I'm hoping that by the end of this post I won't be left standing alone (to be more accurate; sitting while typing) by my ill fitting, mismatched clothed self. I need to know that other people do the same thing....compromise fit for time or savings. Who's with me?
I wear one pair of jeans. Read that again. One pair. And I love them. Now, don't get me wrong...I OWN probably 20 pair in a variety of sizes ranging from "Are you serious?" to "Remember when?" But that one pair is the only denim in the rotation right now. If I'm in a pinch and the beloved are in the wash, I'll wear a pair of ill fitting jeans. Always the next size up, never down. I learned a long time ago that squeezing, shoving and stuffing into a smaller size doesn't make you look slimmer....in fact, an image of bulldogs wrestling in a pillow case comes to mind. Why don't I just get another pair of jeans that actually fit? That makes perfect sense! Eh...that would take time and money...plus, I have other jeans. Yeah, but they don't fit!!! But look at the stack of jeans you have...there are people with NO jeans in this world! But they don't fit!!! See why it's hard to be in my head?
This same principle applies to shorts, too. One pair...plus the cast offs. Which reminds me that I need to wash those, unless the peach chunks and accompanying juice magically disappeared from the entire crotch area....
Here's what else I'm stuck on...I was trying on fun summer dresses at Target that were out of my usual comfort zone. I was really proud of myself. I picked out a floor length (?) ankle length (?) long, sleeveless dress with a v-neck. Surprisingly, the length did not make look like a gnome, and the waist did not make me look like a Popsicle. So far so good, right? But, the top was a little too big and the V was a little too deep. I was thinking of wearing the dress to church, but not with that much cleavage! So, I thought "Well, if I put a cammi under it...and a cardigan over it, it could work." What? Now I just went from an easy to throw on dress to an elaborate get up to keep people from stumbling in Sin at church? I didn't get the dress.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I have a lot of clothes that require a plan. Pants that have no button, but if I pin them then cover it with a top...A shirt with a stain, but if I wear a scarf....Pants that can only be worn with heels....Pants that can only be worn with flats....Pants that are too big, but if I use a belt then cover the gappy part....A shirt that's too short, but if I wear a tank under it....No one will see the maternity tag, right?...So what if I've had this shirt since before having kids? It's still cool, right? Uhhhhh. no.
When did I become this person? It's not like I was ever a fashion icon, unless Hyper Color T-shirts or Skidz counts towards being a fashionista. I try to follow trends or at the very least avoid fashion faux pas like shoulder pads, pleats and bolo ties. But where did the compromise begin? Am I lazy? Frugal to the point of spending more on safety pins than the clothes themselves? Since in the recent past, my size has gone up and down depending on which side of pregnancy we're talking about, I simply found it pointless to put time and money into a wardrobe that will potentially not fit in the near future. But that doesn't make it okay to wear broken down, stained, ill fitting junk either.
I guess I never realized how much clothing compromising I was doing. Guess I need to go shopping...SOON! Anybody need to go with me?
For the next Clothing Chronicles..."Can we talk about ugly underwear?".
5 comments:
i totally do stuff like this. i am becoming much more aware of it post-motherhood since my body is so different. i have a rotation of 4 shirts that fit me and adequately "drape" away from my stomach skin and then i have, like, 3 pairs of pants. but then i almost buy other things and think about how they would look in combination with cardigans, etc.
sometimes i even think, "well i could just wear my maternity pants with that and it would be ok!"
i am working really hard on going to the store, finding a garment that TRULY fits, then buying 2 of it but NOT the other things that don't fit.
I'm feeling ya! Although pregnancy has not been a factor for me, since moving to a new house I find myself more interested in spending money on decorating, not clothes. And now that that is winding down, and I look at my summer wardrobe in disgust, laziness settles in a bit. Oh where to start? And is Old Navy having a sale? And if I buy four $5 Vneck tshirts in different colors, will they all shrink in the wash like they did last year? Or get little fuzz balls on them? Ugh, I'll just wear what I have... Or let's be honest, I find myself attending few functions that require more than an old Young Life tshirt and jeans (of which I have 1 favorite pair, maybe 2 or 3 okay ones, and probably 20 sitting the bench depending on which side of 5 pounds I'm at). So all of that to say, I'm with ya!
Same story here! I especially can empathize with not being able to have that perfect dress you can just "throw on" without the addition of a cami or a cardigan or a non-nursing bra for now in my case.
And I really hear you on the well, if I wear a belt with these pants and a heel and hide the stain on the shirt it'll look FANTASTIC!
Sometimes I feel like I have the sloppiest looking wardrobe ever.
yes, but I do believe I have 2 possible solutions for you.
1) go to this event at Crossroads church in oakdale for a clothing swap complete with childcare OR
if you're feeling like you'd rather stay at home and not socialize with women you do not know 2)invite your friend, Diz, over. she's nice and will bring clothes that she needs help with as well and you can have a fashion show whilst the kids hunt for animals and other fauna in the backyard.
HA!
ps. the jeans I recently bought and was so happy b/c they fit... well, they GREW the first time I wore them and give me that awful looking "crotch-stache". do you know what I mean? I HATE that I have these jeans that DO NOT WORK for me now!!!!!!!
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