Back to Teenage Clothes at My Age!

The first thing I did when I stopped working was to declutter my half of the closet (I share with my husband who complains that my stuff spills over the partition). I took out the clothes I could only wear to work – slacks and skirts, long-sleeved polo shirts (think preppy-conservative), non-cotton blouses, etc. I only kept some “semi-casual” (interchangeably called “semi-formal” here) pieces that I could wear to church, and tops that could be worn with jeans and shorts.

As for bags, since I don’t have many, I have kept them all, but seldom get to use all. The five decent pieces I have are in black, cream, and red, so it ‘s not like I pair my bags with the colors of my outfits. It’s a hassle to pour out contents of a bag and organize them again into another. The one that serves me best is a red Longchamp Le Piliage tote bag.

It’s a different story with my shoes. I had to bring home at least 10 pairs of old and fairly new shoes which I kept in the office. I used to keep them in the bottom layer of a lateral cabinet at the workstation I was posted. The leather ones stayed best there because of the controlled office temperature. Now, my problem is that there is no way I can integrate high heels into my current routine. I also don’t have occasions I can wear them to. So it’s quite a pity that they’re slowly disintegrating in the shoe cabinet.

                         

So what’s my daily get-up like? It’s easy to just get too comfy in ratty shirts and shorts as I go about the routine of a stay-at-home mom. Well, I am not literally in the house all day, I go out everyday at least four times to bring my two kids to school, and fetch them. Aside from my kids’ schools – where I get seen by other parents, teachers, and my kids’ classmates – I also go to the bank, grocery, SSS, and PhilHealth. So there’s still some reason to dress well because I am not in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (Humanities 1 reading back in college :-)). I can’t just get out looking unkempt and, pardon the word, “losyang.”

True, it is so easy to put on weight when food and coffee are just a few feet away all the time. Cooking as a chore does not burn calories. You cook delicious meals, lay them out on the table, eat your portion, and then eat some more when your kids have leftovers. Cooking adds to the weight check burden. Rants, rants… I know I have absolutely no right to complain. So I’m gonna take that back and say that cooking is the chore I like doing best. I’m lucky I don’t have to clean up after. Simple joys of having a “kasambahay” must be taken to heart. I could not imagine doing everything by myself, I’d be sick!

Let me go back to my question: what’s a typical wear for me these days? Below is my kind of get-up. Tee-hee!

My husband does not approve of such a combination of apparels for a 38-year-old wife and mother. But in the same way that I defy his order to dress my age, not wear colors like pink, as I have shared in a previous post, “Age Check,” I am unfazed by his criticisms. I am happy wearing shorts with bling-bling, a belt, a shirt, and flats in the same color as the belt. Stubborn wife! He loves me just the same anyway because he simply has no choice, or does he? J

Age Check

The day I became fully aware of myself relative to the people surrounding me and in the context that I was regarded as an individual - a child, that is - was I think the day that I wished I could speed up growing. I thought being a child had so many limitations. I wanted to escape doing school assignments and projects. I envied my mother who would wake up later than me, go to work, come home by 5pm, and didn't have anything to worry over aside from routine housework that could not all be delegated to the helper. I felt more mature than children my age, but, then again, obviously, I was not making real sense of life as it were. I might be around 10 years old at the time these thoughts were running in my pubescent mind. 

Fast forward to 28 years later, I have not denied nor evaded queries about my age. In fact, I would always round it off to the right on the number line. I am acually looking forward to when I could rightfully and proudly say, "I'm forty." :-)

Has it been 28 years already? Somehow, I don't feel it's been that long. Although, yes, I may look even more advanced than my 38 years (rounded off). Please say no! :-) But, I still like shopping in stores that cater to the young - Kamiseta, Bayo, etc. 

Fashion experts and/or stylists segmentize their market by age, usually into 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s and up. And they would recommend specific colors/hues and designs/cuts for each age bracket. This is a subject of argument between myself and my conservative husband. He would object to prints, plaids, and loud colors, and would only compliment my get-up when it had no frills and was in earth color. Oh, he thinks he's an expert, able to tell the kind of textile even. He would spoil my day when I would ride with him going to work, shaking his head or giving me a sarcastic/devilish smile, scorning my outfit. But I don't actually hate him for it, because I know he has an elegant, classic taste, and just wanted to make me dress smarter. Unfortunately, I didn't have the money to patronize signature clotheslines in the likes of Prada, Armani, or even the low end of the high-end such as M&S, Promod, and elite brands I only encounter when I find myself (rarely) in the posh shops at Greenbelt or Shangri-La, or when I get to swing by Singapore and walk the Orchard Road. :-)

The bottom line is that I can not as yet give up pink, from the palest to its brightest shade -- reminds me of the singer Pink! Just give me a reason, baby, why I ought to ditch pink. I won't on account of my age. :-)

My daughter Gabee is crazy over everything pink, down to foods that are pink. 

Well, whatever feels right, no matter how young or old we are, I feel we should go for that. But we must also be wise and consider the advice of the people who sincerely care and only have our best interests at heart. Allow them to temper but not kill the fun and adventure of how we conduct ourselves, by how we dress, and in other ways. 

To my husband, I would again say, "Just live, and let live. Never mind that others (including your wife) seem to have forgotten to dress their age."