{"id":4501,"date":"2026-02-15T19:49:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T19:49:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/overdressing-is-the-path-to-self-acceptance\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T19:49:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T19:49:40","slug":"overdressing-is-the-path-to-self-acceptance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/overdressing-is-the-path-to-self-acceptance\/","title":{"rendered":"Overdressing is the path to self-acceptance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><em>Sarah Screams (Fashion Advice) is The Michigan Daily\u2019s biweekly fashion advice column. Submit your questions <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/forms\/d\/e\/1FAIpQLScJMCH3z3ABg5cjK4l9p4YUISLqMEcmmf163VaK221cUYi6tQ\/viewform?usp=sharing&amp;ouid=115938676154475355344\"><em>here<\/em><\/a><em>!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>After getting drinks with a friend on Wednesday, I think life just might be beautiful. I\u2019ve been finding the joy in the in-between recently: changing outfits in the middle of the day while I make myself a warm lunch between classes. I\u2019m no longer at the point of exhaustion where finding clothes to wear is an inconsolable, mundane task that takes me down with it. Fashion is fun again \u2014 I\u2019m feeling the opulence everywhere, even in the grass frozen under sheets of ice. I\u2019m feeling the sunshine I\u2019ve created in my greatest fantasy and making it reality one fashion risk at a time. Anyway, that\u2019s my explanation for the weird outfit I wore to class on Thursday. Thank you for your understanding, all.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em>How do I stop feeling overdressed wearing things like dresses or heeled boots and sandals? \u2014 A<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The key here is \u201cfeeling.\u201d To take on the concept of overdressing, we must first dismantle the social customs that created the term.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>Dress codes have always been about making someone else powerful. Even in the 16th century, the late great Queen Elizabeth I reckoned with the consequences of overdressing. She was threatened by the way theatre performers dressed \u2014 their costumes acting as an artificial symbol of nobility \u2014 leading her to create <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shakespearesglobe.com\/discover\/blogs-and-features\/2019\/04\/16\/elizabethan-sumptuary-laws-fashion-policing-in-shakespeares-england\/\">sumptuary laws<\/a> dictating who could wear what. As a powerful woman whose throne was constantly <a href=\"https:\/\/thehistorypress.co.uk\/article\/a-beginners-guide-to-the-babington-plot\/\">at risk<\/a>, she had to keep the social hierarchy, lest she empower the people who wanted her out.<\/p>\n<p>By dressing to avoid going overboard, we fall in line socially. We sheepishly agree to blend in to maintain the status quo. While we are now exempt from the fingertip-length short rule, I find myself very much still trying to embody the girl who fits easily into the mold \u2014 a mold I have to squeeze and hold my breath to fit in to.<\/p>\n<p>How do I dress myself so I don\u2019t give off something I\u2019m not? How can I fit myself into an outfit that doesn\u2019t disrupt the image I want people to perceive? <\/p>\n<p>This is, in the simplest and funnest of terms, silly. I don\u2019t know how you go about dressing yourself, A, but I do think there has to be a degree of insecurity that is making you scared of heels or sandals.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re afraid of drawing attention to yourself, remember that by choosing to be eye-catching, you also are choosing to be unapologetically yourself \u2014 something many can\u2019t figure out how to do until they\u2019ve left their 20s. Even though adding a heeled boot seems like something that wouldn\u2019t change your life, it\u2019s the beginning of a journey of risks that could lead to your most confident self.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>Being overdressed is a myth, A. We\u2019ll all sleep better knowing the best version of you comes with a skinny-strapped sandal.<\/p>\n<p><em>Daily Arts Writer Sarah Patterson can be reached at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/arts\/style\/sarah-screams-fashion-advice-being-overdressed-is-a-myth\/mailto:sarahpat@umich.edu\"><em>sarahpat@umich.edu<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sarah Screams (Fashion Advice) is The Michigan Daily\u2019s biweekly fashion advice column. Submit your questions here! After getting drinks with a friend on Wednesday, I think life just might be beautiful. I\u2019ve been finding the joy in the in-between recently: changing outfits in the middle of the day while I make myself a warm lunch [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[4244,3731,4245],"class_list":{"0":"post-4501","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-overdressing","9":"tag-path","10":"tag-selfacceptance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4501"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4503,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4501\/revisions\/4503"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}