Here
are the last of the printed jeans I'm determined to show you. I'm
going to bend the unspoken outfit-post rules here and beg you not to
say anything bad about them, 'cause I just love
them. You know how these love affairs start. You're cruising
through the store (in this case JCP ... yes, again) and something
almost jumps off the display or flings itself off the hanger, right
at you. "Take me home ... you'll look beee-you-teeee-fulll
wearing me! I was made just for youuuuuuu."
Well.
Maybe, maybe not. But I don't care. I was just enough in possession
of my wits to take them into the dressing room and try them on. And,
because I could just slip into them without too many hops and
wiggles, and because of the unusually flattering dressing room
lighting ( which never exists in this dimension) I fell officially
in outfit-love. Sold. MINE!
Another
reason I love them is when I asked my husband's opinion, (after making all the obligatory flattering noises) he replied,
"Don't
be offended, 'cause I really do like them, but they remind me of
those drapes we used to see in the late 50s when everything was,
like, tropical."
Yes I
do remember. In 1959
Hawaii became our 50th state. Everything was Hawaiian and lots of women
were wearing muumuus and every kid wore thongs ( contemporarily, they
are flip-flops ... not to be confused with the almost-underwear
item.) Many homes sported bamboo furniture and living-room drapes
featuring big tropical prints. Just like my jeans.
But
instead of being aghast at his very apt comparison, I like these
vivid jeans even more because of it. They also remind me of some very pleasant, sun-soaked and sandy, beachy
Southern California days of my childhood and young womanhood. Also
of some really great dates at Trader Vic's and my first Mai Tai in a
Tiki mug. And I think about all that and more whenever I look at
them. Good thoughts.
Again,
I just love the connection between clothing and ideas.
Yes,
they are trendy. But, after all, a trend refers to an idea
translated into clothing. Trends and trendiness get a bad rap in
their current extended meaning. It isn't a compliment if someone
calls you a trend-chaser. I know all that. However, if you're going
to voluntarily make the slippery slope slide into trendiness, what
better time is there to jump in than in summer? And, even better, in
old age? Summer is the ideal time for this addled but excusably
enchanted behavior. One hopes, anyway.
And I
have to give special mention to these shoes. I am similarly seduced
by these shoes, and am tickled that they work well with these pants.
I tried, but I just can't get a photo of them that does them justice.
They are made of a beautiful, taupey-brown lamé
stuff, and as much as I love them, they don't get out and about much
as they deserve. They look happy to me with this outfit. This will
be their year, I think.
My
pants and I are showing up at the sophisticated hippy-chick Patti's
place and her Visible Monday celebration. Please pop over and see
what all the other wonderful wahine are up to!
