Thursday, January 19, 2006

America's Next Top Project Runway Model?

Lynda and I had an interesting discussion this morning in the coffee room at work.

I had left the house early (since I was taking Sarah to her first Thursday art class today and will have to leave work early to get her there). So, she had to awaken and dress the kids herself.

I heard Lynda bring Grace into the bedroom while I was finishing up my shower. Grace doesn't usually get up that early, but at least she was up and in a pretty good mood. Lynda told me that Grace was actually very cooperative while getting her clothes put on.

Sarah, however, was not as cooperative in the getting out of bed, putting on her clothes department.

This is not entirely new with her. Ever since she's been old enough and coordinated enough to do so, we've been giving her the license to get up and dress herself. I figure it's only right since it takes away one thing that we don't have to do ourselves.

Of course, if we give her the freedom of choice, we sometimes have to live with that choice . . . and there lies the rub to this particular story. For, you see, Sarah has her own particular notion of what style is, especially when it comes to color choices, pattern mixture, and the like.

Which brings us back to the discussion that Lynda and I had in the coffee room this morning. She was telling me that Sarah was slow getting out of bed and getting dressed, and that once she did get herself moving, she decided to wear a particular outfit that Mom wasn't happy with.

The outfit--a green, flowery summer dress that my mom made for her--wasn't suitable for the temperature. When Lynda pointed this out to her, Sarah's solution to this was to put a striped purple and blue shirt on top of this.

Well, Lynda wasn't gonna let that outfit happen either. So, she made Sarah change into something more suitable for January. What did Sarah choose? See for yourself. Lynda wasn't entirely happy with this one either, but she let it go.

*****

I generally have a more "live-and-let-live attitude about Sarah's dressing choices. She will soon enough be making her fashion decisions based on magazines, other girls, whatever, rather than what she envisions in her own mind about herself. I would rather empower her own self-image and confidence as long as possible (as long as her choices are temperature- and weather-appropriate).

But, of course, this is coming from the kid who refused to wear blue jeans until college, who used to wear sweatshirts tucked into his pants. (Please, don't ask! Rest assured that I will burn all pictures of this hideousness whenever I come across them. Maybe my parents know where these pictures are, but I don't . . . and frankly, I don't want to know where they are.)

I also once tried to wear grey sweatpants with a white dress shirt and a skinny tie. My mom and sister tried very hard to prevent me going outside in such an outfit.

In college I had a plaid flannel shirt that I dearly loved. (Hey! It was the high point of Nirvana-inspired grunge, okay?) Naturally, Lynda hated that shirt. Sometimes I tried to pair the shirt with a pair of flannel pajama shorts that were also plaid, but the shorts featured a different pattern with different colors (red, green, black I think). I threatened to wear them both around campus one day in some sort of "up-with-plaid" motivational outfit. Lynda would have definitely beat me senseless . . . and we weren't even married yet!

Today of course I am polished to a high-gloss sheen, but I admit to having a spotty past when it comes to fashion sense.

What's my point?

Well, as usual, I don't really have one.

*****

If you didn't like that story, read this.

4 comments:

David said...

If you read this last night after I posted it, good for you for quick viewing!

But, you might want to check out the photo links again. I decided to add some descriptive text to several of them.

lulu said...

Well, I think she looks adorable! I looked at her and saw the next world-famous art quilter. The kid is in art school, for Viggo's sake! Let her express herself! I would have gone a step further and polished the outfit with a pair of stripey tights--why not?

One possible solution. You ARE her parents! If you want her to be able to pick her own clothes and look "presentable", then only buy and accept clothes that coordinate. May I suggest all black? With a few brightly colored scarves?

Stevie often looks like a frat boy in miniature. Thankfully, he doesn't act like one. Almost all of his clothes are solid colors--blue, RED, white, black, khaki, and grey. Just about any combo would work. Still, his father brought him to my cousin's calling hours in a wrinkled red corduroy shirt--untucked (yes, corduroy can wrinkle), faded indigo blue "jeans" best suited for art day, a white with blue-trim long underwear shirt underneath, and some sort of sticky substance in his hair. How does this happen?

Dude--you used to tuck in your sweatshirts?! Superfreak. Or should I say Supergeek? ; D

David said...

Please note that I am not stressed about her clothing choices.

I place the angst squarely on Lynda's shoulders.

Sven Golly said...

Angst is good. It builds character.

Other good things:

"more highly developed visual, spatial, and perspective skills"

the freedom to try stuff

discussing/analyzing the crazy stuff you get to try

conventional tastes (something to renounce, reject, rebel against)