Nov 27, 2009

Looking Good Ain't So Pretty


Hello!


Well, just in case you are feeling old, fat, or like your are losing it, I got a story for you that will either make you feel like you are not alone, or you will be thinking, well at least I'm not that bad!
It all started out so innocently and yet so badly....


In my last posting I was telling you about my Big Ass Button Trip (aka NYC) and how I found this fabulous dress - I mean couture chiffon with black roses (see above). Well, I found a chance to wear it recently on a beautiful fall day. I had loads of errands to do, a computer class to take and I was meeting some girlfriends for lunch. I put on said couture, black tights, boots, vintage 1950's short sweater that belonged to my mother and the brooch that I also bought on my trip.


I was stylin!


I was in a rush (I am always running late) so I grab my computer and head out for my class - I am trying to learn some new skills as I build my new website and I meet my teacher in a one on one class and a bunch of other students and while a zillion customers mill around the store. I then run to the bank and a few other errands and then I meet my girlfriends, Debbie and Gretchen for lunch. As I enter the lunch place, my girlfriends are already there and as I walk in they squeal with delight and ask me to twirl for them to see the dress. They ooh and aaah over the black roses....it seems no matter who old we women get, we still like to play dress up and we still squeal. It makes me feel young though when that happens because it is all so sincere. My friend comments on the brooch and sweater and then we sit and gab and gab and finally go the counter to order. (I order dessert first and bring back a big piece of cake with three forks...gotta try the cake while we wait for our lunch...it will be a long gabbing session, must have strength!) We all catch up on what's what and the place is getting crowded but we just gab, laugh (howl actually) and hours later, we must depart.


My two friends are heading to flower row (a cool place here in St. Louis to get wholesale flowers and floral supplies) and I am headed over another friend's home, Karen for a visit. I drive to Karen's home and as I walk up her sidewalk to her glass door, she is waiting for me and she is already oohhing and aaahhing my dress and says for me to "come in! come in" and as I enter her home, she asks me to take off my little sweater so she can get a look at me and here is how the 30 second conversation goes as I stand there for her to admire my dress:


Me: Don't you just love it? I can't believe I got it for only $40!


Karen (aka Miss Fashion Plate): Oh! It's beautiful!


(I do the mandatory twirl for her..)


Me: I love the color...


Karen: Me too! But why do you have on one black boot and one brown boot?


(My twirls come to an immediate halt needless to say...)


Me: What??!!! (As I glance down at my feet in horror...)


Karen: Yeah...? You have one brown boot on and one black boot..?


Me: What??!!


Karen (now laughing): Don't they feel different? Couldn't you tell how they feel?


Me (now laughing): OMG!


Karen (matter of fact tone): Oh, I see, (she studies my boots closely) they have the same heel....but one is brown and the other is black...you know one is black and the other...


Me: I heard you....man the bad thing is (as I look down at my boots) the bad thing is, is that one boot toe is pointy and the other boot toe is rounded! (And I just give up and laugh with her.)


But in my defense, they had the same leather feel, same heel height, and same squished look. You can judge for yourself....see below.....


(I know...pretty bad, isn't it?)


We both crack up laughing so hard...I mean, I am with Karen 30 seconds max, and she spots it, and I am with Debbie and Gretchen for hours and nothing....so I tell Karen to wait a second, I MUST make a call. I pick up my cell phone and call Gretchen. She and Debbie are still in the car driving. I don't say "hello" I don't say anything when she answers, I just say:


"Do you think you can help out a girlfriend???!!"


I proceed to tell Gretchen what Karen and I discovered and I hear loud gasps over the phone and then I hear Debbie in the background saying that she did later noticed I had two different boots on, but when I came back from the restroom and sat down and we started gabbing all over again, she forgot all about it. I proceed to tell Gretchen about all my morning errands and class and so on (more gasps over the phone) and how I thought I looked so cute....we laughed and laughed and then Gretchen, trying to comfort me, told me about her fashion faux pas just the week before.


She told me that she went all day long wearing two different shoes. They were both black and one shoe had SILVER RIVETS on them and the other shoe was like a loafer! She went all day long and even at one point during the day, she looked down at her loafer and said to herself, oh no! I lost some rivets! I laughed and laughed and felt better. But at the same time, I thinking, what is wrong with us? We are both only 45 years old....what are we going to be like in 20 years?


So, then Karen tells me about a time she was at a public pool (recently) with a friend and they came out of the dressing room and walked all the around the pool finding a spot. They stayed at the pool laying out and Karen has a great figure so she has a two piece on. So they are chatting and talking and Karen goes back into the dressing room (after she walk all the way around the pool again - a very crowded pool at that) and discovers that she had her bottoms on inside out! Her tag was hanging out on the outside on the back and LUCKILY the crotch area, didn't have that white panel - you know what I talking about, it had a brown one that matched her suit, but all the stitching was showing, and it was very obvious. Well she goes back and tells her friend, and her friend said she noticed it but didn't want to say anything because she was from the south and people from the south don't point things out like that. Karen made it very clear that girlfriends do not let other girlfriends parade around a public pool with their suits inside out whether they are from the south, north, east, west, Mars, Venus, or wherever, hahahaha...and I agree!


Fashion faux pas isn't just for women - men are victims too (as we all know too well). Just two days before my boot disaster, I went to bible study with my husband and he put on his new jacket as we were leaving the class and saying our good-byes. Out in the parking lot I noticed a HUGE tag hanging under his arm! I chastised him because I asked him that morning if he got all the tags off (he rarely, if ever, gets all tags off his clothes...he is a walking advertisement) and he told me just a tad sarcastically that of course he got all the tags off and now, here we are, in the middle of a parking lot, with this huge tag swinging in the wind just after he put on his coat in front of the bible study class....oh, I couldn't resist and rolled my eyes in sheer frustration! After my boot incident, I tried very hard to convince him that his hanging coat tag was a much more serious faux pas, but that didn't fly nearly as high as his tag did on that windy day....


But this wearing different colored boot thing has got me really thinking...while I find it really funny (and it was) it does say a lot about human nature in general. Most of us just handle life day by day and do our best to plan for the future. Some years are good years and some years are extremely challenging. But for the most part, all humans want the same thing. To be safe, happy, and to feel accepted. And in striving for those very simple things we can get so caught up in the everyday stuff, and so caught up in our culture and what others are doing, or we start thinking that we need this or that to make us feel safe, happy or accepted when actually we just think we need those things to be happy. We can lose sight of what is really important in life.


Then we one day we wear one brown boot and black boot. All day long.


And at the end of the day, someone points out your one brown and your one black boot and you both have a good laugh. You laugh because most likely, people have been laughing at you all day long and you never even knew it. That's the beauty of it. People laughed, judged, and maybe even commented, and you didn't even care. You still went on being you - the real you. Granted, you didn't know you had on two different color boots, but how great it would be if we could really go through life like that. We could be who we really are, enjoy our friends, life, feel pretty all day, eat cheesecake, and just be who we are and truly not care what anyone else thought, said, or did? Wouldn't that be great? Because in the end, when all is said and done, what we all really want anyway is just to feel safe, happy, and to be accepted.


While I may roll my eyes in exasperation at my husband with his huge tag under his arm, he wasn't about to pass up his chance when we were leaving for church and I came out of the bedroom into the living room, in a nice dress, and yes, wearing boots. He got his car keys, and I was grabbing my purse and just as he was opening the front door, he stopped short and turned and grabbed my shoulders and pushed me back a bit and looked down and "studied" my outfit for a second. Then very officially said, "Good, both boots black...it's safe to go out now..."


I laughed and yes, I felt very safe, happy, and most definitely accepted.


Hopefully you don't have two wear two different color boots, or two completely different shoes, or have a giant tag hanging out or even parade around in public with your swimsuit inside out to feel like it is okay to be you no matter what others or saying or thinking about you. It was a freeing moment though, when I was standing there, looking down at my different colored boots, thinking how clueless I was all day, and yet, I didn't even care...now that is freedom...not stylish mind you....but still freedom.


May your stylish moments truly be stylish and may your moments of freedom be faux pas-free.


Here's to putting your best foot forward in life...and may the other foot match.


From my house to your house,
Elizabeth


P.S.....Okay, I have been getting some great fashion faux pas stories that I had to pass on:


My brother, Bill, is in chemical engineering sales and he finally had a huge appointment with a big-time possible customer that took almost a year and a half to snag. Bill flies out of town to meet this customer and as he waits in the airport for this customer to pick him up, Bill decides to do a "fashion check." Now, when my brother is telling me this story, you have to know that 1. My brother is not into fashion, so when he told me he was checking anything, I was very surprised since dressing up to him usually means wearing a shirt that has buttons. And 2. Bill is not a morning person is this was a very early flight. He has two very small children, a wife, 3 dogs, 1 cat, and for him to dress nicely is a challenge in of itself.


So my brother is sitting in the airport, trying to keep his eyes open (he is not the nervous type at all, very calm) and decides to do this "fashion check." He tells me he feels his collar...good...it is down...tie is straight...jacket lapel is flat....he feels around his waist...yup all belt loops are looped, and yes, he isn't flashing anyone, he is zipped up, and he stands up and yes, his pockets are tucked in, and pats his butt, yes, wallet in place, and looks down the front of his pants, and the creases are still crisp with a crisp line....all the way down to his bright white socks and white running shoes!


He tells me he is wearing this very nice suit with the biggest, clunkiest running shoes he owns...he was in a rush that morning and wasn't thinking and he just now noticed. Never mind he had to take them off to get through security at the airport AND put them on again...never mind he sat on the plane and crossed his legs. Never mind he sat in the airport waiting for his very important customer, and it is only when he is doing this very last minute "check" does he notice....just in time to look up and see his customer approach him.


I gasp and say my usual OMG!!! I ask him what did you do??? He said (so typically calm of him) "What can you do?" He said as the customer approached and they shook hands, the customer looked down at the shoes and Bill just shrugged his shoulders and said, "It was an early flight..." And they went on their way...nothing more! End of story! No frantic phone calls to friends, no rehashing his plight, no photos of shoes and then blogging about it, no gasping...nope that is it.


Men!


Okay, one more short story....I got an email from my friend Gary. He said that once he had his collar up, missed belt loops, and one sock was inside out..all in front of an important meeting with clients...I am starting to feel better and better.... :-)


















25 comments:

The French Bear said...

That's so cute! You could just start a new trend!!
I have worn a sweater inside out once before..... all day at work, in public..... I still get red when I think about it! I love the dress, those roses are beautiful!
Cheers,
Margaret B

Cheryl Connell said...

OH, Elizabeth that is worth the wait for your posts! They make up in QUALITY - what a hoot.

And a cool message too.

Cheryl

Sweet Old Vintage said...

great post.... what life is all about..... My son when he was young and told the teacher he had another pair like them at home.... Blessings......

Sandi said...

So funny Elizabeth. I loved reading this post!! May I borrow your picture of the dress and post it with a link back to your story on my blog? I would love my followers to get a good laugh too. lol
Hugs~

Debra@CommonGround said...

Hi Elizabeth, I was thrilled to see that you left a comment on "a day in the life...". That really blessed my heart! You are such a precious person, I'm so glad you found it. I'm sorry the other comment didn't go through. I feel like God is getting ready to do some awesome things. Come by when you can, it's been a real blessing and learning time for me, as I write these posts. Hope to hear from you again soon. By the way, I just love your dress and I laughed so hard about the boots. Hilarious!
Talk soon,
Debra

Elizabeth Maxson said...

Hi Sandi,

Yes, please feel free to post the photo and add a link - I am all about sharing laughs - even more so at my expense...I will say though...it is funny IF it happens only once...now twice....I would be mortified...three times....time for the looney bin! :-)

Elizabeth

The Rustic Victorian said...

I did that with shoes,same shoes, one in black and one maroon,,at a trade show,,I couldn't go back to my hotel room and change,, but it was kind of fun,,,no one really cares,, not really...I do think the worse thing is,, when there is something in your nose, or your makeup is terribly smeared, or toilet paper stuck on you shoe....All girlfriends should help when these things happen...especially the older we get... ;) funny post, very easy to relate to.
Marcie

Whispering Pine Cottage said...

Great post! I think this might also be about acceptance, self acceptance? Thanks for the laughs! Angie

Anonymous said...

Sweet Elizabeth, that is a funny post and completely understanding, your boots were almost identical, so I will say it can happen to be best of us. I wore a coat to church one time with a 75% off tag hanging. I noticed that during praise and worship the teenagers behind me will burst in laughter everytime I lifted my hands. I wore that sticker proudly for 5 hours and only found out about it when I took it off to hang. My initial reaction was embarrasment and I then understood I was the reason for the giggles. After a while everytime I remembered I will laughed. Personally I'm the kind that tells, ask permission to fix collars, take rollers of your do and will tell about lipstick and dinner stock in your teeth. Thanks for charing, beautiful teaching. Blessings, Marta

Myrna said...

LOL! Great post, Elizabeth! But MY thoughts about your boots were "Leave it to Elizabeth to make her own style"...as you are in home decor! ;-) But I get your point..and I am glad you feel safe,happy and accepted that's the biggest blessing in life!
Blessings!
Myrna
P.S. Are you decorating for Christmas? PULEEEZE post pics!!

Elizabeth Maxson said...

Okay Marta,

I will have to admit, your story with praise and worship with the tag hanging off would have been right up there with the OMG!! category for me!! hahahaha I was mortified and then laughed when I read your story- thanks for the laugh!

Have a tag-free day,
Elizabeth :-)

BellaRosa said...

What a wonderful post...I read it aloud to my husband and daughters last night and we all laughed...mind you not at you, but the situation...because we have all done that at one time or another...it is a moment that makes us all human no matter how rich or poor, beautiful or lil me just average, a "moment" like this puts us all on an even keel...I have since I was a young girl always been told by my mom and grandma to never go out in public looking like you just walked outta bed, pjs in public and no makeup are an absolute no no...well I went out shopping to some nice upscale shops...with a lovely outfit..check..make up nice..check..killer purse..check...and err pink flip flops with a lovely big rose on top...I forgot and left my nicer dress shoes by the door :) all I remember was getting alot of smiles that day and just thinking...wow, I wish people were friendly like this more often..then I realized...they must have thought I was marching to the beat of my own lil drummer :) Besos, Rose

Shawn Seay said...

OMG!!! I laughed so hard over this one I got a side ache! Love, Love, Love the dress and the piece of furniture. Beautiful!
Blessings,
Shawn

Gretchen said...

Ha! Ha! What a cute and light hearted post you've written. You had me laughing and smiling on a dreary day in Minnesota.
Glad to see you're back at posting again, as you're one of my favorites to follow along with blogging.
Stop on in and check out my blog if you have time. I'm giving away 3 pcs. of jewelry (1 is a choker like you like). I'm celebrating my 100th post. Also, if you become a follower your name gets entered 2 x's, and such.
Hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving!
And by the way, from now on I'll be checking my foot wear before I leave the house. Too funny!
Gretchen
Mimi-Toria's Jewelry
http://mimitoriasdesigns.blogspot.com

The Attic Girls said...

I have to tell you this...your blog is the ONLY blog that I will ever take the time to read an entire post when it's this long....LOL It is always worth it. :) I am 52, and soooo far, I have only pulled off the classic inside out tee, bra and 2 different color socks...with style. I'm sure the 2 different shoes will come... in good time. :)

Junk Girl said...

Holy funny! What's life all about if we can't laugh?! I must laugh daily. Many times. Andrea

Sallie Ann said...

Clearly not everyone noticed, so no big deal. The dress was the show stopper...it is unreal. I'm just happy if I get out of the house with shoes on. If they match I consider it sprinkles on my cupcake!

Sammy Girl said...

Elizabeth --
Was just dropping by for a quick read before bed ... and so glad I did! I am often putting a jacket or hoodie on inside out. Don't know until hubby mentions something or I try to zip up. Sheesh ... when unlined and all black, kinda hard to tell ... but it does make me smile and wonder if anyone did notice.

I appreciate your comments and encouragement for us to be free to be ourselves. And not letting clothing be either "armor" to protect and shield us from people or the source of our strength and comfort.

Thanks for giving us a laugh and also something deeper to think about.

Love ya, gal!

Hugs!
Betty :)

trash talk said...

At least you didn't forget your underwear...ummm...you didn't did you?
Debbie

Sue said...

Thank GOD I'm not the only one. On my 18th birthday, I was so excited to go out to my first bar and drink legally. I was trying on different outfits, trying to decide what to wear when my boyfriend honked his horn to let me know he was waiting. I rushed out, and not until mid-way to the evening (in the ladies room, of course) did someone point out that I was wearing one clog and one lace-up shoe. D'oh! I love the sentiment that you took away from this experience! I'll never be embarrassed again!

The Creative Bohemian said...

Elizabeth,

That story just brought many little giggles. Thanks for sharing that! Unfortunately I have had far too many fashion faux pas in my time, from wearing a sweater inside out all day to having a sock hanging out of my sleeve due to static cling. No, I am not one to check the mirror in the morning either.

SuZeQ said...

To make a long story short, remember "back in the day" (don't ya just LOVE that phrase?) of typewriters? Remember the carriage return that moved to the right as you typed?

I worked in a sales office of 28 guys and 2 gals all just fresh out of college. We were all in one large room, with everybody's desk facing the front of the room where I sat. If I was sitting at my desk, they caught my profile but if I was typing on the "L" of my desk, I faced them.

The sales force was supposed to be out of the office making calls the majority of every day. This particular day they were all in the office because we were expecting a very attractive interviewee.

I was lost in my work and didn't realize she had quietly entered the office and standing at my desk.

Once I knew she was there, I jumped up and offered to take her coat. The carriage return had been left extended out as far as possible. As I tried to squeeze through that and the filing cabinets behind me, the bow of my wrap around skirt had caught in the paper release lever of my typewriter.

Because I was rushing, I literally walked right out of my skirt. I stood there, right in front of all the sales guys AND the interviewee, wearing nothing but disco tights and go-go boots (and, of course, my blouse.)

Rather than just quietly go back around and sit down and try to retrieve my skirt, oh no, I stood there and tugged and tugged and tugged...all the while in complete view of the whole sales force watching me.

So, you see, I get it, too: "Looking good Ain't So Pretty."

kristinco said...

Many thanks Elizabeth ... d'autant qu'un compliment venant de votre part et encore plus flatteur pour moi !
De bonnes fêtes en perspective par chez vous !

Elizabeth Maxson said...

Okay SuzeQ,

YOU WIN!! I could see the whole picture of your story and laughed out loud! And I could just see you tugging at your skirt!! hahahahahaha! And yes, I am aging myself, but I actually took TYPING class in HS and did very well - 80WPM if I remember correctly.

YOU ARE THE WINNER!
It ain't pretty, is it??
Love
elizabeth

SuZeQ said...

Ha ha ha. Bet you tell that story a time or two (as I have!) Forgot the best part ... as I was tugging, I was grunting out loud, too, which made it even worse! Now, 30 some years later, it truly AIN'T PRETTY AT ALL. Back in the day, not real real bad (or so I thought - ha ha ha!)

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