The Veritable Cutting Edge of Fashion

When I first started back into writing this blog, I had one commenter who said they couldn't wait until I started writing about fashion again. If my daughter saw that comment, she was probably rolling in the floor laughing, or ROFL for those who are in the know on the mobile acronyms which I am not.

I had quite enough acronyms when I was in education to last me a lifetime so I'll just be writing everything out in proper grammar with proper capitalization and proper punctuation. And now I'll just take my cane and go touch up my blue hair rinse, thankyouverymuch.

Oh. And when I just had a teeny-tiny brain impasse (don't you hate those) and COULD NOT think of the word for punctuation, I went to The Google Machine and typed in "using the proper..." and it came up with punctuation as a choice.

The Google Machine is certainly helpful for us old folks. Although you might be taking your life in your hands when you ask for help, because it also came up with:

using properties of parallel lines
using properties in exponents
using propertyplaceholderconfiguer

and I have no idea what any of those even MEAN. The Google Machine is a grand humbler.

Anyway. About the fashion. This is not a fashion blog, although I couldn't tell you exactly what sort of blog it is, unless it's a stream-of-consciousness-daily-life-humor-whatever-the-hell-pops-out-of-my-brain-at-any-given-moment blog and I'm not sure there's a specific category for that.

But I do love fashion. Or at least, I love clothes and I'm not sure that's precisely the same thing. I always have loved clothes.

If it wasn't so much trouble, I would go dig out my junior high school yearbook where I was voted The Neatest Dresser and show you how nicely every pair of knee socks matched every sweater which coordinated perfectly with my plaid skirts.

Oh, and don't forget the penny loafers. With a shiny new penny in each one. THE CUTTING EDGE OF FASHION, don't you know.

I would show you a picture of my jeans so you could appreciate they style but (brace yourself) we DIDN'T WEAR JEANS back then. If a girl had worn jeans to school...well. My word, (get the blue hair rinse) that was just not done.

I don't think they even sold jeans in the juniors department back then. It wasn't until I was in high school that I wore jeans to school for the first time. They were bell bottoms with big white buttons on the front, like sailors wore.

And now I have to apologize to The Google Machine because WHERE ELSE could you find a photo of the jeans you wore in high school?

Picture them with even bigger white buttons and there you have it.

It's amusing to think about what my principal would have done if I had showed up wearing the skinny jeans and flats I am wearing now. Probably spanked me and sent me home to change into a dress. I am SO not kidding. We won't even get into a discussion about my sorority in college where we not only could NOT wear jeans to dinner, we had to wear a dress. True story.

And because of the magic that is Facebook and the 1971 Freehold High School Senior Class group, I can show you what I looked like wearing those jeans.

Thank God my teeth are straight now. But I would KILL for that smooth, unlined, high school face.


So this long introduction and segue into 70's fashion (Imagine having a conversation with me in person. It's much like this.) was to tell you about this great web site with darling clothes called Mod Cloth. And, just to be perfectly clear, they are not giving me any free clothes so I will write about them. Although I would not be averse to that. I am not cheap, but I can be bought. Preferably with cute new clothes.

I discovered them a while back when I bought a perfectly DARLING new bathing suit. It's kind of a forties-style that fits like a dream and is so flattering. It comes in a bunch of colors and, although I already have a red and a polka-dot, I am sorely tempted by the yellow. MUST. HAVE. CONTROL.

If you click on any of the pictures in this post, it will take you to the right place to order if you want.

I am heading to the Caribbean in the spring (insert requisite SQUEE here), so when I saw this dress, I had to order it.

I had a whole scenario worked out in my head for this dress which involved hair twisted up on top of my head in some loose but completely fabulous style, strappy black sandals and a suntan while holding a Tequila Sunrise in one hand and gazing into the sunset. What, you don't make up stories about your clothes? Um. Me either. I LOVE this dress - the fit, the material - but it runs a little small, so keep that in mind if you order.

I was going to show you some cute tops from this site but then I realized I haven't actually bought any tops from them (YET), so instead I'll tell you that the day after Christmas, my daughter and I were at Old Navy, where I might possibly have bought about 4,921 summer tops which were so fabulous, I just couldn't help myself. And who else did NOT know that Old Navy and Gap were the same company? This is news to me.

This little silky top was calling my name from the rack and it is so flattering and comfortable, I was forced to buy it. How cute will that be with white shorts while I am strolling on the beach with my hair tossed by the ocean breeze and possibly some wild horses grazing in the distance. Yes. I might JUST possibly get carried away with my clothes daydreams. The site describes it as Cotton but I just went to check mine and it's a very silky, silky Cotton, not a stiff Cotton.

Same thing with this one - it's soft and silky. I got it in cream, which will go with everything.

Another thing I didn't realize (I really need to shop more. Ha! HaHaHaHaHa!) is that Old Navy has DARLING shoes. I knew they had flip-flops but cute flats? No idea. I might possibly have bought two pair of taupe flats that might LOOK alike but are completely different. COMPLETELY.

These are described as "Pom-Pom Flats" which could you die? I love that description.

These are Embellished Ballet Flats which, as you can see, even though they are also taupe flats are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT in every way and I had to buy both. Somehow, my husband never gets this concept and might think I only needed one pair. As if.

I didn't link the shoes to the web site because, unfortunately, these shoes are not available in every size, but they have lovely new spring colors here and here.

Now I have to admit to a little embarrassment because I just spent a great deal of time on the Old Navy site looking for one of the fabulous little tops I bought and was getting really annoyed with Old Navy because dammit where were those tops I had bought before I realized that I had actually bought that particular top at Gordman's. Um. Oops. Too much shopping? NO. SUCH. THING.

I just went to the Gordman's site to get you the info and realized, to my shock and amazement, that they do not have online ordering. Gordman's, get with the 21ST CENTURY. SERIOUSLY. So I had to get one of my tops, take a picture with my iPhone, email it to myself, wait for the email, save the picture and put it on here instead of just copying and pasting. It's like I'm working in the STONE AGE here.

YOU'RE WELCOME.

The brand is "Spense", it was $17.99 (regularly $48!) and comes in several colors. It's silky and lovely. You need to to go Gordman's right now and buy some. In a sidenote, I actually tried to find "Spense" online to link to the tops and The Google Machine found that SPENSE means "Study of Personnel Needs in Special Education". See what I mean about the education acronyms?

So, there you have it. Dresses, tops, shoes. What more could you need?

Except maybe a pair of bell bottom jeans with big white buttons which are actually back in style again. I should totally have saved that pair. Only they might JUST possibly not fit anymore.

Possibly.