The luxury of a uniform
When I left school I'd had enough of uniforms. Being made to wear the same thing for a decade is enough to awaken the inner sartorial rebel in most people. Given that we're talking here about a period when youth culture experienced a fashion tsunami, with punk, new wave, the mod revival and new romanticism, you can see how the problem was exacerbated. Not that I didn't do my best to bend the rules. A mohair V-neck, taking my trousers in to make them drainpipes, second-hand small-collared shirts from a store on the Kings Road … I even dyed my hair — when I had hair — that unnatural shade of black that comes out of a bottle.
So when the time came to put away childish things I was relieved — now every day was a wardrobe opportunity. But isn't that just the problem? As I've got older, I've realised that uniforms are actually quite useful. Because waking up each day to face the blank page of dressing possibilities can be a pain — and takes too much of the valuable time during which you could be so much more productive. In 2012 Barack Obama revealed to Vanity Fair that he only wore suits in two colours, blue and grey. He explained: 'I'm trying to pare down decisions. I don't want to make decisions about what I'm eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.'
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Could this be the reasoning behind Steve Jobs's preference for black Issey Miyake turtlenecks, Levi's 501 jeans and 99X New Balance trainers? Or Giorgio Armani's habitual choice of navy cashmere T-shirts and sweaters, navy cotton trousers and white trainers? All designed by himself, naturally.For me it's become a go-to combination of navy T-shirt under dark blue cashmere rollneck in the winter — and similarly hued wool crewneck for summer — Japanese denim dark indigo jeans and brown boots. Then a navy tailored jacket in different weather-dependent weighted fabrics, brown belt, brown leather backpack and glasses to finish it off. Then I'm ready to go.My old headmaster would approve.
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