when people have a ton of different outfits and are never wearing the same thing. I think in my two 50lb suitcases I brought more clothes than most Chinese people even own (and I still have a full closet at home...if my mom hasn't stolen all of my things). Man, I love communists!

This also partially explains why so many Chinese people can afford to buy really high-end foreign brands--they even repeat those! In the US, if you can afford one bag from Gucci or Coach or whatever, you'd have 10 bags from there. Here, people really save up and buy the one bag and use it everyday for five years. It's really a whole different mind-set, but I kind of like it. I'd rather have a few really nice/expensive outfits and wear them over and over to just buying whatever is on the Old Navy sales rack and having 30 skirts in my closet.

Now I'm usually on an alternating schedule where I shower one morning and wear clean clothes the next. It definitely cuts down on getting-ready-for-work time. I guess some might argue that you should be clean and wear clean clothes at the same time. But whatever, I do what I want. That's what deodorant is for. And I'm almost out. Hmmm. Don't you love it when I overshare about my personal hygiene habits in a public forum?

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Posted By Rachelle to This is my Trail at 7/28/2008 05:16:00 AM