Fashion Dictator

Yesterday when I was at Playland I spent a lot of time sitting down waiting for children to finish their rides and 2 things struck me. I am a people watcher. I love just sitting somewhere and watching people go by. When I was growing up only the poorest of the poor wore flip flops. Only they were called thongs back then. We had them for the summer but I hated wearing them because then everyone would know we were poor. Like they didn't already know this. My sister and I had good sandals but they were for church or special occasions not for wearing out every day. So I went barefoot for the most part. Now they are a part of most people's wardrobe. Probably 3/4's of the people there yesterday wore them.

Another thing I noticed were the majority of the young girls and women wore 2 t-shirts. One lacy one and then another on top. I keep getting told it isn't 2 t shirts one is a tank top. Ok that is just semantics. Just because the one you wear underneath does not have sleeves doesn't mean the rest of the shirt isn't a whole shirt. It was 28 yesterday. My shirt was sticking to my back. I couldn't even comprehend why someone would want to wear another shirt on top!

It made me think of who comes up with these rules of fashion? Who decides that this year we're going to have people do this? It is like we are all puppets and when the Puppet Master pulls on their strings we have to dance to their tune and do what they dictate to us.

It is stupid. It really really is. Do fashion designers all sit at a conference table and say hey women aren't buying enough shirts so let's make it so they now have to buy TWO every time they want one? Who decided that thongs were now going to be worn under your pants and flip flops are now meant for the world to wear? Who died and made them President of the World?

I was reading a copy of O magazine last night and there was an article in it stating that the way you wear your clothes and the way you design your house says a lot about you. It stated that for the most part women dress in the same style they decorate their home. It made me think of the clothes in my closet. I have a lot of suits. They are all classic lines. Never will go out of style. I have nothing in there that is the latest craze of the day.

My casual clothes are comfortable. I don't have anything that is a "labeled" item. Then I thought of my home. Every inch of my home has pictures of my family. I have had my living room furniture (couch and chair) for about 15 years. It has withstood 5 teenagers, dogs, cat, and now 12 grandchildren) and there isn't even a tear on it. It is very comfortable to sit on and I spend a lot of my nights sleeping on there when my pain is too great to stay in bed.

So I guess Oprah was right. What you wear does reflect on how your home is decorated. The one thing that is the most important thing in my life is my family. I grew up in a home where we could not eat in the living room. You sat in ours at home you did not live in it as the name of the room suggests you should. My home is lived in. Many times I have had adults feel bad as their child upchucked on my suit or got mud on my pants or spilled something on my furniture and I always say their is nothing that can't be washed or cleaned.

So if I had to say what style I was I would have to say you would never see me on the end of a puppet master's strings. Not that anyone else should think they are because they follow fashions and fads and that they are bad or that I am judging them in any way. I would love to live in a home that looked like it belonged in a decorating magazine. But then I would have to turn into my mother and not let anyone "live" when they came into my living room. I would love to wear clothes that looked like they came off a Paris runway. But then I could not ever hold little children anymore because heaven forbid should their runny nose get on my shoulder of my pricey shirt.

I guess I will stick with my comfort laid back style if there is even a style called that. Maybe in my next life I can get excited about wearing the next latest fashion of jeans that show your underwear cause they are so low, shirts that show my belly button cause they are so short, shirts that show my bra straps cause the two don't match, everything that comes with a label, and shoes that cost as much as a week's worth of groceries.

But in the meantime I am going to sit on the living room floor and have macaroni and cheese with my grandchildren.