The Lipstick Page Forums Fashion Blog: June 2005

The scoop on all things stylish--from couture to ready-to-wear to handmade.

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Comments

Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Wednesday, June 15, 2005 11:09 PM (Eastern)

I remember a time in my life...long, long ago...when I used to wear nice clothes. The kind of clothes you have to dryclean. I remember taking said clothes to the drycleaners; I could tell you which were the best drycleaners, the best price and service.

sigh

That was before the leaky diapers, the throw-up, the years of sticky/greasy/grubby little hands...back when those frivolous moments of my life were spent breathing, eating and sleeping. *g*

If you're going to stay home and take care of your kids, you need to wear something different. Different from your working/school wardrobe; different even from what you used to think was a casual wardrobe.

I wore jeans when I was a teenager. The ubiquitous Levi's jeans. When I became a SAHM though, I went right back to wearing jeans. It's a necessity: jeans can't be destroyed, no matter what happens.

So--jeans.

I don't care for regular tee shirts; you have to roll the sleeves to make them look like anything. I much prefer fitted cotton knit tops, the kind of thing The Gap specializes in. I've gone through tons of these. In fact right now, as I'm writing this, I'm wearing a hot pink short-sleeved fitted Gap tee over...jeans.

The thing is this. All of your time and money goes to the kids. Clothes for kids cost more than clothes for adults, and you have to keep buying them. So you have to be more clever than before. You have to find sources for good, washable clothes that don't cost the same as what you used to pay.

Oh, and Oxi Clean. I recently tried this (no affiliation). It's addictive. I tried it out first on some whites that had stopped getting white in the regular (Tide with Bleach) wash. I didn't soak, just dumped the requisite scoop in with the load. Fantastic--next to pristine white (and without the destruction and spots you get with liquid bleach).

Next step was to try it with the kids' clothes (and these get super grubby). Pretty good results; socks looked clean.

We've progressed out of the "I'm wearing a nice dress and two seconds later there's a handprint on it" phase, and my son is now actually tall enough to put clothes in the washer. What can I say? Maybe I'll be able to tell you the best drycleaners again someday?

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Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Tuesday, June 07, 2005 4:51 PM (Eastern)

It's been on my mind over the past few days, how "style" is similar to "beauty" in that no one can really define it, yet everyone recognizes it. It's generally pooh-poohed as unimportant, yet people spend billions with a "b" on it, every year. It's something people crave. And it's something that can't be bought.

I was idly looking out on the playground the other day. I saw this kid, around eight years old, who had impeccable style. Her clothes were neither new nor were they expensive, nor fashionable, exactly. She was wearing a pink hoodie with some kind of a logo on the back, jeans with a slight flare, and old sneakers. Her skin was a beautiful shade of medium cocoa, and her curly dark brown hair was drawn back into a simple, high ponytail. But she stood out. You couldn't miss it; the intuitive knowledge of style.

Again (see the Beauty Blog), I am cheap. I will always try the cheapest option first. If that works, then I need look no further. If it doesn't, I go the next level up (from cheeeeep to cheap lol) and see if that works.

I've concluded that my $30 Levi's 515 jeans won't do. The quality is gone. It's too bad (Levi's jeans were the gold standard of my youth) but I don't see them lasting even two years.

If I wanted to buy jeans frequently, I wouldn't pay $30 for them. As it happens, I'd rather spend more and shop less. So, once these 515's bite the dust, I'll probably spring for J.Crew and see how those work out...or else check out Macy's.

What am I wearing today? Hm. Just a white long-sleeved cotton tee shirt, the aforementioned Levi's 515's, a belt with a red enamel buckle, a distressed leather jacket, Doc Martens...socks by Target. The same stuff I've blogged about in the archived Fashion Blog.

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