Passion for Fashion

I have to admit that I enjoy one of our nightly rituals more than the others. Last night, case in point. The girls needed their feet washed after a dusty trip to the park. I just wasn’t feeling it. Mark happily obliged. He’s so good about that kind of stuff. (Thanks for washing their dirty, stinky feet Mark!) However, when it comes time to pick out clothes for the next day, the duties fall solely on M-o-m. We started picking out clothes for the next day after I went back to work. It cuts down on morning drama, and gets us out the door quicker. I actually really like going through their closet and drawers and helping guide them in their fashion decisions. This is one of the fun things about having girls, we all get excited about clothes. I give the final approval on the choices, or if they’re stuck I offer suggestions for possible ensembles. Most of the time, they do really well on their own. They are learning like true jedi padowan apprentices.

They have been able to share clothes for the past 2 years. It has been a real blessing to be able to just buy a pile of all the same size, right down to their shoes and call it good. It has been a whole lot less complicated and expensive that’s for sure. At this age, they rarely fight about whose shirt is whose, but I know there will come a day that this is not the case. I’m just grateful that’s not the case for now. (As I try to block a flashback of angry yelling matches in the upstairs of our house growing up.) Anyway, I basically just hang up all their shirts in the closet, and then fold their shorts and put them in one of their drawers. That way they can choose a shirt easily without rummaging through a drawer, unfolding all of them, leaving a wrinkly mess behind. Then they find a pair of shorts to match and lay the outfit at the foot of their bed.

Avery inevitably chooses the same 3 outfits, and they usually involve skirts and girly or pink colored t-shirts, or one of the different colored pink shorts and a coordinating t-shirt, either the gray one with pink princess crowns on it, or the brown one with pink hearts on it. She also really likes the 4th of July outfits we bought, but she definitely does not like the khaki shorts, the capri’s, or the “boy” t-shirts (which include anything with colors other than pink or white). Her style is definitely girly, and she is becoming more particular about what she likes to wear. The other day we were going for a quick bike ride after dinner and she had been wearing a dress all day. I told her to just go throw on some shorts or pants and a t-shirt. She couldn’t decide. I picked out a pair of leggings and she said she didn’t like them because “they suck to my legs”. HA! They were also blue, which she isn’t crazy about. But instead of arguing about it for too long (who, Avery? Never!), she slapped her pink sequined belt over her t-shirt and leggings and felt complete. Last night when I got home from work (they stayed home with Mark yesterday because Maryn was running a fever after her varicella booster from Monday…Avery avoided her shot luckily, but I rescheduled for next week…stay tuned), she was wearing the same pink sequined belt with a pearl bracelet, a yellow heart necklace, and her pink velour “Brittney” hat. She was so cute, mostly because you could tell she felt cute.

Maryn is different in her tastes than Avery. She’s more of a Gap girl. She likes her classic basics. She prefers khaki and denim (maybe because she doesn’t stand a chance of wearing the pink shorts because Avery is always wearing them), and will wear the “boy” t-shirts that are blue and green. She has a favorite t-shirt that is olive green and has a turtle on the front. I will save that shirt in her memory box because it reminds me of how she looks most days. She likes contemporary touches though now and then, and usually calls these touches “being hip”. When she was a toddler, she used to call it “fashion” when something was cute or fancy. She’d say, “I’m fashion” as she slowly strutted around the room. She has an activity day coming up on Friday afternoon. It’s a swim party and there will be girls between 8 and 11 there. She asked me eagerly if she could wear something “so hip”. I asked her, “what’s hip?” And she pointed to her pink shrug sweater, and her new (for back to school) black and white striped shrug with long sleeves. I thought it was cute that she wanted to look cute in front of all the older “hipper” girls for her activity. (At least it’s not for boys yet.) Maryn likes looking through my jewelry box too. This past year I have started to let her wear some of my necklaces to church. She is old enough where I know I can trust her and I know it makes her feel grown up and fancy. It’s fun to be able to share these things with both of them.

I’ll admit that I like dressing them more than myself however. Shopping for them is exciting because pretty much anything fits and I can find awesome deals. Shopping for me is kind of excruciating, and not something that I’ve come to really relish in years gone by. I’m slowly starting to enjoy it again. I think the weight loss has a lot to do with it. I can shop in “normal” stores again, and have some choices about what I want to wear now rather than just what’s on the sales rack at Lane Bryant or Target (although I still buy most of my clothes at Target). However, I still have my days where nothing fits right and feel kind of blah about my wardrobe selections. And besides that, I don’t really like spending money on clothes for myself. I’d really rather spend it on the girls or Mark, or not at all. I force myself to get by on what’s in my closet until it’s completely unreasonable…meaning it has a huge unspottable stain or is ripped or completely faded. During my work week, I literally have 5 pairs of pants that I rotate with different tops. Black, 2 brown (with one being plaid), and 2 gray (with one being plaid). I dress pretty conservatively, so there’s not a lot of guesswork in the mornings. One thing I do love about dressing for work is wearing my jewelry again. I had forgotten about how much I love to accessorize.

So maybe not so much a “passion” for fashion, I mean we’re not extremely extravagant, but it’s fun nonetheless. We get excited by simple things. This Friday is “Twin Day” at the CDC. Maryn is already planning on wearing her purple shirt and shorts with her friend Sarah. Avery is planning on wearing her brown shirt with pink hearts and hopefully pink shorts with her friend Lila. I think it’s funny that they have their outfits already picked out for the end of the week. When I was their age, I remember doing the same thing, and sometimes still do!

What’s your favorite thing about fashion?