Are Emotional Fashion Decisions Legit?

Coat: Stein Mart
Lane Bryant Blouse: Goodwill
Skirt and Tights: Lane Bryant
Boots: Ross
Bracelet and Earrings: Lane Bryant

Do you hate a certain color or type of clothing because your mother forced you to wear it again and again when growing up? Do you have an aversion to plaid because of the private school uniform you were forced into for the first 13 years of your life?

Do you hate pencil skirts because you think slimmer ladies wear them better? Well, apparently our emotions are often tied to our fashion choices. Some professional stylists say simply, GET OVER IT! BE MATURE! LEAVE THE PAST IN THE PAST!! But, sometimes, it is not that simple.

I recently visited my mom in the hospital and with a large group of family gathered around her bed, she proceeded to tell everyone how much I loved the homemade clothes she sewed for me and how great I looked in them. She spoke with passion and flair of how I was the envy of so many girls in my small Texas town, because of the clothes. (Of course, this was after she told me she doesn’t like my hair color!!) All I could do was sit there silently and think about how much I loathed those clothes all the while processing bad memories of one day spent as a marshmallow and another really traumatizing Southern Belle moment. When I was finally able to buy my own clothes in actual stores, it was a great, great day!!

Another great day was when I was in route to a teenage cast party with a freshly sown party dress in tow. I lept from the car in a rush…slammed the door…caught the dress in the door…and chopped it in half. My mother was horrified…I was inwardly rejoicing. Unfortunately, she took it home and made it into a blouse!

Now, I completely understand that she made these clothes out of her love for me. I just was embarrassed to be seen in them when my high school peers were wearing cute, store-bought clothes. My mother was far from Project Runway material. I handled it the way I handle most challenges… I sought a solution and as a teen, I got a job at a boutique in the mall…and spent my income on their clothes.

Maybe we should all get over itbe mature…and leave the past in the past…but when someone tells me they have a hang up about a certain style or color…I kind of get it!!

Care to take a side here??


 
One More Blast from the Past:  As I said yesterday, this is rodeo week in San Antonio.  I grew up going to rodeos all over the state and my favorite memories were the ones where I met all of the cast from Bonanza…one of my favorite TV shows!  I met Ben and Hoss at the Fort Worth Rodeo and Adam and Little Joe at smaller ones. So, I dug out my precious autograph from Michael Landon to share with you….it is in my keepsake box…which does not hold any of my mother’s homemade clothing!!
 

 
 
 

Rodeo’s bring fond memories from my childhood!! Hmmm…maybe that is why I like western wear!!

20 Comments

  1. Someday you'll get old and dotty and bend the ear of your family about this or that and they'll all sit there thinking, if only she knew…

    I have more food issues than clothes issues. I loved my father, but not his love of eggplant.

  2. First–love your outfit!
    I, like you, got a job so I could buy my own clothes. My mom didn't sew but well…her taste and mine are FAR apart. Even as a pre-teen and teenager she'd buy what SHE liked with no thought to what I liked or what would look good on me her busty daughter. I still shudder when i think of the bright purple fake fur coat she brought when I was 12. I HATED it–I looked like a stuffed animal and I HAD to wear it. She still occaisonally buys things (it was ON SALE) like the pepto bismal pink VELOUR jogging suit she brought a couple years ago. All it needed were ears, a fuzzy tail and a basket full of eggs!!! She wondered why I didn't wear it to work (hey engineers aren't known for their fashion-savvy but COME ON!!! LOLOLO)

  3. Oh Bonanza!
    I used to watch it in french, i think i had a thing for little Joe!
    Rodeo week that sounds like fun, we such an event in Quebec – Ste-Tite's Rodeo – Ste-Tite is a little town in Quebec, i know funny name for a town, does not have the same meaning in french!

    My had her own idea of style, i was not so bad besides a few things, but i got to choose more when i got to be a teenager

    Take care lovely lady!

    Ariane xxxx

  4. Oh gosh, I think our emotions can affect most, if not all, of the decisions we make whether it be about fashion or finances or food.

    I also think you look beautiful in your store bought clothes! 🙂

  5. When doing a closet purge with a client, we often get caught up on pieces that bring up emotions, but that's the way the process works. Getting past things that make them hang onto the past. I mean, some things you need to save and put away as keepsakes, but other things have to go.

    You look so pretty in every look.

    xo,
    Tracy

  6. You look beautiful and I definitely think clothing is emotional. My daughter will still not wear navy because of her school uniform! Thrilled to be your newest follower ~

  7. I was so in love with Michael Landon as Little Joe! I was sure I would marry him.
    As to the fashion decisions. I think the reason I dislike dresses so much is because I was forced to wear them all through school. I thought it was so unfair that they would not let us wear pants. My Mother made a lot of my clothes, but I always liked what she made or bought me. I was lucky she was such a great seamstress.

  8. I love both outfits, especially the boots and the scarf! Wow, you reminded me of clothing memories long buried. My sister and I had to wear our cousins' hand-me-downs. I started sewing my own clothes simply to have something new!

  9. Awww darn you did love the clothes your mom made for you? My mom is awesome at sewing, and she made so many adorable clothes for me and my cabbage patch doll when I was growing up and I did love almost everything she made! I should see if I can find my favorite picture of my doll and I in a pink and white gingham dress with a white apron that went over it 🙂 We wore it to a party on a hot day in July when all the kids showed up in shorts and tanks and gasp…NON matching clothes with their dolls!

  10. I had such a crush on Michael Landon when I was a girl! The best part of this post is the story about your mother and the conflicted feelings you had. My mother mostly left off the sewing for me after grade school…and gradually I was allowed to select my own, but just a few, clothes.

  11. HI there! Thanks for leaving a comment on my blog, Green Issues. Came over to say "hi" 🙂
    Think my mum would love reading this post 🙂

  12. Thanks for the shout out today!
    I will tell you I still hate the color yellow b/c I wore it everyday for 2 years while in nursing school
    I will NEVER get over it LOL
    brett

  13. Pam, you wear your clothes so well…I think you would look good in anything! My memories are always that of being the first to try a trend (Beatle boots, bell bottoms, stacked heels) and getting ridiculed for it. Maybe that is why I shy away from jumping on the trend bandwagon. Plus, I am afraid that one year it is is "in" and the next year, "out."

  14. Oh, your outfits are so cute, love the boots!
    I hurt my mother one Christmas and it was awful. My parents were struggling and I was a teenager. I hated SEARS and loved the Limited but they could only afford SEARS. My mother got me a cute sweater and a silk pajama top, in pink, my favorite color, Oh, the sweater was a simple beige cardigan, something I could use and not too trendy. Both were perfect and had they had a Limited label I would have loved them. On Christmas day I was awful to my mom but I ended up having both items for years and my mother forgave me, she said, "You were a teenager and you just wanted stuff from the trendy store, I understood and in the end, I knew you would like the items because they were actually your style." What a great mom, I was horrible and she made me feel better plus I learned a lesson too, the store doesn't really matter.

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