Report your clothes, why not?

From red carpets to social networks, a reflection begins around this social pressure to constantly wear new outfits.

In a world of images shaped by cheap fast fashion and social media, wearing the same clothes twice at events has become a faux pas. So much so that the English media talk about the ” stigma of outfit repeating “.

Kate Middleton, Helen Mirren, Cate Blanchett: all have been exposed in the media for having worn the same outfit more than once during outings. Even though Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was teased recently on the show Infoman for having worn the same jacket many times, women are more likely to suffer criticism in this matter, a double standard denounced by the former first lady of the United States Michelle Obama.

A diary for looks

By Carrie Bradshaw (Sex and the City) to Emily Cooper (Emily in Paris), cinema and television series have exposed us to these images of privileged women, symbols of success, who are rarely seen dressed twice in the same way. “It affects us enormously, notes Janie-Claude Viens, development officer in ecological transition at Concertation Montréal. To see a person wearing the same coat, the same shirt on TV, that’s the kind of thing that could work in our unconscious and make it easier for us to wear things. »

Because you don’t have to be a Hollywood star to feel that pressure. Some keep a diary of what they wore during such an event and note who was there so as not to reproduce the same look. “If I have a work party, for example, I’m not going to wear the same dress that I had with the same people on another party,” notes Chloé Rincourt, marketing professional. I think people would notice, plus there are the pictures. It would bother me. »

The fact that the outfits we wear are immortalized during the slightest event is, for many, an obstacle to their reuse. “I feel the need to have new clothes to go on a trip,” says Pascale Daigneault. It doesn’t make sense, but I want new clothes for my travel photos. You can look at our albums, I don’t wear the same look twice. »

The one who admits without embarrassment to having too many clothes has become a fashion and lifestyle influencer during the pandemic.

Aware of the effect of her publications on her 8000 subscribers, she no longer hesitates to appear with the same garment, but arranged differently.

The influence… of influencers

Influencers have an immense role to play, believes Valérie Vedrines, president and founder of Masse critique, a collective for the sustainable transformation of the communications industry. “I think they’re realizing more and more the impact they’re having and starting to use that influence to drive more responsible drinking,” she says. It’s still fairly small, but it’s a movement that has begun to take shape. »

In Hollywood too, voices are rising. After Jane Fonda, who said in fall 2019 that the red coat she wore at a protest where she was arrested in Washington was her last purchase for life, actress Kate Winslet spoke out against carpet pressure red. “The money wasted on this. The hours and stress that people put into these things. The incredible artists who make these dresses are wonderful, but to do something that will only be worn once…I have already decided that I will wear my dresses on repeat,” she said in an interview with the magazine. Vanity Fairin 2020. Two years later, we saw her on the red carpet ofAvatar: The Way of Water sporting a dark gray dress by designer Badgley Mischka that she wore in 2015 at the Toronto International Film Festival.

“It’s not futile, we need these models, applauds Janie-Claude Viens. Like Mark Zuckerberg was with the jeans/t-shirt. The minimalist look of the Meta boss also inspired an experiment for our colleagues in 2016¹. For a month, he and she wore a gray t-shirt and dark jeans. And guess what? No one noticed.