Fashion is What You Adopt When You Don't Know Who You Are

In the old movie Flashdance, Jennifer Beales plays a very cool welder-by-day/dancer-by-night. In one of my favorite scenes, she takes her lunch break from her welding job, pulls out a Paris Vogue, and sits and reads it and eats. I loved this because this was me my first year in college. No, I wasn't a welder (or a dancer), but on the days that I worked at the department store, I would run down to the little news stand in town on my lunch break and buy the 1 copy of Paris Vogue they had, bring it back to the drugstore counter, and read it while I ate my sandwich.

On a side note, it now seems amazing that my very small country hometown in Tennessee would carry this magazine. I remember the first time I went in there and found it, I was dumbfounded...and I think the little guy who ran the place could not believe someone actually bought it. Because it came from Paris, it cost like $10, which was a ridiculous purchase for me at the time...but I savored every page. I could read about my two favorite subjects...France and fashion....at the same time. After that first visit, he had one copy reserved every month and he always made a sweet comment to me when I came into buy it.

So fast forward many years, and I am at the mall the other night with Big Sister and Little One. Little One is on car duty this week at school. This means she "gets" to open the car doors for everyone in the morning. Now usually, her wardrobe revolves around PE and comfort. Don't even try to suggest a dress or skirt. However....when you are possibly opening the car door for the little guy you might have a crush on...you have to look good. So she wanted a new outfit. Now look, after 3 stores and an hour of shopping, she was still debating the "perfectness" of many outfits. I kept bringing her stuff...and she kept giving me the "look". Finally she said "You are just from the olden days". What??? Well, I was really offended. I started to launch into a tirade about how I had been a Director of Retail, a buyer, a model...not to mention an arbiter of great taste and fashion knowledge...when it all of a sudden dawned on me that she could care less...

So...at this point, I left her in the very capable hands of Big Sister, who even though she is many moons older than Little One, seems to maintain a certain air of fashion reliability. I took myself over to the shoe department, cosmetic counter...and finally espresso bar...and drowned my hurt feelings and sorrows in Starbucks and Chanel...

20 minutes later, I returned to find the 3 of them (the sales girl...also not from the "olden days", had joined the team) in awe of the new outfit. I have to admit it was spectacular...flowy tulle skirt, white leggings, black t-shirt...and the fabulous sparkly converse shoes...all topped off with the black leather belt....I mean, she could have been right out of the pages of my afore-mentioned Paris Vogue. So everyone was happy....well almost. Little One is actually a little Jewish housewife in disguise. She never met a penny she didn't pinch. If I leave a light on the house, she reports me to the husband. If I throw a dime in a charity jar at McDonald's, she asks who the money goes to...So I had to assure her that the cost of the outfit was indeed fair, and that each item could be worn separately and usefully. (Big Sister listened with her mouth dropped open having never questioned a purchase in her life....)

All in all a great evening. I may have become irrelevant in my Little One's fashion life, but I can even take a certain amount of pride in that. I like an independent spirit...and I don't like for anyone to tell me what to wear either. So I guess she is just a chip off the "old" block..

Car duty went very well the next day. I was informed that she got to open the door for the "crush"...and I can only imagine how good she felt in her new outfit..

So until tomorrow, when I still look forward to the new Paris Vogue, but the Little One makes me read it in the store because it is too expensive to buy...