Do you have an "In case of emergency break glass" outfit?

9 Substackers we <3 - and other creators, too! - share theirs.

Once upon a time, circa 1989, I remember making these “in case of emergency break glass” kits for friends in college. They contained, I think, an airplane bottle of Absolut, a pack of Parliaments, gum, and my new college phone number on a scrap of paper. Ahh, the simple days.

I haven’t thought of the concept at all until my friend

Christian Botefuhr

(I know, I mention her a lot, what can I say, she says good stuff) said something about her “in case of emergency break glass” outfit formula. Jeans, tank, some sort of dramatic jacket.

This idea had been bubbling in my head a bit already. The weekend before, on a Saturday where I’d planned to mostly marinate at home, my hub had proposed, as I just set my French press to brew, “let’s go try this Puerto Rican diner place I heard about from the dry cleaner.”

I want to be the person who says yes! I don’t want to get rigid! If you take one thing away from this — it’s this idea. The clothes are the avenue to the yes. Especially if mofongo’s involved (the crunchy bits!)

I want to be the person who says yes! I don’t want to get rigid! If you take one thing away from this — it’s this: The clothes are the avenue to yes.

I knew I’d have to move fast; the more distance we put between me and coffee the more danger all of us are in. I really don’t like a throw away outfit. I like that feeling of comfy and my skin but also more. What I call Lofted Settledness. The 5 days of my planned looks were over, but there was no time to putter around. Instinctively I pulled out denim denim and more denim. And we left. I realized this for me is an “in case of emergency break glass” formula. (Which genius

Kelly Williams

wisely abbrev’d to ICE).

I wondered: Do we all have one of these stored somewhere in our brains, whether we realize it or not? I suspected we do, I was dying to know what they were, and I got some amazingly stylish friends to spill theirs.