Shoes are funny. I had a student once who was greatly bothered if she ever saw a single shoe in the middle of the road. It spelled disaster for her. Whoever went anywhere with one shoe, she said. One sock maybe, one glove, one earring, but never one shoe. I came to see her point. Now one lone shoe in the middle of the road disturbs me. Especially if it is a small shoe. I also find those images from the Holocaust Museums--of stacks and stacks of worn shoes--horrifying. Those shoes still bear the impression of their owners' feet. When I lined up my shoes on the bed to take their pictures, I thought about that. A sad business anyway you look at it. Shoes have a personality of their own when there are no feet in them. More so than other articles of clothing, I think.
In March the mood came upon me to find clothes that matched and start dressing better. The catalyst for this move was a comment made to me by one of my students. He casually said that I didn't seem to fit in over at the main building. I asked why that was--certain that it must be some complimentary reason since everyone over there seems so grumpy and burdened while those of us in the small building are much happier and upbeat. But my darling student said, "Everybody over there dresses much better." I deserved that. That's what you get when you set yourself up for a compliment--a reality check. It's true, though. Mostly I am a slob and happy to admit it. Not because I can't do matchy-match, but the effort involved in doing so seems out of proportion to the reward if you ask me.
However, in true impulsive form, I decided I should make an effort. My plan was to get 5 pair of pants, 5 shirts and mix them up so I'd have 25 outfits and I'd be set. Unfortunately, I started getting into the matchy match thing. I bought 5 pair of pants at Marshal's in grey, black, brown, dark blue, and blue jeans. They were petite and I didn't have to hem! That opened a whole new world for me. So over the course of the next two weeks, I bought some scarves, shirts, socks, sweaters, jackets and just went crazy. I probably spent about $500. That includes the great deals I got at consignment shops and Good Will.
And of course I had to buy some necklaces. When I couldn't find the color combinations I wanted, I bought the beads and strung them myself. So I made necklaces in pink and brown beads, brown and green beads, blue and brown, pink and purple, pink and gray. Then I decided I needed to knit some scarves. So I knitted two with some yarn I had, one is very, very long and thin. The other is thicker and more of a winter scarf.
I laid out all my necklaces, both new and old, and charm bracelets and took pictures so I could keep track of what I had. I thought my pierced ears had grown over, but with a little poking and cursing, I got my earrings in.
The whole scarf thing was pretty fun, too. I got a very nice silk one off of Ebay. One from Marshal's. Another from Target. I can see where some women are addicted to clothes shopping. I got focused on finding a blue leather purse and spent at least 2 hours looking online for one.
My closet is stuffed and I've got more than enough to keep me looking stylish for the next few years. My students have been full of positive comments. Normally they are threatening to call what not to wear, but now they just say how nice I look and ask if it will last. Probably not.
1 comment:
I want some of that jewelry!
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