Clueless

This movie came out when I was in Jr High and was HUGELY popular. I'm sure nearly everyone my age could quote the entire show. I find it fitting that it came out at a time in my life when I was better at nothing more than being CLUELESS- and not the movie kind. The real life, painful, other people ache for my mis-fitting in kind.

So last night I was watching What Not to Wear on TLC. The show itself can be overly obnoxious and yet so addicting. I think I sat through 4 episodes telling myself each time a new one started that I would change the channel and find something better on tv. Well, I didn't.

Instead I started thinking about how the way I've dressed over the years has changed. Now, I am not offering up any advice here, because I am no expert. As Cher asks, "Do you prefer "fashion victim" or "ensembly challenged"?" I would answer both. BUT, I think I get better at it each year.

Take for example a pair of jeans. I used to buy a pair of jeans that were affordable and fit pretty nice and then just pair them with anything. Only in the last year or so have I realized the value of a variety of jeans- dress jeans, casual jeans, long jeans, tight jeans, flare jeans, hipster jeans, dark vs. light jeans. All this stuff matters if you're going to make an outfit out of it! Yeah, it's actually pretty important.

Also, the makeup thing is starting to catch on although I do admit that I have a long way to go. I used to buy my makeup at the grocery store. Can you believe it?! THE GROCERY STORE! The same place I buy my food! After that I used all the free makeup I got from work and made it last for a good long while. Then I discovered makeup stores! They are still somewhat intimidating to me and I am still learning what I can and can't get away with, but I'm taking one step at a time. I am at least learning what doesn't work for me and that's a huge hurdle in itself.

I think the most important is that I am learning to dress for my body type. Now, I'm not gonna tell you that I don't pick up some cute little number that I wish I looked good in from time to time. Still, I soon realize that I don't look cute in them and I best leave them for someone else. I carry my weight in my stomach so I have to learn to hide that. My swimsuits are getting less skimpy (love handles at the beach are not hard to come by, so why expose mine?) and my shirts are not as tight. It all sounds kind of depressing, but I'm also learning to play up my assets. I have great legs, so dresses and shorts are very flattering. I also have skinny arms and do ok in the breast region, so I learn to play those up as well. Thank heavens. It's about time.

I know I am no fashion diva or anything, but I hope to at least be respectable. And to leave you with a great quote:

Mel: What the hell is that?

Cher: A dress.

Mel: Says who?

Cher: Calvin Klein.