"Dressing heavy" is one of those things I hardly do and this is because of a personal dress sense I've come to create and adopt. To me, dressing heavy means, wearing different layers of cloth and being emphatic about it. Nigeria is a tropical country, the weather here most makes for loose clothing. However, it's difficult to adopt this dress sense at all times, especially because people have to wear different clothes for different occasions. 9 to 5ers are mostly known for three or two-piece suits, especially in corporate organizations. This is the adopted Western way of looking or appearing formal.
The Nigerian way of looking formal is wearing native attire. These attires are in different formats, cultures, and styles. In fact, the Nigerian way of looking ostentatious is mostly through native or traditional attire. Wealthy people often dress this way to feel grand. This goes to show that dressing for a lot of people is to communicate intent, occasion, and desire. For someone like me, comfort is the only reason why I have a queer sense of dressing. Being a lanky person, I prefer clothes that are medium in size, not too small to reveal the lankiness, and not too big to create an improper outcome.
Another reason is to establish a healthy status. All my life, I've always tried to maintain simple weather conditions; not too cold and not too cold, so as not to trigger temperature crises that might lead to fever. I've worked in formal organizations in the past and dressing formally in hot weather conditions caused a lot of skin irritation and burnout for me. However, I like to dress simply, inasmuch as it's important to communicate "responsibility" with one's dress sense, I mostly prefer to establish satisfaction and comfort as the primary aim of dressing. Interestingly I do so too because I like to pay attention to cost.
Clothing is expensive, in fact, it's a thriving industry in any country. I pay attention to cost because obviously, money is difficult to come by. Some people mostly dress to communicate how financially buoyant they are. This isn't me. I rather prefer value for money which isn't essentially expensive at all times. The notion is that one has to spend big to establish a dress finesse. This isn't always true. I once met a lady here who said she cannot wear a shoe of 5000k (naira). I already knew she wasn't someone I wish to know, and this was because of the sole concentration on dressing expensive to impress.
The best thing is to try to achieve value for a lesser cost while still maintaining some level of finesse. I was a "dress to kill* type when I was a teenager: my choice of cologne, mufflers, shoes, and sandals, but that was because I was young and mostly concentrated my income on looking good. As an adult, this has been different. However, with the growing rate of inflation in Nigeria, it's difficult not to spend a heavy chunk of one's money trying to maintain simplicity and finesse. Nevertheless, we cannot stop ourselves, unless we have a strong system of choice and check where we understand our limits and stick closely to them.
Of a truth, we're taken away by fascination when see expensive dressing. There are people who wear expensive stuff and come out intentionally dashing. There are people who do the same and still come out looking classless, without a picturesque outlook, no sense of direction, and no synergy. This mostly proves that money is quintessential when it comes to dressing, but being creative and unique is even more important. For me, the freedom of expression, the health impact, cost as well as maintaining my own unique way of looking okay, is the most important reason why I dress.
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