Fashion frustration

So I finally broke down and bought a pair of “skinny” jeans (which, of course, means that baggy bell-bottoms will be all the rage next year, ladies).

I’ve resisted them because they look so, well, skinny. And tight. And uncomfortable. Something for teenagers, not middle-aged women.

But I’ve been seeing a some of my friends wearing them, fashionably tucked inside boots or with cute little mary-jane-type flats and no socks.

So, I took the plunge. Plunked down my credit card and brought a pair home.

Turns out, I actually kind of like them. They’re warm! And the fabric, even on the ones that look like jeans, is stretchy so they aren’t as restrictive as I thought they’d be. I’ve worn them tucked inside boots and with the ballet slipper flats. They’re cute. And here’s the big flash – when I’m wearing them I feel pretty stylish. Now that hasn’t happened in a while.

Sometime in the last few years, the styles have changed, and my body has changed so that shopping for new clothes is tedious and confusing. Seriously, there are days when I look through the racks of women’s garments and wonder, what the hell do you do with that? And more often than not, I walk (or run screaming) out of the store empty-handed. Or, just as likely, I end up buying something for my twenty-one-year-old daughter because all that cute clingy stuff might actually look good on her.

Okay, I’m over the skinny jeans, but really, does everything have to be skin-tight? I guess lace is in, and I’d love to have a few more lacey items in my wardrobe, but it seems that all the lace is stretched over some Spandex-type fabric. I tried on a darling shirt the other day, with a flower-like lace design on the front. Loved it. Until I turned around! The three-way mirror said it all. The back of the shirt had no lace – just a clingy layer of fabric so thin it was practically transparent. Sigh. Empty-handed again.