What Your First Date Outfit Says About You

Anything that is a personal fashion risk, be it a crop top, hot p@nts, stripes when you only wear florals.
Every morning, before you leave the house, you take a long, hard look at yourself in the mirror and whisper quietly, "I'm going to kill it today." You pride yourself on tweaking situations that should be easy and making them just a little bit harder, like a personal challenge you set for yourself. That
neoprene crop top that you impulse bought at H&M the other day makes you feel a little daring,
while totally confident. Honestly, you don't need
anything else. You're probably fine.
Your boring, weird business casual slacks
and a silk blouse because you didn't have
time to go home and change.

You make a lot of to-do lists — they're papered all
over your apartment, on the mirror in your
bathroom, on the back of your front door, on piles of mail sitting on your coffee table. You make these lists because they impose order, but you
rarely check anything off the lists. The process of
simply making the list makes you feel better, and
so you continue, writing down things like "toilet paper" and "pay student loan bills" on the backs of those subscription cards that fall out of magazines. You're no-nonsense. If you have a first
date, you at least wear your nicest blouse and maybe remember to put on lipstick, but really,
running out the door from work to this thing is just another part of your day. Something you've agonized over for at
least a week, carefully picked out and tried
on numerous times. Dating is new to you, either because you've never really done it, or because you're emerging out
from under the long shadow of a long-term
relationship that finally hit its expiration date. You're probably not sure how this date is going to go, but you're 100 percent positive that every single item in your closet isn't going to fly. You're a consummate planner. You lay out your clothes every morning before work because otherwise, you'll find yourself standing in your underwear in your bedroom, staring at your closet, overwhelmed and stymied by the choice, late again.

Freakum dress, regardless of the date
activity.
"Why don't you take this seriously?" your mother
asks you every time you're on the phone. "When
am I going to have a grandchild?" This
conversation, which comes like clockwork after Bikram on Sunday mornings, is consistent and
nagging, like that one mosquito that somehow
makes it into your room at night that you can never catch. The freakum dress is your first date calling card, something that keeps you top of mind, but also something that makes you feel really, really great. You wear it because you've worked hard on the body you were given, and because you want to make an impression that beams confidence. You order whiskey at the bar maybe because you read somewhere that it makes you seem cool, but also because you really like the way it burns a little going down. Secretly, you want to please your mom. You'd get married sooner rather than later if you had your way.

Your go-to "date" outfit.
Dating is a numbers game, something that you have down to a science. You have a choice of three bars or restaurants that you always pick, a drink that you order, a set list of topics that you avoid. The nightly OK Cupid search is sandwiched between rigorous applications of eye cream and
watching the opening monologue of Jimmy Fallon.
You're unafraid of success professionally, but have found it elusive in dating, and despite the fact that your go-to karaoke song is "Independent Women" by Destiny's Child, you still have a secret Pinterest board full of wedding dresses and floral arrangements that you update from time to time. Whatever you feel comfortable in. You're normal. You are completely normal. This is the only way to be.
Just be yourself.
KitPress®