Perfect vs Good Enough - Topic of the day 10/10/25
To paraphrase Voltaire, "Perfect is the enemy of good" - but is it? Relating to clothes, when do you deem a fit is good enough, or if a particular item is good enough (e.g. vintage item vs modern rep)? When is it worth spending the extra time, money or effort?
28 Replies
good enough is fine for me a lot because I need to make my outfits suitable for doing my job (retail sales floor that involves a lot of moving around and reaching for stuff and wearing an apron) also i need to save money
also trying to go for perfect is very bad for my mental health personally
It's entirely budget focused for me.
this phrase is reaching postironic levels of widespread adoption
muttering platitudes to my neighbors as i walk out the door in blatantly offensive excuses for clothing
Good enough was the bulking phase of filling out my wardrobe but now it’s got to be perfect or I don’t have the space for it.
Like if I don’t feel butterflies, if I haven’t spent 30 hours trawling proxies to find it. If i haven’t annoyed people in qna and I don’t hear the heartbreak in my wife’s voice when I ask her to look at two almost identical pieces for the fifteenth time that day it’s not worth it.
i try to do something similar but I can't think of it in terms of "perfect" because the way my mind works I will inevitably be disappointed once i have it. so i have to think about it in terms of "will this/does this do what I want it to, even if it isn't perfect". Especially because of budget concerns overall (as in the more perfect thing would be a very bad decision financially and the inevitable disappointment I just mentioned would be more devastating. Which has happened a few times when I spent money on something non-returnable that I miscalculated measurements on then have a hard time reselling)
(worth noting i buy secondhand mostly and also have an employee discount at Nordstrom so its easy to find things that make more financial sense even if they arent the perfect choice. also thank god for nordstrom's return policy fr, also that i dont work at full line nordstrom so i dont feel as guilty abt returning)
good enough doesnt exist
Perfect doest either
The fit just is what it is
It insists upon itself
insist upon these nuts
good enough is subjective. to me perfect suggests something almost platonic
and i suppose part of good enough being subjective is that for some people it doesnt exist
but i really do think it comes down to your mentality, world view, mental health, etc
I think when you consider something as nebulous as an outfit there are too many variables and minute things that can indicate if it is good or bad and obviously it will be subjective to every person so i think good enough and perfect or anywhere in between is essentially meaningless
this brings to mind my very poor interpretation of/extrapolation from wittgenstein that many things can be understood as mismatches in definition
Also i find the chart used as the example inherently flawed when it comes to fashion, indicating the time/effort would improve your fits when in reality its just being swaggy
time and effort can unlock swagginess if used correctly
I might just be getting baited but wtf would perfect vs good enough even mean
Did I nail the dress code perfectly?
What is the "perfect" pair of pants, shirt, coat even?
I'm reading it to mean getting something that's not quite the piece you want, that you know you're making compromises on
I think words like "scam" "better" best" etc. are a plague in social media hobby content factories and I tend to just ignore anyone that says something is simply "better" or "worse".
They're just clothes. It's not that serious imo. But I've been saying that a lot recently
just clothes, just a hobby, you set the boundaries of what's good enough or perfect for yourself
That's one interpretation, but I've also seen a shitton of custom items that people think are "perfect" but are actually terrible sooooooooo something something perspective and context
Personally im mostly into fashion/clothes to feel good about the stuff im wearing. And in my opinion perfectionism is the easiest road to unhappieness.
perfect for me can be a cheap used piece of clothes that hits exactly as I wanted
in all things at all times
Not to come at you elvander, I just had caffeine this morning so I'm wired
in all likelyhood what I would consider perfect constantly changes as my tastes change, so cultivating happieness with what I have is really important.
No worries beans just discussing. I take it as read that there has to be some nuance and acceptance of varying perceptions in any of these discussions.
or you'd spend hours just coming to a common starting point
It's also why the time and effort thing might just be important. your definition of perfect can be stupid and expensive at the start of your journey
and more geared towards what actually makes you happy later in your journey
Why the bespoke and artisinal stuff can be painfully cringe on someone who has no taste or clue how to put that shit on
and thrifted and hand crafted stuff can be masterful
succinctly put and essentially what I'm trying to say
To be a lil more earnest and personal about it.
Perfect is a concept I'm not interested in adopting, even at a personal level. The idea that I could decide what the perfect suit even is means that I have a full understanding of my taste and desires and that's just simply not true. I find clothes more interesting and fun when there's not the impossible ideal out there that I'm searching for.
It's also way more fun that the idea of what I'm into or what is "perfect" changes over time in unpredictable ways. I started biking a lot recently and that has adjusted some of the ways that I dress since I don't just get in my car to go somewhere.
I spent too long editing my thoughts and yakkeks beat me to it
I think we're all saying the same thing with different definitions of perfect. The "perfect" piece for me excites me, speaks to me, expresses some element of my personality or personal style or pushes off to explore some new niche. I accept the flawed, incomplete, evolving and even temporal nature of the process in all of that without it compromising my concept of perfection . I have a big enough wardrobe I'm not buying anything out of necessity anymore, I don't have to live with good enough. I'll wait for something that ticks all the boxes. Maybe what I'm calling perfect in that context doesn't mean perfect to anyone else, but I don't think that philosophically pure perfection really exists in any context.
yeah thats basically what i meant when i invoked wittgenstein and plato im just drawing on my pretentious background
ppl will define these things differently
I look in the mirror n I’m perfect
For the purposes of budgeting, I feel like pieces have to "perfect" as in it has all the features I want, which also includes getting my correct size. I found my problem with "good enough" is usually I'll end up replacing it anyways.
Definitely helped wonders with my budget and decreasing the amount of just "stuff" I accumulate.