I may not be a fashionista, but I am definitely a fashionREALista! 

It all hit me this morning while I was going through the daily ritual of dressing myself for the office.  Now, I am in a business which allows more latitude than many – but it’s also a very young business and that can be a challenge for a menopausal woman.

Let’s start with the fact that I have to be at a pretty good weight – and I’m there for the most part – I’ll admit the holidays set me back a tad. 

As I moved through the process of wardrobe selection Stacy and Clinton popped into mind.  “Have a bunch of separates that can be mixed and matched to stretch your wardrobe,” they always say – and they’re right.  But it can still be a challenge.

I started out with a pair of black stretch jeans (I wear mostly black – too much for Stacy and Clinton but it works for me).  Very comfortable and very in vogue.  They fit and hug but they’re not too tight.  I can look pretty hot in these jeans (yes I said it – and why not?) but never sleazy (god forbid).  And I don’t look like a 20-year-old – no jeans have that power!  

Off to a good start.  Now for the top.  I wanted to try something different so I grabbed a Chico button down top in black but with a lot of texture.  No, something was off.  I looked in the mirror and didn’t get that satisfied feeling that tells me I’ve got a winner.  I do know what looks good on me – and this just didn’t.  Sometimes that happens.  Not every one of your tops will look good with every bottom.  You have to try until you get it right. 

This morning that took four tries.  And once I’d selected the top I had to find the right black jacket to complete the ensemble.  After a few tries I found one that wasn’t bad – but it wasn’t great.  And I really wanted great but time would not permit further wardrobe exploration. 

So how did that happen?  I followed “the rules.”  I had mix and match clothing all of which looked good on my body and went well together.  It wasn’t that I was self conscious about my weight.  But somehow I spent all that valuable time working on my wardrobe and I still didn’t get it right.  Well that’s reality.  And unless I’m going to computerize my wardrobe and label every top and every jacket that can be worn with every pair of slacks or skirt (and trust me I am not that anal), I’ve still got the morning fashion traffic jam and I can still come up wanting. 

Go ahead and say I should have done all the coordinating the night before (and believe me I do that when I’ve got an important meeting or presentation the next day).  I find that when I’m prepping for an average day my choices the night before rarely fit my mood when I’m actually ready to dress the next day.  C’est la vie!

And now as long as I’m on the subject, there are a few more fashionREALista tips I’d like to impart (sorry Stacy and Clinton):

You can get good quality, well-made clothing at low prices – low cost does not always mean poor quality – you have to know where to look.  I bought some jeans at Marshall’s for about $15.00.  I tried on a pair of jeans at Chico’s and they were virtually identical.  They cost $60.00.  I liked how the jeans at Chico’s looked but I couldn’t justify paying that when I had an identical pair at home already.  (And by the way Chico’s has some great stuff at very good prices – but some of their clothes make me look like an old lady). 

Even a decent tailor cannot alter every garment to perfection.  And then you’re stuck with something you’ve paid for twice (you bought it and then you paid to alter it) that you probably can’t use.  It’s happened to me more than once so I never buy garments that need anything more than a hem.  It’s just too risky.

Natural fabrics are wonderful but they often need dry cleaning – if I were to dry clean one top and one bottom a day (forget jackets) my dry cleaning bill would be about $4,000 a year – and I have a lot more important things to do with that $4,000.
Long live hand washables!

And I flatly refuse to iron!