Dressing for the Occasion

I posed this week’s question:

“Do you dress in any particular color or style for holidays or special days?” I believe that I was misunderstood by some. I did not meant to ask about ‘dressing-up’ for holidays.

I wondered if anyone else like to dress in the spirit of a day or season, as I have for years and years. That isn’t to say that I dress in costume, except for the colorful Halloween-print over-blouse that I pull out and put on every year to wear when I hand out treats.
(I had no idea that I would wear it more than once when I made it about 15 years ago.)

When I was in a more jovial spirit, I made pumpkin earrings and some that were cute purple bats, (they may be around somewhere).

At that time, I also made Christmas tree earrings and ones that looked like red and green gift boxes…(they are probably with the bats).

I do have a number of holiday pins. I have some cute ones, but I also have the more “jewelry-looking” ones which I had bought for my mother over the years. They are quite stylish on coats.

 

Today you will catch me today in a red blouse for St. Valentine’s Day, (but you’d never find me in hearts).

I will definitely be in something green on St. Patrick’s Day, no fail. My Italian mother saw to it, because the Irish in her melting-pot neighborhood would pinch you if you weren’t wearing green on that day. It didn’t occur to her for many years that, hey, her kids were half-Irish. (Head-smacking time for Mom.)  She dressed us up for Easter and Christmas, but not necessarily in Christmas-looking clothes. She would don a fancy, useless Christmas half-apron AFTER the cooking was done.

I started wearing red, white and blue on Independence Day for the Bicentennial. We all did; it was easy to get all caught up in all the fervor of it all while living outside of Washington, DC.  We made all kinds of red, white and blue food for that day, as well. We went all-out, and it stuck.

Comes the Fall, (which I love), I go for leaf-themed shirts and browns more, although browns have been a staple color for me. I’ve always been told that it went pretty well with my coloring, especially when it still matched the color of my hair (!)

I go with red and green on Christmas. A friend gave me a Christmas vest that I wore just once;  I am not comfortable invests, but then, I am not comfortable in jeans. Go figure. I have a few subtle Christmas or Winter-print turtlenecks that get put away and only worn for about four weeks each year. I’ve had them for about 5 years now.

If something is comfortable and still looks good, I keep it!

Early one Autumn I saw a picture of a blouse and was captivated. I had never seen an ad for clothing and thought, “I have to have that!” before or since, but this beautiful blouse just cried out for me to wear it…or so I thought.

 

I said to my sons, “We have to go out. I have to buy a blouse.”  They were rather shocked to hear this. They were elementary-school boys and although we lived near a great many stores and malls, they never had to deal with me shopping for clothes before. They looked at me as though I had gone mad. Showing them the ad I said, “I don’t want them to sell out. Look? Isn’t it beautiful?”  (More questioning looks from them.)  “I really want this!”

That’s when one of them pointed out that I don’t like orange. Well, it wasn’t orange, per se. It was rust-colored, a subtle, dark shade that I imagined would look just orange enough to be classy with black slacks for Halloween, and then move into Fall and even Thanksgiving. Paired with brown slacks or  skirt, it would be dressy-casual. NICE!

The blouse was soft and feminine. It has a large layered collar and ruffles like it at the ends of long sleeves. The model in it looked to be in her 30s, with long brown hair. I was still getting attention in my 30 and I still had long, brown hair, so I was assured that this was perfect. Protest as they might, “Can you drop us off at Grandma’s first? Can’t you wait for Dad to be home?”,  I ran the boys with me to the store right away, because I wanted to make sure they didn’t sell out of that particular color in my, (then–nice, slim), size.

I was beaming when I found what I wanted immediately.

When we got home I ran upstairs to put the blouse on. Oh, I was going to feel chic and feminine!

I took one look at myself, took it off and put it back in the bag.

I went downstairs; I must have looked crestfallen. One boy asked, “Why don’t you have on the blouse?”
I didn’t want to tell him. I just said, “I’m taking it back.”

Oh, that did not sit well after all of what I had said and dragged them out for.

“What’s wrong?”

“It doesn’t look right.”

“Let us see it”
“No, I don’t want to put it on again.”

They pressed and pressed me. “WHY?” “We have to see it”. “Oh, Come on!”

For all the protestations that it wasn’t really orange, with the big ruffled color and cuffs I had to admit to them: “I look like a clown.”

They tried not to laugh. My oldest, (and always kind), boy said, “It can’t be that bad. Put it on, show us.”
Oh no, I did not want to, but I had been so nuts over getting it, I did. He took one look at me and said, “You look like a clown.”

Which made his brother, who had been trying not to laugh, burst out in a guffaw, and I did as well.
I said,
“All I need is a big, red nose!” And we laughed some more.

That was my last attempt at chic for Halloween. Now I go for ‘cute’, but I go for it.

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