Due to fatigue, you could not stand the effect your high-heeled shoes have put on your toes.

Many a times, we have attended events that are marked as ‘high profile’. Such are moments when one watches each of their steps lest they mess up their perfected look before a congregation of ‘Ladies and Gentlemen…’ as they are referred to by every speaker.

These are events that would force you to dig deeper in your pocket to get the best shirt or blouse in town, talk to your hairdresser more courteously to ensure your hair is done better and probably stay a little longer before your mirror than usual just to reach the perfection notch.

Once you are done, you walk with all care so that your look is maintained all the way. However, sometimes things happen and you realize your effort was not only fruitless but also added-up to taint your image.

As you struggled to choose between which earrings best match your blouse, you ended up wearing unlike earrings. Sad though, you discover this on a picture in the following day’s newspaper. Or, when you took all the time to polish your shoes for that unbeatable shine, you showed up at the event with one of the socks worn inside out. Of course this was noticed as you took the stairs to the podium.

Remember the ‘invitations only’ dinner you attended with your bra hanging out and the only evidence was the caption relayed via projector to the big screen? Yes, you may have taken all the caution to be perfect, but could be when you visited the washrooms you forgot to check on something. And that is just what landed you on the wrong side of the fashion law.

We would have wished that nature takes a break during such events so that fashion games can have a level playing field. But the bully that nature is would hear none of such; it always takes its course no matter what. From the ever-constant gravity to the unpredictable weather patterns, from the unwelcome nature calls to the unrelenting fatigues, they all will show up at nobody’s invitation. And whenever they do, they come with taints to our images whose magnitude cannot be expressed in mere words.

Due to fatigue, you could not stand the effect your high-heeled shoes have put on your toes, the least you could do is flinch as this gentleman took your hand to the dance floor. Of course you wouldn’t turn down an offer to dance with the most sought for Chief Executive in town, but to him, the flinch could have meant something else.

When seated, some type of men’s belt buckles may get loose so that as they stand to go make a speech, the law of gravity takes its course and the trouser begins a journey nobody wishes it should take. The scenario turns even tragic when the man notices the mishap when he is too close to podium; he excuses himself to speak later, escapes the embarrassment but faces the full wrath when he comes back to seat.

While the incidences cited above may seem far-fetched to some of us, they have actually happened and cost people their reputation and earned them tags like, ‘the CEO who could not buckle up his belt’ or ‘the MD without eyes to pair her earrings’.

In the quest for perfection, many have ruined their reputation through image goofs that could have been otherwise avoided if simplicity ruled the game. Fashion is an art, unlike scientific applications where a simple mistake could slightly alter results; a mistake in fashion may be fatal. When preparing for high profile events, simplicity should rule all the choices, going the extra mile sometimes only serves to increase how far we fall.

If it is a high profile invitation, play it simple and ordinary. Adorning items you are not used to may land you in the deepest of ditches – haven’t the wise said, “the higher you go, the further you fall?”