This December, Regent’s chapter of Her Campus rallied behind Dressember, which is a movement equipped with a fundraiser, official hashtags, and a website that raises awareness of human trafficking by its anti-slavery supporters wearing dresses all month long.
Though I first heard of Dressember merely one month before it started, I dedicated myself to taking part in the important movement, and learned the following five things because of it:
1. Minimalism
The first and most important thing I learned from taking part in Dressember was minimalism. While I cannot say I have a few number of dresses, I know for sure that I have fewer than twenty. Out of those approximately twenty dresses, I only wear ten on a yearly basis. And out of those ten, I only wear about five during the fall/winter season, for those are my only sweater and long-sleeved dresses. Therefore, to only juggle five to ten dresses to wear all December long was a struggle for me. I had to think of creative ways to “recycle” the dresses I had so it did not look like I was wearing the same exact outfit every week. While wearing the same dress every week did become annoying at times, it taught me how to dress minimalistically. It also taught me a life hack of how to reduce weekly laundry.
2. Vulnerability
“Why are you wearing a dress everyday all of a sudden?” “What’s Dressember?” “Didn’t you wear that same dress last week?” “Why are you advertising this fundraiser?” These are a few of the questions I was asked in December. As an introvert, sudden, personal questions do not equal me suddenly and personally answering. Questions equal me having to be vulnerable, which my introverted self does not like. However, as I began to answer more and more people’s questions to me about Dressember, I began to feel less vulnerable and more excited. I began to remember that the reason why I even was wearing dresses day upon day was because I wanted to bring awareness to the Dressember Foundation. Though it impeded on my introverted vulnerability, attracting the attention of the people around me by wearing dresses every day was exactly what I wanted and answering their questions brought more awareness to Dressember.
3. #YouCanDoAnythingInADress
One of the official, Dressember movement hashtags is #YouCanDoAnythingInADress. When I first began using the hashtag, I didn’t understand the importance of it. However, as December progressed, and I began to do things in a dress that I normally would not do in a dress, I understood. For instance, what girl lounges around the house, girl travels six hours in a car, or tours around a cold city in a dress? Most girls lounge in leggings around the house, wear sweatpants to travel, and walk around a city in jeans. However, I kept wearing a dress even when it seemed annoying to remain faithful to Dressember, and quickly learned that the hashtag #YouCanDoAnythingInADress is a true statement indeed.
4. Supporting A Cause
Dressember is the first time I’ve publicly supported a cause. Supporting a great cause is a humbling and empowering feeling and it brings awareness and funding to important world issues. I highly recommend rallying behind a cause if you haven’t ever done it before.
5. Doing it Again Next Year!
While I did support Dressember, I did not support it to the length at which I wanted. I did not post a daily pic of myself in a dress every single day on Instagram, I wore pants on some days, I did not tell as many people as I wanted to about Dressember, and I did not make a personal fundraiser page for the foundation. However, this was my first time supporting and even knowing about Dressember. 2018 is a new year, and every new year comes with a new chance. I fully plan to participate in Dressember 2018, and supporting it with a greater intensity than 2017.
Did you also support Dressember? What’s your Dressember story?