When did we decide to fuse the worst of the 80s, 90s and some mid-century interpretation of the future and call it good? When did shoes that look like they were created by performance artists on meth binges become haute couture? From high end to low end, there's very little I'm digging.
My mother-in-law once said that if you wore it the first time, you shouldn't wear it again. I grew up in the 80s and 90s, so that means I can't get on the flannel or leggings bandwagon. And skinny jeans? In a moment of sheer madness I bought a pair at my local Value Village with the intention of tucking them into boots. Somehow I forgot that only 14-year-olds and anorexics can pull off that look. Let's just say I looked not unlike a T-Rex shoved into riding boots.
Tunic tops make everyone look pregnant, and I'm frankly done with that. I didn't even wear them when I was pregnant, because they made me look fatter, so I'm not about to start now. At least I can get behind the long t-shirt look that's so big now. Modesty and the loss of my flat stomach have steered me toward this style--I think my butt crack flashing days might be behind me now.
It's hard to wake up and realize you're so far behind on the trends that it isn't even worth catching up. It's the clothing equivalent of sticking with all the music from your college days because you don't have the energy to find what's cool now. I used to scoff at people like that. I chided my mom for her wardrobe--"1982 called and they want that blazer back, Mom."--and mocked my brother's in law for their music taste--"Bands have come out after Pearl Jam, guys."--but I'm starting to see how easy it would be to go there.
Stores like Ann Taylor are starting to look really good to me, and I have officially left my Forever 21 days behind me unless they change their name to Forever 31. I'm just too old--too mommish to buy Smurf-print thongs and skull print hoodies. I don't want to be one of those women in their forties who still wear cat-ear hats and think they're being cute. But I also don't want to start wearing mom jeans to hold in my pooch. There has to be a happy medium. Maybe that's what being in your 30s is all about.
3 comments:
gah, yes! i spend all day with teenagers and i have completely lost all sense of what is and is not ok to wear.
i wear jeans and tshirts everyday and i feel like i am dressed like an old person at school and too young among the other parents at the preschool pickup. i have been won over by the skinny jeans if only because they don't wick up water when i walk around on rainy days and as a short person whose calves have always been soaked, this makes it all worth it.
Dude, your description of those shoes is apt.
I never feel like i should make any kind of comment about fashion--but I do agree that you can't 'wear it again'. That said, if you ALWAYS wear it, then..it's okay. Like I'll always wear thermal long sleeve shirts, flannel, and fleece. Because they make sense to me in what I do. Oh and wool socks. Of course I don't think 'wool socks' were ever a fashion trend.
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