From Dressed to Impress to Dressed to Distress

A couple of years ago, I was invited to a get-together/reunion party of my secondary school, meaning I'll get to meet old friends, and such would be an avenue to not only chat but also at least present yourself in a good light, because everyone tends to want to dress to impress during such events, so you won't be perceived to not be doing well. For that very occasion, I had chosen my favorite shirt and trousers as what I'll be wearing to the wee event, and I'm certain it'll make me fit in well until things went south on my way to the event center.

It's not like it's a must to dress to kill, but I'm sure we all understand the Nigeria vibe and how everyone wants to seem important and like they've made it amongst their old friends even if they're struggling, so obviously there's no big deal in being yourself, since being open can give room for others to help you. Well, all my excitement before the party disappeared on my way to the location when I was boarding a motorcycle, popularly known as an okada. While the bike was moving, it fell into a pothole, and that led to my trousers tearing around my crotch, meaning my boxers were exposed. It was painful because I couldn't go back home to change, and neither was there a tailor shop around to quickly amend it.

On getting to the event center and vibing with everyone, I had to compose myself so I wouldn't get too comfortable to the point of spreading my legs to expose the lost part of the trousers, and I was doing that so well until I got so engrossed in a conversation with some of my old pals that I didn't realize when I sat with my legs apart, revealing the lost trouble that exposes my boxers outside. Unknown to me, others had noticed this and brought out their phones to record it before they called my attention to it, so I, thinking I had quickly sat upright, didn't realize a video had been recorded.

It was later when we concluded the party and got home, and while reminiscing about the whole event, someone sent a video into our WhatsApp group platform, and that led to everyone making fun of me. It was so embarrassing, because nothing I said made sense to others, and it was just an avenue to laugh further. Even I couldn't help but laugh at the situation, but then I was thankful that at least my boxers were in good shape and neat, so that wouldn't have been another avenue to laugh about.

Throughout that year, my video was the talk of the chat conversation, even till the following year reunion, it was still discussed, but then I had to beg them to delete all the copies to avoid such video from going public beyond our circle.

That experience taught me to make sure I find alternatives on how to fit torn clothes, rather than managing it at an event, to avoid unnecessary embarrassment.

All photos are taken and edited on canva.