CLOTHES
One of the first things I notice about a person is what they are wearing. It’s because I’m very particular about how I look in public. I enjoy being well “put together”. Everything must match, from my hat to my shoes (assuming I’m wearing them).
And I’m thrifty, too. I have a 1960’s-style skirt and sleeveless top I bought for twenty dollars from a drug store. I get complimented on the outfit all the time. Other women ask me where I got it. I don’t tell them, though. Let them think I spent hundreds on it.
I prefer wearing skirts and dresses because it makes me feel very feminine. Rarely do you see a man similarly attired, unless it’s Halloween.
However, just recently, I did see an older man shopping at the mall wearing a Scottish kilt. I wasn’t aware of any bagpipe events in town so I can only guess at his motivation. Nor were his legs that nice that he should have been wearing a skirt like that in public.
I tend to be over-dressed rather than the other way around. So while other women rush around Food Lion® looking like they just jumped out of the shower, I’m decked out like I’m going to a ball.
Dressing nicely is more important to me now that I’m unemployed. It’s a good ego boost. But lately, I feel like I’m slipping.
How else can I explain dressing for an up-scale, retail job interview in hot pants and a barely-there halter top? Oh sure, subconsciously I might have been flaunting the conservative dress code required of their sales “consultants”. But certainly, looking unprofessional wasn’t the impression I’d hoped to make.
Maybe I’ve lived at the beach too long. I’m used to the casual-dress atmosphere. It probably doesn’t help that I hang around adults who are fond of dressing like college students on Spring Break.
Surfer-dudes like to wear t-shirts with skulls and other symbols of death on them. And they wear shorts no matter what the temperature is outside. This outfit along with cultivating their long, blond Rastafarian tresses makes me wonder who’d hire them. But hey, many of them are in fact employed. They must know something I don’t.
Perhaps it’s also work habits I developed from my last job. They may put me at a disadvantage in today’s job market. I used to work out of my home office. Most days I never got out of my bathrobe and slippers.
I’d only leave my desk and computer to use the bathroom. Without the stimulus of actually going to a job and being seen in public, I stopped putting on makeup and combing my hair. I think it was the look on my ex-husband’s face when I greeted him at the door one evening that clued me in on my declining appeal.
There are not many professional clothes to choose from in any case. Dresses and shirts have plunging necklines. Pants are shiny with spandex. Skirts are tight and short.
Like all women should dress in public like Victoria’s Secret® models dress. The other extreme is professional apparel that is, quite frankly, frumpy. Boxy, button-up suits and bulky dresses your great-grandmother might wear to church. Not much else in-between.
I like to swim at my local YMCA. And I really, really resent not being able to find a “racing” swimsuit with boob support in it.
I guess the manufacturers don’t include it in the interests of enhancing a swimmer’s performance. Like any woman who swims for exercise must be seventeen years-old or an Olympic swimmer. Quite frankly, I can’t think of a worse performance hindrance than having one’s boobs drag in the water.
If you're enjoying this over coffee, tea, or whatever, please consider buying me a cup! If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
