It's a Croc: The Ugg Effect or Why What You Wear Matters

"What you wear is how you present yourself to the world, especially today,

when human contacts are so quick. Fashion is instant language."

- Miuccia Prada

This is probably going to tick some people off. I realize that. So let me preface it by saying I have no problem with Crocs or Uggs. With the right outfit, the latter at least can be quite cute. And I hands down give kudos to the geniuses that figured out how to sell updated gardening shoes for $50 and glorified slippers for $150 or more. Brilliant marketing all around was done by both companies. Both brands have also branched out quite a bit from their original designs into some seriously sleek and fashionable alternatives (Uggs have sequins!). But for the sake of this discussion, I’m talking about the original basic models. And again, it’s not the shoes themselves I take exception to -- it’s what has happened since then. It’s the slobbification that’s going on. When did it become de rigueur to wear sweats in public?

To clarify, it’s not just any sweats I’m seeing – they’re the rattiest, baggiest, most figure-stifling sweats on the planet. Twice I’ve seen people in PAJAMA bottoms and slippers. In one instance, it was honest to goodness pink bunny slippers at the airport. I realize airline regulations have become stricter, and airplane travel is not very comfortable at the best of times, but you’re still in public!  One of my best plane trips ever involved a sexy, French-Canadian aeronautical engineer. I doubt he would have chatted me up if I had been sporting animal slippers. Because I had on heels and nice jeans, he slipped me his number. I had a boyfriend, but it was still a fun interlude to pass the time.

To use a cliché, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” If you are out and about looking like a slob in your ratty sweats, baggy shirt, and slippers, or yes, Uggs, the fashion statement you are making is, “I don’t give a single crap about how I look.” Which in turn often gives people the impression that you don’t care about anything else, either. You don’t want that to be what people take away from meeting you. This is especially true if these people can affect your future. Let me just list some of the people I have run into while out and about at a place as busy as Target in Daly City, CA.

1. Freelance clients
2. Potential business contacts
3. Ex-boyfriends
4. Cute guys (pre-fiancé, of course)
5. Friends I haven’t seen in forever
6. Business acquaintances
7. Work colleagues
8. Former bosses

That’s just off the top of my head. I guarantee you that if I had been dressed as casually as I see far too many people dressing these days, I would not have gotten some of the leads I’ve received while doing mundane tasks like shopping at the supermarket. You never know whom you will run into. So it pays to be presentable. Literally.

And ladies, I have a rule: Always make sure that if you run into an ex-paramour, you look so good that he/she wonders for at least a second why they ever left you. You don’t have to want them back in your life, you just have to make them remember why they wanted you in theirs in the first place.

As another example, the day I met my fiancé we were at softball practice. He was wearing a newsboy cap and I thought it was a cute alternative to a baseball cap. It made him stand out. I later found out that he just didn’t own a baseball cap at the time, but the impression was already made. You know what he noticed about me? He liked how good my butt looked in my yoga pants. He probably couldn’t tell yoga pants from leggings from skinny jeans, but he noticed and he remembered. (The bit about his newsboy cap was in our wedding announcement. We left the part about my heiny out.) So while we stayed together because of all the stuff you can’t see on the surface, we got together initially because of those first impressions. I guarantee you there might have been a different outcome had I worn my shapeless sweats.

I’m not asking you to be uncomfortable…just presentable. Yoga pants, leggings and un-ripped jeans are all nice, comfortable alternatives to sweats. Plus, they are far more neat and clean and professional-looking. Yoga pants give off a sporty vibe, while leggings and jeans can give off a neat, put-together impression.

As recently as the 1950s, it was common for women to go out in white gloves and skirts.  We don’t need to go all the way back to that extreme to look respectable, though. This current day devotion to comfort at all times has spawned such horrifying products as the Forever Lazy Lounge Wear, Pajama Jeans and the Snuggie. The Forever Lazy has a “drop seat” so you don’t have to take it off to do your business. No item which features a butt-flap will ever be considered fashionable. Please, I beg of you, don’t wear any of these things in public.

I understand that if you have a sick kid or aren’t feeling well and have to dash out for Sudafed or Advil, maybe you really can’t muster any more effort than sweats or pajamas. You get a pass in that case. Other than that, though, it takes almost NO more effort to slip on jeans than it does sweats.

I made it a point of getting rid of most of my less than attractive leisurewear not long ago. It’s just as easy to throw on cute Lucky Brand embroidered pants and matching hoodie as it ever was to throw on gray threadbare sweats two sizes too big. I saved out one oversized sweatshirt for those sick days. My cute relaxation gear is twice as likely to stoke the fire of my honey’s ardor as those sweats ever were. It’s good to keep the romance and the spark well-kindled. Plus, I guarantee if you make a small effort to look better…you will feel better too. No one feels peppy and energized when they are all slobbed-out.

Another bonus: we may not like to admit it, but you get better service when you look nice. The bartender serves you faster, the girl in the shoe department notices you sooner, the bagger at the grocery store offers to carry your groceries to the car, and the nice Texan in the airport helps you lift your carry-on into the overhead bin. None of that is a life necessity, but it sure is nice to be afforded the common courtesies, and you’re far more likely to if you look presentable. You can rave at the injustice of it all, but it does not make it any less true.

So that’s my two cents. I didn’t start a blog to be one of those people that rants at things all the time. I won’t make a habit of it. But this “trend” was really starting to chap my hide. So please, just because your feet are cozy and comfortable in your Uggs doesn’t mean the REST of your outfit has to be ugh, too.

Here’s to being comfortable and fashionable in 2012.

Don’t like what I have to say? Have a different take on this? Have a fashion pet peeve you’d like to share? Feel free to comment below or email me at princessheathab@gmail.com. Also, I’m always looking for new topics and guest bloggers.

Future blog topics include:

• To Buy or Not To Buy, That is the Question

• How to Dress Appropriately for Any Occasion

• The Five Shoe Staples Every Girl Should Own

Be Fierce. Be Fashionable. Be Yourself.

XOXO

H