“A pair of shoes can change your life. Just ask Cinderella.”

The last time I gave into a fashion trend was in the 70’s when I shortened a bunch of pendleton wool skirts and the next year hemlines took a major fall below the knee. Ouch.  since then I have worn what I wanted when I wanted and I confess there were some really ugly clothing years when I bought nothing because I wasn’t going to wear mustard colored polka dots if you paid me. Well maybe if you paid me. But  rather than a fashionista I am a weatherista. I realized that this morning as I was putting my laundry away.

 

 

My deep south summer clothing consisted of linen sleeveless shells, gauze skirts, cotton underwear and bras and lots of linen or cotton Capri pants. I had several pretty bathing suits with matching sarongs so you could throw it on and go eat out beachside. And sandals galore. I mean galoooooooooore. It wasn’t till deep winter that one needs to close those toes in. and even in winter you needed sleeveless tops because they baked the buildings until you’d schvitz.  The joke was that you could tell what year someone moved to the south from the look of their one winter coat. That was so true.

 

Denver required much warmer clothing, wool trousers, sweaters, even silk long underwear. And undies could be frilly and lacy as you wanted because unless it was a summer climb or skiing you weren’t gonna break a sweat. and I owned more racer bathing suits for lap swimming.

 

When I lived in NYC I had wool challis skirts, tights, boots that came to the knee and cardigan sweaters for outside warmth and inside comfort. Gloves and hats a mufflers were a requirement when the wind blew off the Hudson and the smell of chestnuts reminded you to dig out the heavy clothing, summer was gone.

 

Living in Oregon for over a year I have amassed an array of camisoles for layering, pants that have legs that zipper off, many more quarter length tee shirts ( again for layering) and lots of rain clothing…. Waterproof clogs, a wonderful pink rubber rain slicker, hats that impervious to water. I have dug out the wool socks I stored away from the Colorado days and moved the turtlenecks to a more prominent location. My down parka is going to be useful at crater lake and my frye boots ( back in style- how about that- will see life again.

 

Being a slave to weather is a lot more fun than being a slave to fashion. My feet seldom hurt. I can remove and add layers at will and if I stay with the color schemes I love any new thing invariably matches. My only passing nod to trends might be a new lipstick color or a slight twist in the haircut.  more than that?  forget it.