"Alice Gregory on Finding a Uniform"

"When the weather permits—and it does in New York from September to May—I wear a black cotton turtleneck, skinny blue jeans that (crucially) are not tight and a pair of black boots. My hair, I have decided, is my main accessory. If it’s cold and dry, I wear a camel coat. If it’s cold and wet, I wear a black down rain jacket. It is the most comfortable, flattering and inoffensive outfit I’ve been able to come up with. It’s almost never inappropriate, and it has the magical quality of taking on the connotations of its surroundings. In a bookstore, I look bookish. At an art gallery, I look arty. On the subway, I am invisible. I can look young or old, rich or poor, cool or humble. In my uniform, people see me as they want to.

Wearing a uniform is also a way of asserting your status as a protagonist. This is the reason why characters in picture books never change their clothes: Children—like adults, if they’d only admit it—crave continuity. We recognize Babar in his green suit and crown, Eloise in her suspendered jumper and Madeline in her little yellow raincoat. In other clothes, we’d confuse Babar for some civilian elephant, Eloise for one of Manhattan’s innumerable spoiled brats and Madeline for another of the 12 little girls in two straight lines."

http://hello.jcrew.com/2014-10-oct/alice-gregory/?mod=e2this&utm_source=This+nightly&utm_campaign=b7c40b5963-Feb+18+Nightly&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_4b29b52ce6-b7c40b5963-248506805

I mean, this is interesting - a single coherent expression of identity, imposing your sense of self on the world.

I don't think I would ever quite do this, pretend that I can be simplified into one thing and that I am not impacted by changes in my context day-to-day. But if I was ever in a situation where I needed to apply some distance, reduce my vulnerability to my surroundings, this might be a strong technique.