Good Intentions

[ladysprite]

Someone needs to place a DNR on seventies fashions. They were a bad idea in the seventies, they were a bad idea the first time they were resuscitated somewhere around the mid-nineties, and they're a really bad idea now. If fashion movers and shakers are bound and determined to drag things back from the grave, the least they could do is hunt around for something that hasn't already been redone to death.

Either this summer is unnaturally hot, or I'm slowly replacing modesty with laziness. After fifteen years of boycotting anything shorter than ankle length skirts, I have finally given up and decided that comfort is more important than shielding the world from the blinding wubbly whiteness that is my legs. (my, that just sounds horribly grammatically incorrect.)

Of course, as soon as I decided to do this I realized that my knee-revealing wardrobe was limited to a rather ratty pair of cutoffs, some still-too-short-for-comfort khaki shorts, and two forlorn-looking hand-me-down minidresses that should have been retired with honors a few generations ago. So I decided to take the afternoon and go clothes-shopping, forgetting that doing so is almost always a painful and frustrating event.

I'm gradually weaning myself into summer clothes. I thought that being daring meant hemlines above the knee. Apparently, in between the ponchos and flared hiphugger jeans, the only skirts available tend towards hemlines that are arguably above the pantyline.

I meant to buy new clothes, honest and for true. I even meant to buy nice, I-respect-and-accept-my-budy clothes that fit. Instead I came home with a cookbook of tomato recipes and a teddy bear.

Oh, well.

Comments

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

I don't have the legs to get away with miniskirts any more, either. Try Land's End, where you'll find lots of knee-length and mid-calf hemlines. And once you figure out what size you wear, you will wear that size in anything you want to order; their Q/C is remarkably consistent.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

My sympathies... I hate shopping, too. And I also can't understand why people keep reviving something that really should have stayed dead.

Getting into current fashion

[melissaagray.livejournal.com]

If you want to find conservative summer close, L.L. Bean is a great suggestion, as it Lord & Taylor and some of Old Navy. My suggestion goes in the opposite direction though, which is how to get over wearing revealing modern fashion. As a kid I used to be very uncomfortable with my body and how I looked in clothes, but over the years (particularly this year) I've learned to really like fashion and the revealing clothes it involves. This is not because my figure has improved, heck it's gotten worse, and I am the LAST person these designers thought of when they designed their short skirts and strappy tank tops. The key is NOT to compare yourself to how the models look in these outfit, or even how the pretty girls in the mall look in them, but how the rest of the world looks in them. As you walk around for the next few days, try to notice how everyone looks in their clothes. You're eyes are always drawn to the attractive people, so this takes some concentration. Notice the flat girls looking frumpy and the big girls painted badly into their clothes. Notice every moment of pastiness, bad hair, Michillan Man back rolls, poor muscle definition...all of it. Then try on those too short khaki shorts....you'll see that you look just fine comparison to everyone else. That's how I started. Then you'll start to like how you look in them, modern standards on body type be dammed. And for the record, you're not pasty, your alabaster and for hundreds of years (1500-1900) millions of women dreamed of looking just like you. Skin cancer is not sexy, wearing your clothes with confidence is!

[bess.livejournal.com]

Wanna go pick out some pretty fabric and make a few simple things? I'd be happy to help you do it. A gathered skirt is just about the simplest thing to make, and won't take long at all. We could probably do 2 or 3 in an afternoon.

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

Wow! Sure, that sounds like a lot of fun, if you wouldn't mind.... not to mention we don't get to spend enough time together.

This next week is kind of busy for me, but after that I should have plenty of free time...

[bess.livejournal.com]

Of course I wouldn't mind -- If it was something I would mind, I wouldn't have suggested it :-) And you're right -- we don't get together enough.

Will you be at dance on Wednesday? We can figure out the specifics then.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Some of the 2nd-hand clothes places -- around here our favourite is Value Village, but it's probably called somethinng else in Boston, if it exists (heck, around here its "Village de Valeur" just accross the river) are a good possibility. Generally they aren't selling "the latest trend", but have clothes from the last 20 years, of many different time periods, and the prices are just so much better.

[madamruppy.livejournal.com]

Evertime I see one of those ugly ugly ugly crochet poncho's I want to gag. They are everywhere and they are just as bad as they were 30 years ago. Thank goodness gaucho's haven't come back yet. (crossing my fingers on that one).