Art teacher Julia Mooney wore the same dress to school every day this week, and will continue to for the next 93 days, to teach her students an important lesson about sustainability.
In an Instagram post, the teacher explained that she would wear the dress “through ceramics projects, blizzards, whatever” and would wash it every day as though it’s a uniform.
“Not long ago Americans had only a few clothing sets. My house, built in the 30’s, doesn’t have any closets besides the one we added ourselves,” she wrote.
“Agonizing over ‘what to wear’ in the morning will be a thing of the past (helpful when also getting two toddlers out the door by 6:30am),” she added.
She continued to explain the impact of fast fashion on the environment.
“The challenge I’m presenting is this: Let’s think before we buy, wear, discard, and buy again. Can we buy clothes used? Buy responsibly? Buy LESS? Learn to sew a few things?” she wrote.
“Making and discarding this ‘stuff’ uses water and pollutes. And for what? So we can look cool?!” she added.
In addition to the message about sustainability, Mooney told Yahoo she also wants to teach her students a lesson about the pressure to wear different clothes everyday.
“I like to wear clothes; I like to express myself,” she said.
“I know that we are all looking at what the other person is wearing. To wear the same thing every day is uncomfortable because we have this deeply ingrained cultural expectation to change every day. It’s weird, but because it’s weird it’s making us all think,” she added.
When asked how she kept the same dress clean, she admitted to Yahoo she is struggling, and has already got blood and food on the dress.
She says at the end of the 100 days, she will change the way she dresses forever.
“I’m probably going to cut down on my wardrobe and have less, and try to buy used clothes and try to make some things more and get creative,” she told Yahoo.
We can definitely see the appeal of a work uniform.
To stay updated with the progress follow one outfit 100 days on Instagram.