I breach commonly established fashion rules, with regularity. I wear black with brown. I relish pattern on pattern. My bag never duplicates the hue of my shoes. I fully comprehend why these rules were written, and I consciously choose to transgress them.
But some fashion commandments are impermeable: donning clothes that fail to fit, modeling garments in poor repair, publicly sharing the location of your panty line.
Sometimes we are oblivious to our own sins. Others are aware but neutralized against guilt. I speak to the latter category.
And I offer my own confession. When I have a day off to be spent intimately with just me and lappy (my macbook), I remain in my pajamas until afternoon. Sometimes people come to the door, and there I stand in my satin slippy and robe at 11:18 am. I used to be embarrassed, but now I feel indignant at the interruption of my slippy indulgence. I iron clothes nearly every morning and wear a minimum 3 inch heel at least 5 days a week. My sleepers never leave my front threshold, I believe that to be non-negotiable. And I must be fully dressed before my husband returns from work, my preference should not be forced on others. But late slippy mornings, I grant myself guiltlessly.
That’s my sin and my justification.
What’s your fashion faus paux and what’s your justification/rationalization for continuing to commit said fashion sin?
I love my rainbow sandals, and wear them almost every day. They must put something addictive in the material, I swear. I’m tall, so I justify my fashion in the shoe department as, well, I don’t want to wear heels, because they make me pretty close to 6 feet. (Even though, obviously, there are other fashionable shoes than heels, I know.)
Also, I do stay in my pajamas until 11:00 am sometimes, too. But I am dressed by the time my husband returns from work. And, I smell nice.
By the way, I love your blog! I’ve been meaning to look better and smell better, but haven’t really taken the time to research how to do that. Most days will find me in jeans and a t-shirt. So, I’m glad I found your blog! And you’re funny too. Off to peruse more posts…
just found your blog from cjane. love it already. my fashion no-no is ponytails. I try to put one up ONLY after i’ve been out and about with my cute hair to show everyone at wal-mart that i do care but as soon as i’m home the hair is up, the bangs pinned like i’m on the ‘simply irresistable’ video. and no, it doesn’t get redone for my husband. but i do make sure to tell him i had it down so he doesn’t think i wear it like that in public…eventhough i do, like today.
i’m posting about nordstrom’s rack today. funny i found this blog. ironic.
My fashion faux paus? I hate fixing my hair. Mostly I just throw it into a bun. Some days (like today for one!) I decide I’d like to look a bit more pulled together and I curl it. I guess I don’t really have any justification. I’m a 15 minutes get ready and out the door sort of girl, so anything involving spending long periods of time in the bathroom styling are a little beyond me. Plus, I’d just rather spend that extra 15 minutes in bed.
My fashion faux pas is that I’m just too homely to bother. Why spend a bunch of time trying to fix myself up when I look terrible anyway. (I feel this most acutely these days at almost 9 months preg)
I have a million other things to be using that time on, and I’m so much more comfortable when I just wear what’s immediately available that fits and moves and breathes.
I also am way too chintzy to spend money on trendy/overpriced things, and, perhaps most compelling: if I wear nice things, my children will inevitably spill something on them. Or it will catch on something and snag/rip. Or I’ll see myself in a picture wearing the item and I’ll realize just how terrible I actually looked in it. That’s never a good feeling.
Sad but true.
Am I still allowed to visit your website? 🙂
Also, I wear crocs. They are hideous, but I have a neuroma (it’s like a painful nerve tumor) in one foot, and a recent problemo with plantar fasciatis, so my shoe options are so limited these days, I truly have to go with what is most comfortable, or I have to pay a ton of money to go to the podiatrist and have him tell me what I already know.
Yep: train wreck.
Don’t you wish you were me?
I miss match belt and shoe color sometimes. But before you hit me I only do this when I need the belt for just keeping my pants where they are suppose to be and when I have a long enough shirt that noone will be able to see!
I’m all about the Crocs. I have their clogs, their mary janes, their slip ons. For a teacher, they are a LIFE SEND.
Can you tell me where you got that dress in the photo? I have the same hair color and skin coloring and think that dress would look fantastic on me!
Many thanks,
Charlotte
I am a marathon runner-in-training, and I find it perfectly acceptable to wear running pants/tshirts/jackets out and about. Grocery shopping, salon appointments, dinner with friends. Yep, it’s awful. I know I shouldn’t, and I love being dressy, but geez those yoga pants sure are comfortable. I justify it because the pants are black, and I don’t wear them if I’ve actually worked out in them, so don’t I really just look like a sporty soccer mom? Even though I’m not a mom? And I don’t play soccer? 🙂
Ha! I love this one!
I also, share your indulgence of basically not getting dressed until I absolutely have to. On Saturdays, I’ll wear pajamas until I leave the house, which sometimes isn’t until the evening. And I don’t care. I also refuse to wear a bra until, again, I have to leave the house. I have petite blooms, so I really don’t feel bad about this one at all. It’s not like my girls are drooping and swishing around all over the place!
I think one of my faus paux is the wearing of flip flops with just about everything once the temperature rises. I blame it on my hateful feet that break out in a heat rash whenever they get too warm, which happens fairly easily. I, therefore, will live in flip flops come summer. My feet need to fully breath! Anything else is just too hot to wear.
I’m still trying to squeeze into my pre-prego clothes which occasionally means I’m trying to camoflauge my ever-so-fashionable muffin top. Scandalous!
PS Wondering if you would consider writing a post on stay-at-home clothes that can easily be transitioned into going out into the world clothes. Does that make sense. Busy mother cleaning up after babies needs to run errands and doesn’t want to embarrass herself. THat kind of stuff.
pps love your blog and I’m beginning to feel empowered in my own body. Thanks.
I wear pajamas to take my dog out. I live in a city and we don’t walk far, usually just out the door and back, but I do walk him in my pajamas. I don’t wear pajamas in public for any other reason, not on planes, not to brunch, not to buy a danish, but to run the dog out yes. Sometimes my pajama pants are yoga pants and therefore vaguely more presentable, but sometimes they’re just flannel with polar bears.
My fashion sins are many. I combine colors with impunity (like today: orange long sleeve tee under green short sleeve tee, blue jeans, yellow boots. It works, I swear). I never wear heels (I live in San Francisco and I walk everywhere. Footwear-wise, comfort is my highest priority). And I never wear make-up, even though I’m nearly 32 (frankly, I don’t know the first thing about make-up, and don’t know where to begin).
Hm. Now that I’ve outlined all my transgressions, I’m thinking I look fairly decent, considering.
I wear heels everyday and try try to make sure that my hair is done…but man I sometimes live it up on casual Fridays (though no jeans are allowed)
I also am working on eliminating all the pilled, snagged and faded clothing out of my wardrobe. I am 23 and I have clothing from when I was 16! I just never grew out of it so I was still wearing it. But I took a good long look at it and said — “that isn’t suitable for a working professional in the PR and marketing industry” and threw it out.”
I absolutely love your blog, love how your are promoting your business and totally want you to style me sometime!
I have a myriad of faux pas, but only one justification. Kids. And their necessitating practicality. My uniform must be able to be spot cleaned with wet-wipes on the go, be submerged in bath water while retrieving a submerged phone, be flexible enough to be up and down off the floor 217 times whilst picking up toys, changing diapers, wrestling etc etc. Those little monsters do a number on the wardrobe, I’m tellin’ ya. (Not to mention draining the funding for said wardrobe)
I can’t get your groovy button to work…
is the code correct? I am I missing a vital clue???
can you leave me a comment on my blog?
thanks
Jane
oh boy, this is like confessional all over again, my hands are sweaty, my stomach hurts, but here goes… My fashion faux paus would be my North Face jacket. I pair it with everything. I teach high school so I am in dress clothes and heels everyday (I agree with the min. 3 inches heel as well), but I always wear my black North Face fleece. I should grow up and buy a winter coat (did I mention I live in the midwest were it is frozen 6 months out of the year????) – my other faux paus is spending more on desinger childrens clothes than on my own wardrobe…
I have a few. Two that come to mind: I loathe ironing. I try to be better, but I mostly just resort to buying clothes that require little.
My other? Flip flops. I think that they go stunningly with everything, although, I do know deep down that they do not. I try to quelch the urge and am mostly successful.
First, I must mention my personal hatred of slip-on closed toed shoes of any sort (but usually a clog of some sort), most especially worn with socks. Dark socks. There is just no good way to pull that off.
my own current faux pas is my too-big jeans. The problem is that after buying several pairs of designer (read: EXPENSIVE) jeans, I unexpectedly lost about 15 lbs. And there is only so much altering you can do to pants before they look, well, altered. But they’re pretty new, and did I mention they were expensive? what to do.
I let my shoes get into horrible condition. I just bought new casual shoes after having 3 pairs that I’ve been wearing since June. The two pairs I wear regularly have worn toes and smell like one million stinky feet.
I also stay in my pajamas most of the day on the weekends, unless anyone outside my family is coming over or I’m going out.
:bump:
That dress is so darling. Can you tell me where you got it?
redcharlotte @ gmail . com