Thursday, November 09, 2006

Fashion - What Am I Missing?

Okay, there are apparently a whole lot of girlie genes that I missed out on when I was being crafted. I am not big into clothes (unless you're talking costumes, or period clothing). I don't like pink (though you will see my little redheads sporting it quite a bit, since it looks completely adorable on them, and I actually wear more of it than I used to). I don't wear makeup. My favorite jewelry is not diamonds in gold or platinum from a known jeweler name - it is metal or bone or horn handcrafted by the likes of MacManus or Greene or Miller (actually Heidi Bartolemy does the carving if I'm not mistaken). I don't care that "boots are back." I hate boots, unless they're necessary for trudging through the snow, or they're my Dr. Martens.

And I HATE SHOPPING.

But today I had to go. I've been wearing the same two pairs of pants and four shirts (not all at the same time, mind you) since the beginning of August. No joke. There are two reasons for this: 1) I couldn't wear my old size after having the baby so I had to get bigger pants, and 2) I wasn't able to find my regular non-maternity clothes when I started to need them because we were packing and then actually made the move to icky house and then had to move again to this house - and in all that chaos my old clothes never made it here. They are in a pod in storage somewhere and we still don't have room in the garage to move that stuff here. BAD PLANNING. Story of my life.

As if having to go clothes shopping weren't bad enough, I had to go to a place in the depths of hell known as THE MALL.

Thankfully The Bug slept through half the trip. Sweet Pea stayed home with Auntie. All I wanted was some jeans that fit, a few new long-sleeved shirts, and some comfortable but not ugly lace-up shoes.

First, I was faced with a corner of the store full of jeans that looked as if they had been worn, rolled in the mud, driven over by a bulldozer, bleached, worn some more, and then lightly hosed off. Ugly as shit. What is supposed to be appealing about this? Is this really fashion? Or is it for bored rich people who will also buy dirt-scented soap, which I'll have you know really does exist, simply so they can find out what it smells like without going outside? I weeded through the crap and did happily manage to find two pairs of jeans that did not look completely horrid which actually fit. AND, happy note here, they are the size I used to wear pre-baby! Wahoo! No wonder the pants I've been wearing since August kept falling down...

Next I turned to the shirts. I don't know if I was in a special old-lady section or what, but a sweeping glance told me that I needn't actually browse. Again, boring, old-looking, and fabrics appeared to be largely synthetic. Yuck. The tops that did appeal to me were in the Juniors section, which left me thinking that perhaps I am one of those women who doesn't know I'm not 16 anymore. I thought it best to keep my 35-year-old, breast-feeding mama body out of there lest I become depressed.

What's left? Shoes. The shoes-only store had left me with a question mark over my head about what the current style may be, and I couldn't find anything that actually felt good on my feet. Serves me right for wearing Birkenstocks for most of the past several years. Now I'll never find anything comfortable again, those fit so well! I didn't want white-white shoes, but that's what I ended up buying because they were SO comfortable. Like walking on a cloud. Ahhh.

For good measure I threw in an empire-styled corduroy jacket, but I'm not sure I'm going to keep it. So, I won't look like a fashionista, that's for sure. But at least I have some new pants that fit and shoes that are comfortable... I just hope I don't look as old as I'm starting to think I might be.

But... can anybody shed any light on this fashion thing for me? 'Cause I REALLY don't get it. Are we supposed to be able to turn a blind eye to the fact that often what is in style is undeniably hideous? Or am I simply unable to change with the times?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not a fashion person myself... i wear the same clothes over and over again too.. and when i couldn't fit my maternity wear, I refused to buy new clothes because i was determined to lose weight and fit back into my old clothes so that i wouldn't spend extra money on new clothes.. and so i don't have to give up perfectly good condition "smaller" sizes in my closet.

Sadly, many of my old shirts are from nearly high school/college days and are too tummy revealing for my motherhood days. So I spent $8 recently on two $4 long sleeve shirts from Amazon.

Glad you had a successful trip to the mall!

Christina said...

I don't even pretend to understand fashion. And it seems that since having a child, fashion changed so that nothing fits my post-child body and I'm stuck wearing ill-fitting clothing that looks awful.

Some days I swear I could live in stretch pants and t-shirts forever.

Julie said...

Ok...from someone who absolutely hates to shop but found a place that I love because 1) they have clothes that actually fit us women who have had kids and are not a size 1 and 2) they are clothes that are simple, but still young looking, but not teenager. The downfall...there's only one store and it's in Valley Fair. Janeville! LOVE IT! The jeans stretch but look great. They don't go up to your boobs. They are AFFORDABLE, so you're not wasting money. The clothes from Janeville are actually made by Gymboree (yes the kids clothes). I just love it. They are nice and will actually help you pick out outfits that you like and suit you. They do it gladly! Did I mention that I love them and I hate, hate, hate to shop!

Violet the Verbose said...

Julie, thank you!!! I forgot I had actually heard of that place, but it was like a year ago so why would I remember... anyway, I'm going to have to check it out. Very cool! I remember the other friend who gushed to me about it said that all their stuff is mix and match, which she likes because she can't make a coordinating outfit to save her life. Sounds like me! ha ha!