Some of our readers listen to their inner voice — absolutely — and dress to their own tune, no matter what. Individual comfort comes first for them. But many of our readers say that they do have their own unique style of dressing, but have enough sense to dress according to the occasion as courtesy to the person they are meeting or event they are attending

I know many of you will disagree with me but I think that you should dress according to what your hearts tell you to wear. In my case, dressing for self-confidence and comfort is more important than to dress up just for a specific occasion, caring more about what others would think about you. When I dress, I never think about how I am looking or compare myself with others. We all are gifted with a sense of dressing, so respect it and will continue to do so.

You may be familiar with the proverb: “If you are not enjoying your clothes, then you are missing the point”. So I will dress the way I want to and not the way others want me to because I am the driver of my life; so I must know how to drive it without letting it crash, letting myself or others get hurt.

— Sashi Lama

I just don’t care about other people’s opinions, whether others treat me with utmost courtesy or not with regard to my selection of attires at any sort of occasions. I don’t prefer being clad in flamboyant costumes that may include suit, boot, coat, tie and party shoes among others — I feel uncomfortable wearing such highly valued costumes on special occasions. That is why I can’t make other person feel comfortable by acting in a way they want me to. Hence, I dress to please myself, rather than dressing in a particular attire in accordance with the likes of society. I never seem reluctant to act audaciously with regard to my dressing style and this seems no more awkward to me. And I don’t prefer following the taste of the diverse groups since I don’t really like to act as per social norms and values. After all, I can’t be dishonest to myself. That’s why their opinions do not alter my path in course of making my own choice with no glimpse of hesitation. It’s my life and I think that I have full authority to live or enjoy my life in my own way for the sake of my happiness and mental peace. You have to do what’s best for you no matter what because your happiness and peace of mind is all that matters in the end.

— Sanjog Karki, Palpa

It’s important to dress following one’s individual taste, no matter how your clothes are judged by other people. Getting dressed according to own choice of clothes makes you feel comfortable within yourself. When we meet someone, or go to a certain occasion/function, the most essential thing we need to have is our ‘zone of comfort’. We cannot really be ourselves unless we feel comfort in that particular environment. If we are not feeling pleasant, which is in case of not getting dressed according to our own will, we become unhappy and eventually attending the function becomes worthless which ultimately makes us incapable of being social. Being social is an important factor that helps us to enhance our personality. Say I am going for a meeting with my clients where I will be presenting my ideas. Provided the meeting has no fixed uniform, if I get dressed taking into account the people I’m meeting, unwillingly, I’ll fail to present my ideas to the best of my ability as a certain portion of my brain will be worrying about the impact that my appearance induces on my listeners.

— Sumeet Sahani

Dressing is important in human life. Every person knows how to dress according to where they come from. It depends on the occasions that we are attending. When one goes to play futsal, then s/he cannot wear suits but must wear jersey or sports wear. For a meeting, one cannot wear casual clothes but one needs to look smart wearing a suit. Hence, I conclude that dressing directly depends on the events we are attending.

— Tulip Gyawali, Kathmandu

It is often said that ‘the first impression is the last impression’; so in a way it can be said the outer look does matter, which basically includes the way we dress. In this competitive world, it is necessary to look good, attractive and elegant at the same time. The way we choose clothes and dress matter a lot. Our sense of dressing plays a huge role in defining who we are and how we are. There are certain types of dress codes according to the place, occasion and theme which we follow at times. As far as I am concerned I basically give preference to my comfort level first and then only choose clothes according to the occasion or a meeting. I never dress to please anyone. I dress up for myself. I grab those clothes which attract my eye and suit my body type. I have my own taste and choices according to which I like to dress. But I always make sure that I dress right according to the occasion or a meeting.

— Tejaswi Pahari, Jawalakhel, Lalitpur

When I was studying in Plus-two, I never looked around or cared what people said of the way I dressed. I used to follow punk fashion and preferred torn-pants/trousers, tight jeans and tee-shirts. It all changed as I grew older; I started getting worried about how others would perceive my fashion and lifestyle. In a society like ours, where people often get worried about others’ lifestyle, fashion, interests and even trespass on others’ lives, it is almost impossible to follow your individual taste regarding your fashion and lifestyle. As I said, my taste has now changed with time. I have to wear formal to office. For occasions and get-togethers, I am more concerned about what I wear and what others would say about my attire. It all depends on where I am going and who I am meeting that decides the kind of clothes I will put on.

— Sandip Neupane

I love to wear comfortable clothes. Mostly I am in casuals like cool, punk tee-shirts and half-pants. My friends say I look funny. But it doesn’t matter to me what others think. I am pleased with my get-up and find it unique and comfortable. There is no night dress, home dress or party dress for me. I wear the same kind of clothes all the time. Once I passed a whole year wearing a tee-shirt. Sometimes I felt ashamed to wear the same clothes every day but now I have more clothes to wear.

— Jenny

Proper and decent attire reflect the character and personality of a person whether a person likes or dislikes it. From east to west, following a certain manner of dressing is considered important either at meeting or rituals or funerals. In funerals, the people from the West wear clothes in black whereas in meeting or office, there is a regulation to dress in formals. Besides in rituals like marriage ceremony, groom and bride wear attire that are meant for marriage according to their religions. We can agree that there are no written rules and regulations but importance and compulsion to wear clothes as per occasions highlight and represent the importance of certain cultures, religions, society, groups and occasions. Not only this, dressing also replicates the mannerism of an individual; if that particular person does not consider the environment and occasion, that person grabs the attention either in positive or negative way. Considering only individual taste and occasion may also lead to one being the centre of attraction.

— Santosh Bayalkoti, Shantinagar

Dressing is not just to hide one’s body parts, but it means to look attractive and adaptive to the place where we exist. It shows the status of an individual in society. I prefer to dress as per the time and situation as it boosts my confidence, and creates a notion within me that I’m also one of them. One may feel unique when they present themselves in different attire but the fact is that if you are socially conscious, then it just may turn opposite. Thus, being a socially conscious, I like to present myself, dressing up in socially acceptable ways as per the occasion and situation.

— Manish Maharznn

It is said that beauty lies in the eyes of beholder. So, when I select my attire, the first person I am pleasing is myself. I adhere to accomplish my individual tastes with occasion or the person I am meeting. There is a connection between the way one looks and the way one thinks and acts. If I am in casual clothes, I feel relaxed, but if I dress up for an occasion or a specific person, it directly alters the way I walk and hold myself. Clothes give power, confidence and also show respect and care for that particular occasion, person or anything. I dress for occasion/person concerning my individual taste because I believe in my instinct of individual taste.

— Rashmi Thapa

Our society is a judgemental society and the norms that it has set up compel us to follow through. The attire we wear defines our personality. Some choose the attire with respect to the people they meet, yet some listen to their heart and choose the dress they are jubilant about. Well, in my case I’m the second person who follows her heart. I generally choose the dress I like unless it’s something related to college or any formal matter. It doesn’t bother me what people and society think of me. In my opinion, if people pass on wrong comments over the attire we wear, it is absolutely balderdash. We should just ignore these people and dress to please ourselves and not others.

— Nikkii Dev

As our personality is reflected by our attire and dressing style, it’s important for us to dress according to the occasion. But along with it, I think comfortable dressing is equally important. We must dress to please and comfort ourselves, not just to please the eye of an observer. But sometimes the situation compels us to dress up especially for that particular occasion rather than our own choice.

— Sanam Shrestha, Bhaktapur

Dressing is totally an individual’s choice, however, it is also important to bear in mind when to dress what and on what occasion. One can follow one’s individual taste of dressing on any day, but one must understand that all outfits do not suit every occasion or different individuals that we meet. Thus one should possess a good sense

of dressing.

— Gwshad Basumatary, India

In this modern world, dress code has been the number one essential to please someone. Whether it is an interview or a causal dinner, the first thing you notice about a person is how they’ve dressed. Even though we try to claim that we dress for ourselves and to look good for ourselves, that is not 100 per cent true. Every morning, we have hard time deciding what to wear.  We always choose to dress according to the event. And it is very important to do that. Wearing a lehenga or a sari to a beach is not something we do to please ourselves but to make a complete joke about oneself.

The idea of dressing for oneself and one wearing what one wants is something we use these days when someone doesn’t accept our outfit; this case is mostly familiar with our mothers to be honest. I believe that we must have the right to wear what we want but according to the event.

— O

We all are aware of the cliché: ‘I dress to please myself’. And it is true that each of us wants to feel confident in our own skin. But in some moments of life, reverse can be the case. We may be impelled to change our persona as per the situations or the person we are with. And here, I would go with the previous one and dress for myself at first.

Our attire symbolises our own individuality and has the power to make or break the situations. So, at first it is more important to love what we see in the mirror rather than thinking about others’ perception on us (which obviously keeps on changing!). However, it doesn’t mean it’s a compulsion to disdain the ambience we are in. Sometimes dressing out of the box can reveal a whole new us we never really thought about. So, it’s a lot better to embrace our comfort and live the moment rather than sharing that anxious smile.

— Subhadra Khadka

We live in a place where pleasing oneself is simply an abstract idea. If the clothing of your style doesn’t garner you compliments, it’s not just self-doubt that creeps in. You actually don’t feel good in your own skin and about your own choice. I personally think it’s important to note the occasion or the individual you are meeting when garbing an attire. I would probably be dead than caught wearing pyjamas for my job interview or any other professional event even if it pleases me, would I? It’s all about the impact you want to create. Clothes gives an impression. But if it’s a family gathering or get-together with friends, that’s your call.

— Rajshree Karki

Undoubtedly we eat for our own, but dress for others. Clothes is considered as the first identity of an individual and it is in normal context done to please or attract others rather than self-satisfaction. All of us like the person in well-managed clothing; good fashion and there can be only mere case in world who doesn’t want to be included in this. Hence, I think, we dress up occasionally according to the need

of time and surrounding rather than self perspective.

— Prayash Paudel

My favourite clothes, throughout the year, remains full-sleeved shirt and trousers with sweater being an additional item during winter. Neither tee-shirt, jeans, jacket nor Indian traditional attire remain my forte. But on certain occasions like a relaxed tour in the hills, my wife has insisted me to wear jackets and jeans. I could have resisted her wish as I am not a bit comfortable in those. Still I relented and sported it despite certain reservations so as to respect her sentiments. Again during my son’s sacred thread ceremony (Upanayana), I wore a dhoti so as to respect the environment of the temple and sanctity of the rituals though the priest had not insisted me to wear that particular attire. In a nutshell, I will definitely continue to dress according to my own comfort and confidence; but on certain occasions I am ready to compromise a bit to honour sentiments of near and dear ones and to accord sanctity to certain ambience or ritual.

— Kajal Chatterjee, India

We live in a society with traditional norms and values. In order to be incorporated with society, people have to wear clothes as per occasion or meeting they are going to attend. For instance if a person wears a fancy dress to a puja, he/she might look weird in front of other people. People desire to wear fancy dress to look modern and be popular, but before doing so s/he should think of people they are meeting or occasion they are going to attend.

— Sunita Bhattarai, Kathmandu

We generally consider the occasion we are attending or where we are going to or which particular day it is or whom we are meeting et cetera when we think of dressing. These factors automatically affect a person having good dressing sense. But it doesn’t mean that we dress to please others. There are different types of clothes that we wear to different occasions or days or time but only after considering our likes and comfort in that particular clothes. So, it is important for one to consider individual taste but it is not important for you to wear the clothes that you don’t like or follow the trend that don’t go easy with you or just to please others. One should have their own style because we also dress to feel confident and be comfortable in it. But with the wrong choices of your clothes it also can be your weakest part, make you less confident and uncomfortable. So, better dress to express yourself rather than to impress others.

— Prativa Rai

We work for others, we love others, in fact, we live for others so, why not dress for others or occasions? It’s very important for me to dress according to the situation. If I am hanging out with my best friends, I go casual. Besides, I go for formals like shirt for job. Moreover, attending parties, going to a club, I dress casual according to what type of party or club I am going to visit. During festivals like Fagu Purnima I dress completely in white; during Dashain and Tihar I go for kurtis and daura suruwal with dhaka topi. It’s necessary because people has impact on it. If you cannot dress properly according to nature or preferences they will have negative impact on you. And you are

outdated if you can’t match with the person or occasion you are going to meet.

— Nitesh Adhikari

I think people should dress themselves according to the demand of time, place, season and condition rather than following the modern trend of fashion. Of course one needs to be careful enough while making selection of clothes because it’s believed that the way we dress ourselves should match our personality. Anyway everyone in this world needs to be thoughtful enough to prefer clothes of their choice in their life. Whenever I select dress, I never think whether it’s going to attract or impress others the way it’s supposed to. For the matter of fact, I love to follow those above-mentioned four things while dressing myself up. Colours though matter for me. Besides I’m also concerned about price because real buyers should also know market prices of the clothes which they are going to have.

— Pratik Shrestha, Buddhanagar

Dressing is a very important feature for humans. We like to dress in our favourite clothing whether it is a suit or a night dress. We wear clothes to feel comfortable or to shield our body or to make a bold impression, whether in a puja or in a meeting and so on. A person has the full right to dress himself/herself in accordance to his/her wish, but also according to situations. Dressing up in respect to the occasions has a good effect. It also increases our reputation among our friends, colleagues and relatives. For example, boys should always be inclined to wear a suit and tie, and girls in shirt and pants while attending office meetings, or we should always appreciate traditional wear in religious occasions. Thus, we should appreciate the clothing with respect to the occasion held.

— Avik Chatterjee, India

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Consumers around the world have more options than ever before to choose from while buying products, thanks to today’s connected world. And both global and local brands are widely available in market. But when it comes to choosing a specific product, what do you prefer — global or local? Why? Illustrate.

­Send your replies in not more than 200 words by Friday, May 26, 2:00 pm to Features, The Himalayan Times, e-mail: features@thehimalayantimes.com