Holiday Stylemaker

My recent post on life as a senior Stylemaker, all while wearing white sneakers, has caused some soul-searching and the need for a little more honesty. 

Despite my preference for comfort, I usually do not attend holiday parties wearing a sweatsuit and white sneakers. In fact, nearly a month ago I went to the mall specifically to buy a couple of holiday outfits that would be appropriate for the tsunami of holiday parties and events headed our way.

I returned home with a pair of sleek, ankle-length black pants and two party tops. All went quietly into my closet to await the December festivities.

The day of the first event I pulled the tops from my closet. The first was a black, long-sleeved sweater embellished with pearl-wannabe’s. Very pretty. But the temperature outside was an unseasonal 70-plus degrees. After two minutes of wearing that top it went back into the closet to await winter weather. Has climate change really come to this: a person in a Midwestern state can't wear a sweater in mid-December?

I pulled the other top out. It was black velour. It looked just as warm as the sweater but thankfully didn’t cause profuse sweating when I pulled it over my head. I was thinking—great choice. Looks seasonal but feels fine.

But this top had other exciting features too. I must have read somewhere that fringe was in style. And asymmetric hemlines. As the second-choice top had both: an asymmetrical hemline and longish fringe. I thought I made a very fashion-forward statement with the fringed top and slim slacks. I even wore black flats to complete my “Black is the new black holiday look.”

Then I tried to use the restroom at holiday event one. Think disaster: fringe in the toilet, fringe stuck in my pants zipper. This tunic should have had a warning label that at least included diet restrictions. I decided I could not consume any drinks, festive or otherwise, since using the restroom in this outfit was just out of the question. Despite the heat I wore top number one to my next event.

Given the unseasonably warm temperatures and also the unintended encounters with toilet bowls, laundering of both tops proved a must. My new holiday tops had detailed instructions for laundering. Both suggested hand washing the garments, placing them flat to dry and then taking great care to iron all wrinkles.

I generally translate “hand-washing” into put in a delicates-washing-bag and toss in in the washer and hang dry. I’m happy to say both tops survived their laundry ordeal. And the fringed top looked particularly good once it dried, needing no ironing of any kind.

Now if there is any woman with experience wearing an asymmetrical tunic with long fringe who would care to share how to keep the fringe out of the toilet and the side zipper of pants, I may actually have something festive I can wear to the remaining holiday parties. Otherwise, it may be back to sweats and sneakers.

  

Home Work Casual, Seasonal Style

First day of autumn came and went with warm temperatures still dogging our footsteps. So today, now that October’s cooler temperatures surprised me, I pulled out a new pair of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. It happened to be a very old button-down from previous work days. But nothing special.  Blue checks on a white background. I turned up the cuffs so I wouldn’t have to bother unbuttoning and then buttoning them again when I changed at the gym later.

So how surprised was I when several people asked where I was going today, what was the occasion, and why was I dressed up? And one of them was my husband. Keep in mind, my hair still had not had any more attention than a three-second brush-through, make-up and jewelry were non-existent, and I was wearing jeans for heaven’s sake.

It’s a good thing the weather is getting cooler. I can go to jeans or snug but comfy yoga pants, pull on a nice, longish jacket and people will think I actually have someplace important I have to go to during the day. Like a real job, not writing at home in cutoffs and a tee. I guess my summer casual had gotten pretty casual. Here’s to autumn casual.

Wrong Color to See Blue Man Group

The Perfect Pair

Dorothy’s Idea of the Day:

I have a tip on what is sure to be the latest fashion trend: mismatched earrings.  They will be selling mismatched “pairs” in all the stores just as soon as the Christmas shopping season is into full swing. 

But, you can beat the rush by “pairing up” your own earrings. A long dangly one with a faux diamond stud; a bright and brassy earring with a genuine stone in a contrasting setting. The combinations are endless. 


And you don’t really have to buy new pairs. In fact, you can make your own pairs by breaking up the pairs you already own, or you can “match” the odd onesies you, like everyone else, have stashed here and there. You could start your holiday shopping early by “pairing" up some of those odd ones into clever combinations and assemble your own holiday presents.  


Another perfect opportunity this fashion trend delivers is for the ambivalent but fashion-conscious sports fan. You are rooting for one team, your spouse, best friend, or significant other is rooting for the opposition. Don a blue UK earring in the right ear, a red U of L earring in the left. You are set to go to any and all booster or tailgating events.  Just remember which side to turn to whom. Turn the other cheek and you will always be a winner.

Happy Feet

Skele-Toes or Stilettos?

I’ve had a strange day.  I suppose it actually started to be strange the night before.  Excited to hear from a friend and fellow reader that Scott Turow recently had released a new novel, I downloaded to my Kindle a sample of “Innocent”, the sequel to “Presumed Innocent”, a Turow thriller made into the memorable movie with Harrison Ford and Bonnie Bedalia. 

Actually, Turow’s “new” book is not so new after all.  I not only had bought it in hardback and read it, but that had occurred so long ago I had forgotten the title.  At least I didn’t buy the book twice.  One good thing about Kindle—the opportunity to try a sample before buying.  And if I already had bought the book on Kindle and archived it, some magic memory in the device or elsewhere, tells me I already have bought it.  So I guess that makes two good things about Kindle.

Today I drove to the Zappos outlet store in Shepherdsville, Kentucky.  My Internet search had revealed this outlet store as a good place to buy heavily-discounted, comfortable shoes.  I should have known what to expect when the huge parking lot for this very out-of-the way outlet store was crammed packed. 

Walking into the store I was agog.  I had come looking for a pair of walking shoes for an upcoming trip.  Only to be greeted by rows and rows of greatly-discounted, supremely-unbelievable and extraordinarily-unwearable high-heeled shoes.  One prettier than the next.  

Even though I had no intention of buying or wearing something that uncomfortable, of course, I had to try on a few of the four and five inch heels .  The bad karma for my hubris was just waiting around the corner for me.  Silver, baubles, satins, suede and every type and style of heel, row after row, grouped only by size.  An occasional ugly duckling, which might be wearable, hidden in between.  Like looking for a plain needle in a pretty hay stack. 

To make the hunt more difficult, I was looking for 7 and a ½ wide.  Bone chips or a deformity, depending on which orthopedist I choose to believe, makes the ball of my right foot hard to fit into a medium width.

After an hour’s efforts and reshelving the rejects as the store’s signs requested, I had selected three pairs as possibilities: one pair, mid-heel black pumps for upcoming parties and events; one pair, Mary-Jane flats with cradle soles and comfortable inner soles; and one pair of tan moccasins, sort of dressy and more or less comfortable. 

 I kept on the moccasins, about which I was still undecided, and went off to check out the extra-marked-down racks of athletic shoes.  The sale shoes were in no particular order, even by size, so it took some hunting.  A couple might fit, so I took them back to where I had left the two pairs I had decided on, as well as the tennis shoes I had worn for this adventure.  And they were all gone.

After some searching and panic, I found a store clerk who confessed he probably had reshelved my selections in an effort to keep the store tidied.  And he also had put my used Easy Spirit walking shoes with $90 orthopedic inserts, into a box and somewhere onto the racks.  The next 45 minutes or more were lost in a blur of frantic searching to find at least my own shoes and expensive inserts.  By then the store’s moccasins were starting to hurt.  At least I had decided not to purchase those, assuming I could find my own shoes again.

All’s well that ends well.  No one had purchased my Easy Spirits so I was able to leave in my own shoes.  After another exhausting search, I found the two other pair that had fit.  They actually were size 7w, not 7and a ½ w, as I had thought.  I bought those two pairs, at the advertised 50% discount, with the clerk graciously giving me his additional “friends and family” 10% discount.  A fairly happy ending to my shoe-shopping expedition.  

On the way home, I decided to take a short detour to Shoe Carnival, another discount shoe store.  “The Carnival” appeared closed as they had no outside tables, no obnoxiously loud music blaring into the parking lot and their windows were almost dark.  On entering I discovered Shoe Carnival is still open, though all the pretty, unwearable stilettos seem to be in Shepherdsville.  I tried on a few pair of sensible shoes, keeping close track of my own shoes now that I was alerted to the possibility store personnel might decide to add them to the inventory. 

Nothing grabbed me as being particularly noteworthy, unusually comfortable or worth my spending more money on shoes.  But, as I headed out, I spotted some very unusual looking shoes: Skele-Toes.  They were totally different and as far removed as is possible from the pretty stiletto swans of Zappos: about as ugly, strange contraptions with molded rubber soles as I have ever seen; the toes separated into four neat compartments and defined by bright markings.  Though they did have all black pairs which deemphasized the strange toe pockets.

I tried on a pair of Skele-Toes, with purple highlights.  I figured if I was going to wear something this ugly I might as well own the look.  I have worn them ever since.  Their name reminds me of Skeletor, the villain who took on He-Man, when afternoon cartoons amused my sons many years ago.  Wearing the incredibly comfortable Skele-Toes I think I could take on He-Man too.  What a strange and fun day.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Not raindrops on roses or whiskers on felines. I am talking about favorite fun items you purchase and are happy to have parted with some of your hard-earned money in the bargain.  Little things.  Such as cosmetics and clothes.  And no, I am not being paid to advertise anything.  This is just my personal, “The Best” column, as seen in the Louisville Courier Journal Saturday newspapers.  Only I am not limiting it to one thing.

My favorite new cosmetic is Almay, “smart shade, anti-aging makeup”.  It has an SPF of 20, comes in several tints, such as “light/pale” (I’m afraid that is me all over, since they do not have a tint of "not quite flesh tone"), “light/medium”, “medium” and so forth.  It goes on as a white cream but then blends to your skin tone so it seems you have no makeup on, your skin just looks smoother.  Almay cosmetics are sold at drug stores and discount department stores such as Target, another of my favorites.  And Almay is much less expensive than the Clinique foundations to which I once was addicted. 

The other cosmetic product I think is sensational is First Aid Beauty “Face Cream.”  The Cream has an SPF of 30.  I don’t think you can add that to the Almay SPF of 20 for a grand total of 50 if you use both at the same time.  You only count the higher SPF and that is if you really put a lot on.  So it probably doesn’t hurt to use two products with SPF. 

The First Aid Cream claims to do the following five actions: “Prevent/ reduce wrinkles; Correct uneven skin tone; Filter UVA/UVB rays; Nourish and moisturize; and Combat free radicals.”  The "5 in 1 Face Cream” may or may not do any or all of those things. But my skin looks better when I use it everyday.  As I age I find it is better to spend more money to protect my skin from sun damage and less to cover it up.

I buy this “5 in 1 Cream” at Sephora, the store I cut through on the way to my Apple computer lessons in the mall.  And the truth is I have cut through Sephora so many times it came down to either I buy something at the store or I declare an access easement by adverse possession.  Since I did not want to litigate with Sephora I chose to poke around the store and find something to buy.  

The Sephora store employees actually are very nice, though perhaps a little too perfumed for my senses.  And they have never suggested I needed to stop cutting through on my way to my computer lessons.  I was just starting to feel a little guilty.

 

My final favorite for today is a cute, little, all-cotton blouse (brand name is “Two Star Dog”) I recently bought in one of the cute, little stores in Midway KY.  The name of the store escapes me, but there are so few stores in the main drag of Midway you can find it by browsing all of them.  If you do that, recognize you likely will leave a large chunk of cash at the cute little stores if you are not careful. 

Anyway, as to why this blouse is one of my favorites.  As always, I checked to be sure the blouse was machine washable.  Don’t you just hate the clothing labels that say something like, “hand wash, line dry, and press as needed”?  Well, of course it needs pressing if you actually hand washed and line dried it.  If you machine wash and tumble dry it and don’t mind claiming you dressed from clothes packed away in an old suitcase for the last year, you may not need to press it.  

Well this blouse said it was machine washable and dryable.  But after wearing it, I discovered, not only is it cool and cute, with smocking at the neckline and in the back at the waist, but the best thing, the label not only said “machine washable and dryable”, but also “DO NOT IRON.”  Since I always read and follow the directions, more or less, this is one set of instructions I am happy to follow.  In fact, I may need to buy another one or two blouses that command me not to iron them.

Dorothy’s Idea of the Day: Sometimes it is good to be frivolous, as I was today with my writing.  Tomorrow I promise to share some thoughts on something a little heavier, though not too heavy if you get them in paperback or electronically: a few of my favorite books.