4 April 2010

Journal Doodle

colored pencil on graph paper 

Because it is suddenly spring, I am cleaning the house, or at least trying to.  It seems like a funny thing to do in the midst of the pine dusting that accompanies the blossoming of daffodils, but it is essential!  Sudden sunny days make the windows look especially dreary and in need of Windex. And the closets are stuffed with sweaters and long-sleeved tee shirts...I missed the memo about the heat today - all the way up to 86 degrees!  So my all black outfit, pants and turtleneck made me feel ridiculous on the drive home.  Windows down, sun on my skin, oh how I love this time of year.  But tomorrow will be much the same if I don't do something about these closets!

It is time for light colors and haircuts and "happy clothes."  Enough of the black on black with a jewel tone scarf! Time for patterns and prints, for linens instead of wools.  But none of that is possible if I don't clear and clean out my closet! So here are my closet insights for Spring 2011:


1. Black is not the only serious color!  
I have this funny feeling that informs a lot of my wardrobe: if I wear serious clothes, people will take me seriously.  More and more I know this is delusional or at least dubious - mostly because I am a serious person and everyone knows it.  But old habits, and especially old mental habits, die hard. It will take an act of extraordinary will to shed some of the black for more color.

Note to self:  Black in North Carolina in the summer months is not a wise choice...it communicates a lack of awareness of the world around you. In other words, I may hope to be taken seriously, but I do not want to look seriously hot!


2. Happy clothes are best purchased when you are happy!
I tend to shop in a kind of quiet desperation - some event to attend, some last minute need, always bargain hunting.  This is not how you build a wardrobe!  It is how you jam your closet full of impulse purchases!  I think happy shopping could change my life. No emergency, no sad mood I am trying to fend off.  Just joy shopping.  Life is good...clothes should reflect that.

Another note to self:  This all sounds so good in theory, but in practice it is more difficult.  Most of my happy time is spent in what I lovingly call "yoga wear" (also mostly black), super-soft and baggy with bare feet and no interest whatsoever in going clothes shopping!  


3. Pay attention to the young and learn from the old! 
I watch with some interest what my younger colleagues wear - how easily their clothes fit, how light and comfortable they appear.  But, this is balanced by watching those marvelous older women with their serious jewelry and so little makeup.  Being as I am - so fully ensconced in midlife - I hope to take something from both of them: ease and style; comfort and panache.  

And yes, yet another note to self:  This is precisely the issue!  Style is such a marvelous thing...but not if it is singular and written in concrete!  I find as a face down my closet that I see so many "selves" in there.  The serious minded young writer, the ambitious artist, the administrator, and the Oma (Grandbabies do give you a completely new identity!).  The funny part about midlife is that you are all these things at once and need a wardrobe that supports a profound "mutliple personality disorder"!   

4. Less is more - but only if the less is better!
I suspect this is a fundamental truth and one that I should take to my closet and to my beloved Ross. Yes, I admit that most of what I wear comes from one of three places:  "hand me overs" from Kirsten's sister - she has a natural eye for happy clothes and loves to shop!; the GoodWill - I just love the feeling that I am benefiting from the closets of the wealthy; and, my beloved Ross!  This chain of stores (do they have these in Michigan?) has supported my need for the perfect suit, sweaters, etc...all at discount prices for years.  But sometimes, I think it would be smart to set a budget and actually buy "better" clothes!  You know, the ones with the french seams and the perfect topstitching....

Final note to self:  Its spring - and what I really want to do is hang out in my "yoga wear" and watch the sky....doodle in my sketchbook...imagine a complete and perfect wardrobe from my perch on the porch swing...

This is no way to clean a closet!  
Love you,
Amanda  

PS  Check out deadfleurette. A fashion blog written by a 20 year old in Oslo Norway!  Hop around her site.  She is amazing...and writes like a dream.  Plus, if you join me in this folly, we can skew her reader statistics in our favor...very few over the age of 50 are reading this wise young woman.