I’ve been thinking about versatility.

For the past decade, fledgling fashion designers have been the ones to think of fashion as more art than functionality. They have created – without regard for retail market needs, and the heady weight of style authorities who gate-keep acclaim. It has been joyous, and often puzzling (as our fashion commentator minds think in the binary code of usability), but it has been refreshing to be hit by the excited ramblings of unjaded creatives in fashion.

However, pragmatism for how an individual can translate fashion creations into the structure of their day-to-day lifestyle, means that the market has usually erred on the side of cautious styling – choosing to shop ‘interesting’ but also ‘functional’, in anticipation of various spaces where the rules of decorum and image presentation fluctuate from liberal and casual, to unyieldingly traditional and muted.

When I first saw the pink number by my favored local South African fashion house ERRE, I immediately saw its range as a piece that wouldn’t just wear me, but that I could use as a tool to enhance the truth of me.

It’s poetic to think of a piece of clothing with profound prose, but in a year+, where pandemic restrictions protected millions of people, the conditions also limited the social spaces many thrived in – where we were often using fashion as a vehicle for:

• networking
• romantically connecting
• arresting interest
• coercing compliance, and so much more.

My sleeveless, one-arm pink ERRE dress, made in drapable Bon Bon fabric – beyond the bounds of my four walls and a pandemic – could have been boundless; affording me a bounty of opportunity and moments of fashionable positivity, or it could have been nothing but stylish garb to relax in, or enjoy comfort within while doing errands…boundless and versatile!

Versatility

it’s something to be coveted when ones wardrobe priorities have enormous range.

For now, I stick to the bounds of my province – exploring, relaxing, and reveling in a bit of everything, while dragging my travel essentials around – now, including this gorgeous and vibrant creation.

I believe this ERRE dress might be the number to stand right by your little black scrap – you know what I’m talking about; that dependable black item that’s trusted for the formal and informal – a blazer, a shirt, or yes, a little black dress too.

How would this pink number fit into your life?