I'm still weeding through
what I learned in 2012, separating the wheat from the chaff. It
often takes me weeks into the New Year before I finish mulling all
this over, but I'm trying to get a move on. Tempus fugit, for sure,
and it fugits faster every year, so it seems appropriate finish up
the review process so I can move upward and onward to new fun and
frustrations. For the purposes of this little cyber-rag, I'll limit
my observations to a few matters of personal style.
1. When it comes to last
year's pairing of boxy tops with cropped cigarette-cut trousers, I
have learned that I can wear either a boxy-ish top
or the cropped trouser, but not both at the same time. Exaggerated
forms of either are a no-no in any case. For me.
The
takeaway?
I won't really know if there's a way I can pull off a
trend until I actually try it, but in that process I really must
maintain my best critical eye, and act accordingly.
2.
That "best critical eye" does not ( should not!) merely
nitpick, but respond based on what informed aesthetic I possess
combined with my most trusted gut-reaction. Criticism is a word with
a very bad rep, but should always be combined with
discernment: the ability or
power to see or make fine distinctions.
The
takeaway?
Applying the above to my sartorial experiments can make
the difference between happily and successfully rocking a fresher
look or banging my head against a wall, wondering what I could have
been thinking.
3.
I've made it to authentically old age, and I really don't look as
bad as I though I would!
The
takeaway?
There is still plenty of fun to be had, providing I
remember to apply the above-mentioned discernment. And to get plenty
of sleep and always use sunblock.
4.
Likewise, when I run across articles defining fashion
age-appropriateness, remember to take a deep breath and know that
these articles are often written by infant editors who were only
recently teenagers, and therefore are not to be taken seriously in
matters of what I choose to put on my back.
The
takeaway?
There really is wisdom in age, and I should have figured
out by now that just because it's in print somewhere doesn't make it
true.
5.
All of the above applies to the "What's In, What's Out"
lists.
Same takeaway as the above.
6.
Last year was the year when I finally fully embraced the full
understanding that it's a good thing to give a flip about how I look.
It is, in fact, a virtue worth cultivating.
The
takeaway;
I worried about this for far too many years and can stop
now.
7.
Sometimes the camera does lie. Often. Like a dog on a rug.
The
takeaway?
Another thing I can relax and fret less about.
8.
There are women all over the world who worry about and enjoy the
very same things I do, and I can learn from every single one of them
... through the amazing world of mature women who blog about style.
It's a movement! And they let me play, too!
The
takeaway;
We can come out, show off and figure it out through
communities like the amazing Patti's Visible Monday . Really, one of
the best places, cyber or solid, that I discovered in 2012.
_______________________________________
Here's
my still-evolving avatar, "Janime", modeling what I wore when Dan (my Hubs) took me to see
"The Hobbit" last week!
__________________________________________
Finally,
(and speaking of Hobbits ) a prediction for the 2013 ...
Céline
has come up with what I think is one of the strangest footwear
designs ever. It's a Birkenstock/shower-shoe hybrid, lined with
mink.
(... and much more conservative in black ...)
Phoebe
Philo presented these in her spring 2013 collection, and my first
thought was that they were a humorous nod to the hobbit
foot-prosthetics worn by Martin Freeman in Peter Jackson's new trilogy.
Go ahead ,,, tell me they don't have a similar je ne se quoi ...
But
when I learned that Ms. Philo just returned to work after the birth
of her third child, I had more empathy for her probable inspiration.
And there is a manifesto about comfort here that I can understand
philosophically but not personally embrace. Some of you will love
these, some will hate them.
But my prediction is that we will soon
see shower-shoes from WalMart, DIY treated to faux fur fastened on
with the trusty hot-glue gun, flopping down the mall in the Spring of
2013.
This
will define fashion victimization, I think.
Just
saying ...
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