YOLO Dressing

Life for the YOLO dressers must be so much fun. There are plenty of them in New York, those brave individuals who look like they opened their closets and just went for it, you know? A pink marabou headband. A full red leather look donned mid-day. Where my go-to fabric is denim, theirs is like, velvet, and 9 times out of 10, they're in heels. They wear outfits in the true definition of word, as if each styling choice is purposeful, necessary, eager. It's the opposite of effortless. They truly get dressed. I walk past two YOLO dressers on my way to work every morning. Let's call it 9:00 by the time our paths cross if I'm running on time and choose the park-route. Picture me in my uniform of white jeans and a sweater, footwear dependent on weather. Now picture them, on the other hand, a boy and a girl, looking as if they've raided the closet of Lady Gaga and then swapped clothes with Boy George. They're in full looks, the both of them: sunglasses covering their faces, wild hats, side-laced pants. It's not my style at all. In fact at 9:00 AM I'm not sure I even have a style, which is why I'm so enamored with theirs. For many YOLO Dressers, a snooze-worthy Wednesday is as good a time as any to get done up to the much-forgotten-nines. Weather isn't an excuse. Cramp-pants aren't an option. They treat the streets as a daily runway and their world is a fashion editorial -- I'm just living in it. While talking to Leandra about my fascination with their daily sartorial balls-to-the-walls-ness, we pin-pointed another type of YOLO Dressing: that which tends to come in the wake of specific occasions, which inspired a bit of imaginary YOLO window-shopping... For, say, a breakup:

Or perhaps to celebrate a raise:
For a milestone-of-a-birthday party:
For the sake of nothing more than an erratic, vacation-bound shopping spree :
And if I were to ever join forces with that that rare city breed who look as though they've gotten dressed in the dark, bolstered by bachelorette happy hour and a bottle of liquid confidence yet, still look strangely fabulous?
You know what they say: Carpe Diem, it's Latin for YOLO. And you know what we say? Happy Monday.

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