Tuesday, 7th of September 2010 at 08:35:22 AM 
Some things are worth the calories. Many of these worth it things are found at Cakes and Ale in Decartur.
Also at Leon’s, home of the Goat Cheese Fondue Frittes, I discovered The Bee’s Knees Royale. It is a dandelion yellow cocktail—- lemon and honey and gin —-that is like having the sweet-tart end of summer in a champagne glass. The Sunday brunch at Café Alsace is a DBF tradition. I got crepes, but I had fruit in lieu of potatoes on the side, and this was because of my extreme and glamorous VIRTUE and not because I secretly do not care for brunch potatoes. Oh. Wait. Did I say the quiet part out loud again?
Look, I didn’t backslide for FRITOS or a hydrogenated oil-clad and waxy Hostess snack cake. These things I ate? They are worth it. A+++!!!!! Would eat again. I remember the taste of those figs and I am not even remotely sorry. AND! Most importantly? I came home, and got RIGHT back on the horse. RIGHT BACK ON. Which is not my usual MO. My MO is, I backslide, I realize I am hopeless, I give completely up and put my head in a feedbag full of the Fritos I have been shunning, and I don’t even LIKE Fritos…
I am trying to be more FRENCH about these things.
And speaking of being more French, I want some fashion. To HAVE some fashion or some ideas about6 it, or maybe even…I don’t know, A LOOK. I want to have a LOOK. I mean, beyond lusting hopelessly after outsize orange leather hobo bags I want to HAVE some sort of internal fashion. Perhaps the 8th season of Project Runway is getting to me…
Mondo should have Wondo
Upshot: I think I would feel better about my less than perfect body if I had a fashion. I want to wear things on my body that I LIKE and which seem to be ME-LIKE, which I have never really felt driven to do before. My idea of fashion is a loose, dark top with jeans. Sometimes, if I am feeling CRAZY inspired, I will put on one of the vintage bead bracelets my friend Anna made me. I want to do better.
Julie says my favorite color is “drab,” but it isn’t just about COLOR. My whole LOOK is best described as drab…I wish I understood clothes and how they go together, and accessories. At DBF, I asked every author who had their own sort of look where and how they had gotten their clothes, and here is the thing—-everyone who looked really COOL to me, really interesting and body-flattered by their clothes, had not bought AN OUTFIT. Not a single one. They would say, “OH I got this top here and this scarf there and these leggings are from ten years ago, and then these boots came from the thrift store near my house, and I made this skirt myself by sewing together my grandmother’s old dishtowels with doll hair yarn.”
NO ONE WHO LOOKS GOOD BUYS OUTFITS. People who look good buy CLOTHES. Then they put the clothes together in ways that look nice on their particular bodies. I never understood that you could DO this. (Yes. I am 42. And I ALSO don’t know how to properly blow dry my hair….I am a complete GIRL-FAIL, I know.)
Me?…If I have to go out in public, I go to Ann Taylor, I look on the mannequins until I find something with a lot of GRAY in it, and then I buy all the pieces that the mannequin is wearing because at least I know they probably GO.
I talked to one woman who looked completely great every time I saw her, and she said such a great line back…she said, “Thanks for saying I have style. I actually have ‘distract from the body.’”
Well call it fashion or distraction, I want some, even though I suspect my body dysmorphia prevents me from recognizing when a single object could actually be flattering when paired with things I already have at home… How do you get a STYLE? Is it a thing you can learn? Or am I shafted? Do you have a fashion or a style? What is it and how do you shop?
I think we need a FASHION challenge here on 5FP, but I am not sure how to structure it…Ideas?
The food plan I’m following (for all of five days now) allows you one “splurge meal” per week – a chance to eat (in appropriate portion sizes) whatever you really want. The problem is that by the time you get to it, your body is used to all the healthy, good choices you’ve been making and reacts…inappropriately…to a meal of hydrogenated-oil clad, waxy things. So a splurge on good, healthy, DELICIOUS food? Win-win.
Can’t help, I’m a total girl-fail in those departments as well. It doesn’t help that my body type is some MUTANT type that’s never on the fashion-advice web sites.
And when I try to use a blow dryer, I end up with a sweaty face and scalp, hot wet hair, and hair that’s been sucked into the air intake. Pfagh!
Very good getting back on the horse, that cocktail looks delicious.
You can certainly develop a style at any age. I think a lot of us end up in comfy gray land because we are too harried with the stresses of life that we quit bothering. But if you invest some time in the morning you probably have the items in your wardrobe already for a good start. Add shirts/jackets with structure to give you the shape you want. Define a style with jewelry and other accessories. There really is nothing wrong with gray, especially if you have a bright colored necklace and earings.
My most recent style has been the “I refuse to spend more than $10 on a pair of pants at the current size because I don’t plan to stay here long.” That’s not very attractive as you might imagine. Now that I’ve lost the weight the style is “Gosh it’s great to be able to wear my former wardrobe, if only it weren’t in storage during the 16 month tardy remodel.” I am really looking forward to finding out what I own and trying to develop a new style of my own. I’m drawn to Rocker Chic but don’t quite know if that can be amended to work for a 40 year old professional or if I’m really willing to spend the time each day to do so. A fashion challenge would be fun.
Ooh! Ooh! I know this one! http://fridayplaydate.com/gap-magic/
Yes, I just played matchmaker across blogs. AND that’s the second time this month. I might need a new hobby…
I think if you can find a stylist to give you tips, that would be awesome. Failing that, I think the best thing you can do is to find pieces that make you feel confident, and then be a little daring with accessories. I don’t think there is anything wrong with basics- I am partial to a crisp white shirt and jeans or black pants. I just futz around with jewelry, scarves and shoes until I feel good about how it looks.
I have fashion accidents. Occasionally I’ll grab a couple of pieces, put them on and Hey! they look pretty good. Today is one of those once a decade days. And I’m home and no one will see… pout…
It’s okay to have some “drab” colors, just throw one brightly colored item into the mix. Drab pants with a bright top, etc. I have a pair of minty-green cargo-ish pants that I love, and I wear them with a black top and shoes, to play down any “clown” effect. Of course, I figured this out by embarassing trial and error – I wore the green pants to work one day and for some color-blind reason thought a pale-pink top would be a great idea. My boss, a middle-age MAN, took one look at me, raised an eyebrow and said, “Pink and green???” Yeah, I got schooled by an older man in the fashion department. LOL
Susan Wagner at Friday Playdate seems to have a good handle on putting together a style. Her style is not mine, but her process is good.
One word. Jewelry.
You can swap it up constantly to create a whole new look, especially when you’re wearing neutral colors.
I’ve been meaning to blog about finally being (mostly) able to stop dressing myself funny, but only got around to it on Friday. Today I posted about following (or not) fashion trends. In the real world, with real bodies (instead of runway model ones), it’s really hard to know what will work and won’t work for us. Add age, coloring, location, and personal style and a whole lot of mind melting can occur.
Fashion Trends
You might need a What Not to Wear intervention. My method? TiVo lots of episodes until I find one that vaguely looks like me, and try to follow that advice. But without the budget, it is hard.
Good luck on this one.
What Laura said. I loved the tips that Clinton & Stacy gave for a girl with my body type.
[...] the Thousand Little Things I Meant to Tell You Tuesday, 7th of September 2010 at 07:11:31 PM 1) Over on Five Full Plates I am talking about Foodie-ness and Fashion—and looking for a new challenge involving the [...]
I have been relentlessly stalking tons of fashion blogs. I just go from page to page until I find one whose style I like and then I copy them! Actually, a couple of style bloggers recently just did a fall makeover for me on their site and it was so fun! I’ve bought several things they suggested and it all feels very “me” yet not necessarily something I would have bought on my own. If you’re interested in checking them out, their blog is http://www.looksgoodfromtheback.blogspot.com/
One of my favorite meals about which I still wax rhapsodic is quail and grits from The Horseradish Cafe. Delish!
There is this website called Polyvore http://www.polyvore.com/ wshere you can put tog ether outfits from stuff sold online. We could make outfits for EACH OTHER! Virtual outfits!
I think Fashion is highly overrated. The only time it ever looks good on me is when I buy what I like (not the fashionistas..) and put it together in ways that appeal to me. I look good because I feel good. Most of the time I wear the “it doesn’t look sucky and it us clean enough to wear outside. And the shoes don’t hurt my feet.” It is Too Much Effort to spend a lot of time worrying about it.
If that was backsliding, sign me up. First, because other than the possible cream in the polenta, the meals were pretty healthy, and second because they sound amazing.
I saw the Project Runway photo and laughed out loud because when the season started I thought, “I wonder who Joshilyn likes?” And yes, now that Gretched has been knocked off her high horse, she’s a lot more likable.
As for fashion, I will never find it. I have a fantasy where I lose 100 pounds and get a What Not to Wear makeover. Just yesterday we were handed a new dress code policy at work (restaurant & dinner theater), and my biggest concerns were whether my shoes were too athletic (they weren’t, but only barely) and if I had to wear my name tag every time I passed through the building (I usually work in an office in another building). Dark pants, solid collared shirt or sweater, hair up, no distracting jewelry. Um, no problem.
I’m all about the perfect basics that hide the parts that I don’t like and show of the ones I do. Mostly black and white but some discreet colour thrown in too. The upside is that they all pretty much go together.
Ha! I’m a low-dollar girl who works on Madison Ave, and my work “style” is to choose things so basic that they are not memorable…and then add in one of the many pieces of funky or vintage jewelry that I pick up from Etsy and thrift stores in the South. I get compliments on the jewelry…and really, what is there to fault or even say about Danskos, a charcoal or black lower half, and a solid v-necked top?
My weekend style is jeans and something current and pretty from one of the discount stores–usually in a shade of black or blue.
Nothing very inspiring to offer, I’m afraid. I do want to hit the fashion district fabric stores and whip up a few fun tops with my sewing machine… and I need to go junking again soon– but I’m ok with my style because I feel confident on a daily basis and I’d rather put money in savings each month than get a sinking-pit-of-the-stomach credit card bill.