Ulaanbaatar

When is a dress more than just a dress?
When it takes a day browsing Moron’s black market to select 2 beautiful and complementary fabrics. When you travel with this fabric to the next city in search of a tailor to transform it into a traditional del with a modern twist. When you spend an evening at the tailors flicking through photographs, mixing and matching elements, discussing without a common spoken language in what direction you would like the design to go. When you return a week later for 2 afternoons of fittings, finishing, and last minute adjustments.

As modern wardrobes overflow with ready-made clothing, has it become too easy to own clothes? Cheap easily accesible clothing is what drives the underpaid child labour industry. Maybe we need to start investing more effort and thought into clothing purchases. It may be time for more dresses to be more than just a dress.