Landing

 

I heard Tim Gunn interviewed this morning.  He said that he was worried about his new fashion TV show being released during the pandemic.  Wasn’t it wrong, frivolous, insulting?  His network said it was uplifting.  They put the show out.  Thank God.

Yes, I wear jammies and loose shirts every day now.  Pretty much.  Easter I put on a nice dress.  When I had a work zoom with people I didn’t know, I put on a work dress.

This doesn’t mean clothes and dressing aren’t important.

Even if I’m wearing my comfy clothes, those clothes are meaningful to me.  I have  navy pajama bottoms with constellations on them, a gift from my sister a few Christmases ago.  I like how they are night themed.

I have my overalls I put on for the hard labor of taking out the trash.  Down a whole flight of stairs!  Around the house!  Past my car!  My overalls have rips and paint spots, too.  Just throwing the straps over my shoulders makes me feel like I’m ready to do cleansing physical work.  I got them to build a house in Mexico, and I’ve loved them ever since.  They also still fit my new over 40 body, which is great.

I have a pair of yoga pants that I’ve had possibly forever.  They are grey, they are thin from use, but they are the old yoga pant shape, loose and looser on the bottom, and soft, soft, and they don’t squeeze anything, anywhere.  I love them, too.

I get to wear my favorite robe, which is jet black with colorful geishas and their fans.  I use the sash in my hair or tied around my waist with other dresses.

I enjoy time with my extensive collection of sockies.  No, not the sockies from Mario 3, that one stepped on to eject their former owners.  I have black sparkly sockies, purplish stripes, stripes plus raccoon faces.  They are the super warm super soft material that’s probably from space, without any grippies on the bottom, so I can slide around if I want to.

I wear my yellow dress with the burn hole.  I don’t feel right wearing it outside, but at home, I love it.

Now that it is warm, my outside the house clothes are much closer to my inside the house clothes.  In winter, I often hang out in the house in the long underwear I wore under whatever skirt or dress I took off.  Now that it’s warm, summer dresses are back.

I had Tim Gunn’s show on my calendar from the time it was announced.  It was one of the things I had to look forward to during… this.  I haven’t watched the last episode because I don’t want to run out of watching artists putter and make things and poke me with new ideas for how to dress.

And beauty is harder to find now.  Extravagant beauty.  Because I can’t hunt it or gather it, exploring my favorite antique mall and my favorite vintage place.  Flipping through racks quickly, because I know what I like, and what will please me.

I crave bright prints, as I usually do in the spring, big, bright, punching prints, and billowy skirts that let you sit in the grass or romp around with a dog or a kid.

Beauty matters.

I spent a little time looking through photos to appreciate clothes and outfits that made me especially happy.

I was crazy about the color of this long-sleeved t-shirt.  CRAZY.  It was rust, baby poop color.  I loved it.  I haven’t been so nuts about a color since I was nuts about Frank Lloyd Wright orange red.  My obsession with mustard and brown/orange yellows continues.  I always love a 3/4 sleeve since my arms are so long.  Regular long sleeves are often too short.

Occasion: Drinks with friends at Harry’s Bar and Tables, in Kansas City.  I was back visiting.

I still have, and wear, this little robe.  It always makes me feel happy and snappy.  And I always love stripes.

Occasion: coffee in my neighborhood in Brooklyn, on our way into the City, with my sister.  That place had good bagels, but wasn’t very cozy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This coat I bought while I was working at the worst job I’ve ever had.  One of the few good things about the job was that it was very close to a great vintage store in Brooklyn.  Immediately when I saw it, I thought of “Mad Men,” and I thought wearing it could make me truly happy.  It does.

Occasion: getting ready to go somewhere in NYC, and being in so in love with it I wanted a photo.

Vintage black cotton eyelet lace boatneck with straps, knee length.  This dress made me feel like Jackie Kennedy or Audrey Hepburn.

Occasion: Night of Obama’s first election.

Both the dress and the shoes, so special.  The dress barely fit me, but it was  lovely snug.  I loved the color, the cut.  I got it used.  It was homemade, maybe a costume.  Seams messy inside.  And those shoes with it, people stopped me to love those shoes all the time.  I need to have them re-heeled again.

Occasion: seeing the Jeff Koontz show at the Whitney.  I realized I don’t like Koontz, and I was rather lonely, but I looked great.  So there’s that.

This top from H & M I was so in love with.  I still have the sash to use with other things.  Great print.

Occasion: My first walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, several years before I moved to NYC.  I was just visiting.  We drank a lot of wine in an Italian restaurant on the Brooklyn side.

This green t-shirt said NYC, and I loved it until it had holes in it.  One of my top t-shirts of all time.  (Others: ostrich, TMLMTBGB, C’est la vie whale, squid, samurai bear, princess, Coney Island.)  The thing in my hair was my stepmom’s, from the ’70s.

Occasion: after a Fringe Festival “Star Wars” themed puppet show in Kansas City.

I still remember feeling cute as hell this day.  Big asymmetrical brown sweater, the top with the tie, I love those, and my favorite jeans of all time, rolled up for my boots.  I don’t think anyone else was wearing jeans and boots like that, but I didn’t care.  It made me feel like a pirate.

Occasion: visiting the New Museum, NYC.

This red dress I wore in Rome, and on Fourth of Julys like this one.  So comfy.  Vintage from Hawaii. I love the other two ladies’ dresses, too.

Occasion: Fourth of July in Prospect Park, Brooklyn.  I was feeling so neurotic earlier that day, but once I got to playing badminton, I had a lovely time and got quite a workout.

I wore this to the opera, and to a silly Christmas thing.  It might be the loveliest that fit me the best of all the dresses I’ve ever owned.  I couldn’t find the fancy photo at the Met, but this shows the dress off in a fun way.  It is vintage.

Occasion: Brooklyn Christmas drag show featuring Jesus and Mariah Carey.