My Fashion Manifesto

 


A few months ago, I vowed to quit buying fashion magazines. I really hate them. I have enough people in my life telling me what to do (Hi mom! And don't get me started on my mother-in law...) I would buy a fashion magazine in the hopes of keeping up with the latest trends but you could find me an hour later, curled up in the fetal position, lamenting on why I never whipped up a feast for twelve of my friends in less than thirty minutes or why I was wasting away my fertility or why I couldn't have eyelashes like Kim Kardashian. Fashion magazines aren't about fashion; they are huge guilt trips for women. With the rise of Pinterest and fashion blogs, I figured I could get my cues from there instead. So I quit buying Cosmo and Glamour and Marie Claire and In Style. And I don't miss any of them.

At first, fashion blogs freaked me out too. I am a suburban soccer stepmom who drives a SUV and lives in a town that finally got a Kohl's last month. I doubt I will ever find myself at New York City Fashion Week. The closest I come to designer clothing is when Target rolls out a collaboration. I am not a size zero or twenty two years old or even a real blonde. Some fashion bloggers made me feel almost as guilty as magazines had.

But I started to dig deeper in to the fashion blog-o-sphere. And I started to find people who had quirky and chic styles that began to inspire me. But I never found someone like me (well... except my blogmate but I have a theory that Leather Peacock and I were separated at birth).

So here I am: a thirty four year old size 12 who shops at Marshall's and blogs with her like-minded best friend. I am true to myself, I have found new inspiration and I no longer feel guilty.

Sweater dress: Mossimo at Target
Necklace: Humanité
Tights: Target
Boots: Lane Bryant

A Tale of Two Boots

I have a fall/winter uniform when it comes to running errands on Saturday mornings: boots, skinny jeans or leggings and tank top underneath a button down, cardigan or sweater. These easy combinations are comfortable and require little thought but somehow (maybe it is the boots) make me feel a little more polished than I would just throwing on sweatpants.

Blouse: Kohl's
Tank: Old Navy
Jeans: New York & Company
Boots: Old Navy

Which brings me to the story about these boots. I have a hard time finding boots that fit my ginormous calves. On a quest to find a dark brown pair of equestrian style boots, I stumbled across these at Old Navy. I own another pair of Old Navy boots and find that their wide calf boots are always roomy and pretty affordable. I picked mine up for about $36 during a sale. This was my inaugural wearing. Later that day, I spilled nail polish remover all over the floor and splattered some on the boots that I had carelessly thrown to the side. Now the boots look tie-dyed. I am pretty bummed, especially since my own klutziness is to blame. Not sure how I will fix them (tips??? suggestions??? All would be appreciated) or if I will have to break down and buy another pair. They are worth it though.




My hair normally does not look this good. One of my Saturday errands was a hair appointment for the Marine Corps Birthday Ball later that night.