What I Wore

My dear friend Laura Benedict of Handbasket fame (see my sidebar -- live links still confuse me -- yes, I am not the brightest bulb in the tanning booth) has a new blog: Wardrobe by Sam: Can a Self-Confessed Clothing Snob Find a Year's Worth of Fashion Happiness at the World's Biggest Discount Store? Please check it out! It's very smart and funny and it has me thinking about clothes and women (some of my observations could be true for men, but the men I know don't care near as much about clothes or assign the meanings to them that women do). So here it goes.

My dissertation director, a wise woman named Barb, once said that she spent her thirties looking for the perfect dress. If she could find it, the one she could wear anywhere, that would make her look put together and confident, she would have it made. This search turned into the perfect bag in her forties -- one that could organize her life, a bag that would allow her to find everything, not too heavy, not too light. I so got her point. I always thought that clothes could transform me. If I found the right shorts, the right shirt, the right dress, I wouldn't be me. I'd be me, but much much cooler. I'd be effortless. God, if there's anything effortless about me, I'd love to find it! My clothes search started in the truly ugly waters of the eighties -- if you want to wear shoulderpads that look like overnight Kotex pads, that's your decade. But oh my, did I love the sea foam green sweaters, the striped faux polos, well, you get the idea. I did get it right one night at a friend's band performance. The band had fashioned itself after Slayer and my wardrobe was Runaways-inspired. Nobody recognized me. The next day someone said, I didn't know it was you. You looked really good.

It wasn't the perfect dress or bag, but I had done something significant. People were confused -- did I wear a leather mini-skirt or jeans? I wasn't telling. I'd changed my aura with a few strokes of Wet and Wild eyeliner and a boatload of Aqua Net. But I'd owned it, a look for the first time. Even if it wasn't me, it was somebody a little more interesting, a little edgier than the me that wore the oversized Ziggy t-shirt with him bemoaning his fate. That was something to which I could relate, but not something I needed to advertise.

Michelle's Spell of the Day
"Play the game for more than you can afford to lose... only then will you learn the game." Winston Churchill

Cocktail Hour
Halloween drinks and costumes to come . . .

Benedictions and Maledictions
Happy Wednesday!