coming out of my shell

coming out of my shell

Sunday, January 8, 2023

Dressing up

There are many online sales for women's clothing at this time of the year. I've been perusing the sales and seeing all sorts of work clothes I'd like to buy. The problem, of course, is that I'm retired and haven't worked outside the home in 9 years.  

I also almost never go anywhere I'd be required to wear nice clothes, especially a dress, and dresses are what I yearn for. I have dresses in my closet that are totally out of style, and a "little" tight. I'm going to get rid of them. What the heck am I hanging on to them for? If I don't get rid of them soon, the only people who will want them will be costumer's for high school plays.

This summer I'll be going to a family wedding that will require me to wear at least one dress, maybe two. I'm excited about buying the perfect dress for my old lady body. 

I want a dress that looks good on me. You know what I mean. You can try on 5 dresses, and all fit so awful you want to cry. Then that 6th dress is a revelation. It's perfect, and you feel like a million dollars wearing it.  Online ordering is easy, but it doesn't give you the chance to try on 6 dresses, one after another. OMG, I think I'm going have to go clothes shopping at an actual store! 

I remember going to a wedding years ago where my sister-in-law's gray haired mother wore a red dress. She look great in it. I took her picture and told her I'd never seen her look more beautiful, and I sincerely meant it. The dress was simple, flattering, and RED. Old ladies should wear red clothes, don't you think? It's a kick-ass, powerful color. 

Here's that picture of her, wasn't she gorgeous? I want a dress just like that.  


29 comments:

  1. She looks lovely in that dress. I think saturated colours look good with grey hair. As for buying nice clothes, I feel the same way. I have no need for them but I wouldn't mind having them:)

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  2. Have fun at the wedding. Yes she looks marvelous and so attractive.

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    1. It won't be until June. I have lots of time.

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  3. Wow, she really WAS gorgeous in red! I love the idea of women wearing vibrant colors as they age.

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  4. I'm looking forward to seeing photos of the dress you buy. I haven't worn a dress in so many years I can't even remember wearing one at all. Maybe when I was in high school. Back then there was a "dress code" and girls could not wear pants to school. In my senior year that changed. It's been blue jeans ever since!

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    1. The dress code at my high school changed from only dresses to pants the year after I graduated.

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  5. A red dress spells confidence. Go for it.

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    1. We all could use that extra confidence! I will.

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  6. ❤️❤️ Mom looked beautiful in her red dress! Colette , you will look beautiful in whatever color you choose !!!

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  7. She looks beautiful in the red dress and so will you! Enjoy the hunt for the perfect red dress!

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  8. Before forking out dosh on any form of clothing I'd have to be sure my appearance was improvable. In saying that I realise I'd be dealing with a very special form of the truth, truth that was uncomfortably close to a lie or - to be kinder to myself - a case of self-delusion.

    Difficult now of course following surgery that left a swelling in my neck as if I'd been part of a lab experiment to turn low-grade human beings into a cheap form of turkey. Cutting the cost of Thanksgiving.

    But that's special pleading given my unwanted wattle is shrinking by the day and I might now pass as a substitute for a guinea fowl, a higher grade flutterer that the French probably gnaw on to celebrate the birthday of the guy who invented the guillotine. I mean when did I last dress to be sexy?

    After all of six seconds' contemplation I have to confess - never. To some extent the agonies of adolescence ("Woe is me. Who could ever love this scrag end of mutton?") have never left me. That in a beauty competition "across a crowded room" my score would be in the heavier minuses. That my only chance of seeming to be sexy would be over the phone reading Shakespeare's sexiest sonnet. Beginning:

    Should I compare thee to a summer's day?
    Thou art more lovely and more temperate...


    And even then there'd be my West Riding accent to contend with.

    How about a monk's cowl? Suggesting I'd been let out of the monastery for a few hours and might be worth a punt for someone who was truly desperate or - better still - short-sighted. Look out for me, all in brown.

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    1. Yer killin' me over here! Good comment, Robbie.

      I'm beginning to believe that self delusion is everything.

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  9. This made me think of that poem "When I am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple"

    Age allows us to wear whatever we damn feel like : )

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    1. Unless the bride wants us to wear a different color, ha!

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  10. I don't own any dresses and only have one skirt that I never wear. I would wear pants and a fancy top if I had to go to a wedding.
    Good luck finding your lovely dress!

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  11. Indeed, old ladies should wear colourful and striking clothes, not shrink-into-the-background clothes. The necklace is fun too.
    I avoid online ordering for clothes because as you say you need to try on several items to find one that fits perfectly. I'm not going to waste time returning online purchases that don't fit.

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    1. I'm definitely not going to do that in this case.

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  12. So pretty.
    www.rsrue.blogspot.com

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  13. She is stunning. I have no doubt you will be too.

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  14. I once needed a black skirt for a musical theatre show I was in. It must have taken visits to at least a dozen stores before I found one that fit right and looked good. Tops are easy to buy without trying on, but bottoms ... no way! And maybe dresses too. Shopping is exhausting. I like the secondhand store in Wadena, near where I live, because every piece is priced at $2. I buy and take items home, try them on, and if I don't like them, I donate them back. That's my kind of shopping! -Kate

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    1. I don't like to shop. It's exhausting and overwhelming.

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  15. Maybe the challenge is to find the dress that reconciles our mental ideal of ourselves with the reality in the mirror! The perfect dress is out there - but, as you point out, you have to physically try it on to recognise it. Best of luck! I'm sure you'll look as smashing as your red-dress-friend at the wedding.

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    1. Thanks, Molly. I have many months to search out the dress.

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So, whadayathink?