Clothing Makes The Man

This past weekend, I attended an official visit which, while Traditional Style, was nevertheless in Hawaiian dress.  Since it can get pretty hot in parts of California, Hawaiian dress can be very comfortable compared to layers and layers of nylon.  But an interesting comment by one of the members caught my ear.

This member, who was speaking to someone else in the dining room during refreshments, made a comment about how hard it was to figure out in the crowd who the Grand Officers were when they were not dressed all alike, which is often how we appear at events.  I do not know if she was trying to find her particular Grand Officer or looking for Grand Officers in general, but it did raise an interesting point.  What is the proper balance between wanting the Grand Officers to be readily identifiable and having them pay too much for clothes and outfits for all occasions?  Do Grand Officer name badges need to be large and obvious so that we can be found, or can smaller, less ostentatious badges do the same job?

As I am thinking about all the clothing selections and forms that I have to prepare in the next year or two, one of the items that I have to consider is how many outfits I will make my Grand Officers purchase for use during my year.  While I hope that each outfit I select can be used again in the years to come, I cannot count on that happening, particularly for the Grand Line Officers, who will be dressing to match others as they move forward.  I know that I am probably looking at a bare minimum of a formal, a travel outfit, a medieval, and a polo shirt, I could add a lot of other things too, like one or two more formals, another skirt for the ladies and slacks for the men, a Western outfit, a Hawaiian outfit, etc., etc.  Each year has a flavor, which is why my officers will probably need a medieval outfit but probably won't need a matching Western or Hawaiian, but do I go with just one formal or just two, or the traditional three or more?  There's cost, but there is also style and appearance.  As the old saying goes about clothing making a man, it seems to me that there is an expectation that clothes are one of the things that make a Grand Officer.

So when a year does not have an ocean or seaside flavor and you ask for Hawaiian, I don't think it is realistic to expect matching outfits.  On the other hand, if the themes of the year are very Western, I might think that the members do expect some sort of uniform look, even if it is just a matching top.

We are also experimenting with smaller name badges this year.  The older ones were very, very obvious and quite showy, but the darn things used to catch on EVERYTHING.  I mean, we all like being close to one another, but when every hug ends with an "Ooops" or a "Hang on a sec, I'm snagged on your dress", it is not so fun.  So it does seem like some change was in order, but I am wondering if the current iteration is a bit too small and doesn't quite say enough.  At least the ice has been broken on the idea that we don't have to use the same stuff every single year, so hopefully some experimenting in the years to come will let us reach a happy place where hugs end when they end.

Next weekend, I am going to Temecula all day.