Closet Changes
To really understand my story, one must know that I was an 80’s child, through and through. I had the Rainbow-Brite hairties and the Cabbage Patch kids covering my bed and the Care Bears videos committed to memory. I wore my hair in side ponytails, tied my overly long shirts up with scrunchies and I indeed had a pair of bright pink legwarmers, which I wore over my pastel pink cowgirl boots and I was convinced I looked mighty fine.
I was also four.
Times changed, and thankfully, so did I, just in the wrong way. I decided in 6th grade that there was no one I would rather be than Yoko Ono. Yes, you read right, Yoko Ono. I grew my hair out, and let me tell you, it was LONG. And there’s this thing about long hair, especially thick, long hair, like the mass I was growing, it’s just a tad heavy. It got to about my rear end, and it was taking me all day to dry my hair. I’d get up at 5:30 in the morning, shower, and by the time I came home from school, it was still slightly damp in places. However, I didn’t try to copy Yoko’s dress style, I didn’t like wearing white. So I survived with a myriad of John Lennon tee shirts and several pairs of denim shorts. Oh, and don’t forget my trusty tennis shoes.
Somewhere going into 8th grade I had a realization that I was all wrong in choosing my Beatle wife idol. I was not meant to be Yoko, I was a Linda, through and through. I kept my long hair, seeing as the song “Long Haired Lady” seems to be about Linda, kept the John Lennon tee’s, the denim shorts, but moved on to the wonderful world of Teva sandals.
Did I mention that I am one of extremes? Well, I am. I live in Colorado, so it can be 99 degrees outside one minute and –30 the next. OK, so I’m exaggerating, but not a whole lot. I don’t switch back and forth between pants and shorts, like some normal people do, I choose one, and wear them forever. So after wearing shorts (unless it was snowing, and even then sometimes) for practically two years running, I decided it was time for a switch – to pants. And switch I did, I wore nothing but black polar fleece pants, Fresh Produce sweatshirts (for those uneducated, they are a local company in Boulder) and Haflinger clogs until the very last day of school, on which I wore denim shorts, blue sandals and a Fresh Produce tee-shirt.
Then, I moved from Fresh Produce and polar fleece to Fresh Produce dresses – I had 5 of them, the exact same style, just different colors, I paired these with, you guessed it, Tevas (or in cold situations, under the misguided approach that it “worked”, polar fleece pants, clogs, AND the Fresh Produce dress). I cut my hair, to be the same length as Linda McCartney in 1969 and started to part it on the appropriate side and threw in a clippie for good measure. I was so set on being like her that I even made myself a ring in jewelry that fit on my middle finger, not my ring finger, because everyone knows that Linda’s ring didn’t fit right. Then I added two pairs of black Nike shorts to my closet, which I wore everyday, with a Fresh Produce tee shirt and Tevas with my hair parted on the “wrong” side according to my mom. This takes us to the end of my 9th grade year and the beginning of my trip into fashion. Just for a refresher, let’s go over what was in my closet…
- 1 pair of Tevas
- 1 pair of Haflinger clogs
- 8-9 Fresh Produce tee shirts
- 3-4 Fresh Produce sweat shirts
- 4 Beatles shirts
- 5 Fresh Produce dresses
- 2 pairs of black Nike shorts
- 2 pairs of black polar fleece pants (both of which were creeping up to be highwaters)
As a 10th grader, I decided to move schools to St. Mary’s Academy, which indeed had a dress code which announces that “skin is sin” and we should have “sleeveage, not cleavage” and that students are not allowed to wear shorts except on Fridays in the months of August, September, and May. Whoops, there went MY wardrobe - the FP dresses all have scoop necks (which are not compliant with the crew neck requirement of SMA) and the rest of it was shorts. So, I decided that in order not to get kicked out on my first day for dress code violation, I had better get some skirts. (My two years in polar fleece pants spoiled me, and I hate jeans now.) Not just ANY skirts, mind you, the lovely, black, uniform skirts that Land’s End sells, and all girls at SMA would wear if we had uniforms. Flattering, huh?
But there was still hope, October came and Limited Too had a peasant top with a very modest amount of extra sleeve material, just enough to be called Rhiannon wings in my little mind and the shoe store had a sale on summer shoes, where I got my first pair of platforms. If you want to know the date, it was October 15th 2002, so when I’m all rich and famous, you can be like “I know when she got her first platforms!” Anyway, this was the FIRST pair of shoes that I had that wasn’t Tevas or clogs for several years. So, with my “Rhiannon” top and my modest three-inch platforms, I was set to start a fashion revolution… or at least update my closet.
Over the next few months, I slowly added things to my wardrobe, a pair of shoes here, a gypsy top or shawl there, and all of the sudden, I was hit by lightning and the clouds opened up and God said to me, “You shall go to Gypsy Treasures and find what you are looking for.” Oops, you caught me, that didn’t happen, but I did discover a consignment store, with a full ROOM of long flowing skirts, in all shades of the rainbow. I immediately moved to these and paired them with sweaters, chiffony tops and other random items, most of which I borrowed from my mother’s closet or other odd places.
Around this time, I decided my hair needed a facelift too. So I got layers, seeing as I had been told to get layers for about a bazillion years by a very close friend who’s opinion I trust. Problem – layers mean you need to CURL them, every morning. I don’t have that kind of time… well I do, or I wouldn’t be writing this… but my time is better spent on other things. So I decided, since I got layers like Stevie, I might as well get a perm like Stevie too. See, that was easy enough.
So, long story short, my closet has more variety, more spice, and more jazz… I have several pairs of shoes (not 27 pairs of platform boots, because I don’t use leather products, but close) and I have many skirts (but no pants) in different colors and oodles of flowy tops and shirts and scarves and shawls and not to mention hairstyles. I went from walking and talking advertisement for Fresh Produce, to a Stevie inspired (I don’t do black) bella donna with the fashion sense to prove it… look out New York, take care Paris, and heads up London because here I come!
|
