mail order

 Since my posts are totally off kilter this week with nothing, with one exception, when they should be, I skipped the regular Saturday and thought I'd share this on Sunday. 

With country living, mail order is an important benefit. I grew up when the big deal was getting a Sears and Roebuck and Montgomery Ward catalog each season and picking out toys or clothing. At one time, people even ordered homes through those catalogs. Yes, back then, I enjoyed their stores too, but we were country living folks and getting to town didn't come all that often. Browsing those catalogs did. Today browsing happens online and is not limited to one store.

Sarongs

Sarongs are ancient and easy to wear garments, worn by men as well as women. For older Americans, a certain style of sarong has been equated with movie star, Dorothy Lamour, who made a lot of films where she beautifully filled out her sarong. They are not, however, only for those with perfect bodies.

Sarongs have been called by different names in different countries. In Tahiti and Hawaii they would be pareos. In Southeast Asia, it's surong. In India, it's named sri. In Africa, kanga and in ancient Rome and Greece, it was called a toga. The name isn't important, what the sarong can do is why it has such value in my wardrobe.

I got my first one in a New Age bookstore in Portland. It's a simple piece of cloth with fringe but it wouldn't have to have the fringe. What it has to do is be of soft fabric that drapes and is easy to tie. Mine are slightly different sizes but about 46" x 66" with the longest length always what I wrap around my body.

Want a long skirt? Tie it right at the upper edge. Shorter? Roll the fabric to whatever length you want. When I wear one to say a farmer's market, I use a plain safety pin midway down to be sure it doesn't open too far when I walk. When you pin it at the waist, instead of tie it, it just looks like a skirt.

Because I don't find it easy to find soft cotton house dresses and enjoy wearing them when at home or even back along the creek, the sarong with its many ways to tie, is perfect-- at least when the temperature is warm. To go out to dinner, it doesn't take much to turn it into something dressier. My sarongs do double duty in my wardrobe, giving me several styles of dresses and skirts, even shawls. Tied certain ways, it's obvious what it is but in others, nobody would know. I have an old belt that is elastic and I sometimes use it to give more form to the dresses.

Except for the one from along the creek which was taken a few weeks ago, these photos were all self-timed and taken when I decided to write on the versatility of sarongs. At first it felt silly to be posing like a kind of model, but then it got to be fun... like hmmm is this how they do it... then I got sick of it again, but I felt seeing the variety of possibilities might encourage others to give it a try for more than beachwear. Looking online, I found a lot of places selling them. It wouldn't be hard to make one.

The beauty of the sarong is it's a plain piece of cloth that you turn into what you want. I think it's equally flattering to full and slim figures. Around here, my favorite way to wear it is as a skirt or what I call the grandma sarong (examples the first two photos), tied at the side of my chest, secured part way down with one safety pin, and hanging straight, no form, no shape and all comfort.

And guys, it's as useful around the house for a man as a woman. It's not just a woman's skirt. If you don't believe me, look online.*s*

High Stylin'

Basically I am not a person who wants to spend a lot of time shopping, figuring out what to wear each morning, doing special make-up, or fooling with hair. I have, however, always liked to have my own version of style which I am beginning to believe should change to be age appropriate. Yes, I know we don't have to be age appropriate, but I want to be-- the question is what will that mean?

What brought this to my mind was shopping for clothing for my 9 year old granddaughter. Nobody, without a child or grandchild today, could have any idea how hard it is to find things that don't make girls look like pop tartz or bratz dolls. Skirts are too short, tops have v-necks that dip too low. I don't know what the marketing world or some parents are thinking. Fortunately my daughter is not one of those parents and is teaching her daughter to be modest.

The problem for my granddaughter is that she's a 'tweener. She's betwixt being a little girl and not yet a teen-ager. She doesn't want to wear little girl dresses but it's not right yet that she wear styles for teen-agers.

After finally finding kid clothing that was stylin' without being revealin', I felt good when she opened her package and was happy with the choices. Later I mentioned her hair style suited her and she said, that's not style, it's just me. I explained style didn't mean someone else's, it meant what looked good on her and we are all different for what that will be. However, I decided later that she had hit the nail on the head once again (she has a way of doing that).

Style should just be what enhances us, and women actually have more chance to do that than ever before. There was a time when all ladies wore skirts the same length. Back then if fashion decreed a change, women followed suit-- even if they didn't like the look. Today there is no one length for skirts, and styles can vary tremendously. There aren't firm rules that everyone knows-- except to look good whatever good means.

What I am trying to decide is what will suit the age I am and am heading into. In some ways, I am also a 'tweener as not yet old old and yet no longer young. It's a bit like my hair which still has the back brown but with the front gray. Not one or the other and yet both.

So are there styles for today for being old, for not being slim, that still say vital, interesting, and yes, sexy, but that don't look like someone is trying to recycle youth? Not that I have a problem with recycling. The shorts above used to be one of my favorite pair of pants.

I have read that no old woman should wear sleeveless tops because of bat wing arms... So like old women don't get hot? Who would be disturbed to see imperfect arms so much so that old women should suffer heat to spare those individuals? We all know old legs aren't perfect legs but how many women's are at any age? So should women have to pass a test somewhere to wear shorts in public? Cellulite, varicose veins, loose skin, scars? Fuggitaboutit.

At one time old women were mostly relegated to skirts that came to well below the knee, old lady shoes and usually a bubble haircut of some sort if they didn't wear theirs in a tidy bun on top of their head. Then along came polyester suits (with pants or skirts); and for awhile, they became the old lady style. (They also appear to be the style for female politicians.)

At the farm, as illustrated in this blog, I mostly wear jeans, shorts, plain dresses, skirts, and tops with sleeve length determined by the weather not fashion, but even here, I have been thinking what will I buy in the future. Some of my clothing, like the dress where I am watching the news, is well over 10 years old. Nothing lasts forever and there comes a day when recycling won't work either.

Just as I decorate my home, I decorate me and want what I wear to suit who I am now as an old woman. I want to, as my granddaughter said, be me-- the me of today, not yesterday. I don't feel considering what will be 'age appropriate' is a negative. I am into old age, like it or not. It's interesting because it is something new after many years that were pretty much the same. Today, however I believe women are working out a new paradigm for old age by not denying it, not trying to cover it up, but making it positive as a stage of life that no longer frightens those entering it but rather makes them think-- hey, this is okay! It sure beats the alternative. *s*

(Next blog will be about an item of apparel that I have found to be fun to wear, almost addictive for its versatility, potentially sexy when a woman wants, and proven good through the ages for any age or body type.)