The De-Casualization of My Wardrobe

I am a casual girl. This is a well-known fact. Growing up, I used to drive my mother insane with what I wore, or didn't wear. I remember clearly going shopping before starting high school at Baton Rouge High, where, for the first time in my life, I would not be wearing a uniform to school everyday. I wanted to buy 5 different pairs of jeans and a million T-shirts, while my mom wanted me to wear skirts and blouses. In college I wore flannel shirts and hiking boots. While my mom still thinks it is important to dress up when flying on an airplane, I want to wear my PJ's; while she never leaves the house without make-up, I barely know how to apply it. You get the point.

I did manage to step it up when I moved to New York because it just wouldn't DO to go to work there without a "put together" ensemble. Even dressing down is a studied art in New York; being casual is, in fact, much more difficult than dressing up there because you have to make sure it looks thrown together yet completely trendy and cute all at once. Still, even after living there for 7 years and working on it a bit, I am far from what you would call a "fashionable" person. Every now and then I stumble upon a look that works for me, and I wear it for about 10 years. I do have a few cute pieces, but again, this is mostly by accident. My closet is spare and mostly contains black or neutrals. (Another no-no in my mom's opinion!) There is also no middle ground: I have about 10 cocktail and ball dresses, about 1 million pairs of gym shorts, and nothing in between.

Living in Hawaii and Washington State did NOTHING to help this. In the former, flip flops were considered high fashion, and in the latter the temperature never got high enough to consider taking off my sweatshirt. In addition, trying to cram in going to the gym and taking care of the tiny terrors everyday meant that I mostly never made it out of my gym clothes, for real.

While it never seemed to present much of a problem in life considering the fact that it's all pretty casual in the states, this summer I had a bit of a talk with myself about this. I felt that at the age of 37 I should probably start leaving the house looking like a grown up more often. A friend took pity on me and took me shopping to pick out some staples that were more coordinated and polished than anything I usually wear. I felt a little bit like I was on "What Not To Wear" and came away with some things that coordinated and could be changed with an accessory or two. Yippee!

Anyway, it turns out this was a really good idea because MAN do people dress up here! I definitely feel like I'm back in NYC again. People do not just go out in gym clothes here. In fact, even on base there are signs up all over the place saying that you can't go into the commissary or the NEX in gym clothes. And when I go to the boys' bus stop at 8 AM, all the Japanese moms look like they have stepped right out of the H&M catalog. Even with all the new clothes I bought this summer, I have still frantically been online shopping during the last month for fake uggs, puffy vests, cute rain boots, scarves, and other stuff so that I can feel at least somewhat "with it" leaving the house. I secretly plan in advance what I will "throw on" in the morning before taking the boys to the bus stop. I am so sure.

Anyway, I guess my realization that I need to step it up a notch came at a good time! And boy would my mom be proud.