So last night was the start of (work related) Christmas party crawl. We just had 2 to hit yesterday, and since we got 4 inches of snow last night, that was more than enough driving . I hate these things because I really don't know anyone and my Mr.'s job is kind of a social one. That and the fact that he is extremely well know in this area makes for a long night. The first party was rather non descript, the the second was rather interesting- but for all the wrong reasons.
Thrown by a Vice President of the University, it brought out a huge crowd. Their house is lovely- all beige, but beautiful. I would have been worried about stains all night. The party was catered, so that was nice, but no liquor, so that was bad. This party had a lot of student ambassadors and workers invited to it, so out of the hundred or more there- maybe 40 were between 19 and 25. It made for an interesting night fashion watching.
I would have thought that girls that age would have dressed a bit better. Heck, I would have thought women my age would have dressed better. Even my Mr. was getting a bit catty. The older women with a few exceptions had the perennially mid west holiday uniform of poly pants (why are they always grey and too tight?), "holiday" sweater or cardigan, white turtleneck, and comfortable shoes. The few exceptions actually were dressed a lot like me, dress pants, sweater, and shoes, but the main difference was we were not wearing a santa, snowman or elf anywhere on our bodies. ( I wore black dress pants-bootcut, with a light blue v neck sweater in a tunic style, a blue scarf, black high heel boots, with a large blue and amber pendant necklace.)
The younger women- well, apparently, the tighter you wear your clothes, the thinner you think you look. Tiny sweaters with another tiny midriff sweater on top and to tight jeans do not look good if you are zaftig- or even normal sized. Mini skirts and UGG boots- again, not a good look. One girl had a rather nice outfit on- a black and white tunic top and wide leg palatzzo black pants- until you looked down. Those pants were at least 3 inches to long. Maybe 4. Just a lot of clothes that were to tight, to short, to low cut, to much.
I did see a beautiful brown sweater on a woman with orange flowers embroidered from the cuff up to her elbow area. It was a turtleneck so I didn't covet the sweater, but I did rethink my aversion to embroidery on sweaters. And I thought of SCB when I saw this woman wearing a beautiful red sweater with a red matching scarf.
Going thru this WT process had made me look more critically at outfits (on me and others). I just kept thinking last night that there was such a double standard for women at these events. Men have it easy- I saw a few questionable choices (like the guy in the suit with cowboy boots) but for the most part, they have an easier time wardrobe-wise. There were a lot of women I saw last night that if they dressed for the body they had (not thought they had, or the body they wanted to have) they would have beautiful. I saw women my age or older who looked like they had just given up and no longer looked at themselves as women, let alone attractive women.
All in all, I had some fun - I talked to other adults about topics other than spongebob. My husband and I spent a few hours by ourselves. My son had a good night playing with his grandparents. We all got home in one piece. It was a good night.
Thrown by a Vice President of the University, it brought out a huge crowd. Their house is lovely- all beige, but beautiful. I would have been worried about stains all night. The party was catered, so that was nice, but no liquor, so that was bad. This party had a lot of student ambassadors and workers invited to it, so out of the hundred or more there- maybe 40 were between 19 and 25. It made for an interesting night fashion watching.
I would have thought that girls that age would have dressed a bit better. Heck, I would have thought women my age would have dressed better. Even my Mr. was getting a bit catty. The older women with a few exceptions had the perennially mid west holiday uniform of poly pants (why are they always grey and too tight?), "holiday" sweater or cardigan, white turtleneck, and comfortable shoes. The few exceptions actually were dressed a lot like me, dress pants, sweater, and shoes, but the main difference was we were not wearing a santa, snowman or elf anywhere on our bodies. ( I wore black dress pants-bootcut, with a light blue v neck sweater in a tunic style, a blue scarf, black high heel boots, with a large blue and amber pendant necklace.)
The younger women- well, apparently, the tighter you wear your clothes, the thinner you think you look. Tiny sweaters with another tiny midriff sweater on top and to tight jeans do not look good if you are zaftig- or even normal sized. Mini skirts and UGG boots- again, not a good look. One girl had a rather nice outfit on- a black and white tunic top and wide leg palatzzo black pants- until you looked down. Those pants were at least 3 inches to long. Maybe 4. Just a lot of clothes that were to tight, to short, to low cut, to much.
I did see a beautiful brown sweater on a woman with orange flowers embroidered from the cuff up to her elbow area. It was a turtleneck so I didn't covet the sweater, but I did rethink my aversion to embroidery on sweaters. And I thought of SCB when I saw this woman wearing a beautiful red sweater with a red matching scarf.
Going thru this WT process had made me look more critically at outfits (on me and others). I just kept thinking last night that there was such a double standard for women at these events. Men have it easy- I saw a few questionable choices (like the guy in the suit with cowboy boots) but for the most part, they have an easier time wardrobe-wise. There were a lot of women I saw last night that if they dressed for the body they had (not thought they had, or the body they wanted to have) they would have beautiful. I saw women my age or older who looked like they had just given up and no longer looked at themselves as women, let alone attractive women.
All in all, I had some fun - I talked to other adults about topics other than spongebob. My husband and I spent a few hours by ourselves. My son had a good night playing with his grandparents. We all got home in one piece. It was a good night.
4 comments:
Yeah, I've scrutinizing people...
Oddly, my best venue so far for seeing people in flattering clothes has been the Cracker Barrel in Glendale. The bodies and hairstyles would send fashionistas screaming, but most of the women at Sunday dinner grasped the concept of "flattering color top, coordinating bottom, make both fit."
And then were the African-American Church Ladies... they know how to dress so that everyone automatically holds the door and calls them "ma'am."
"The younger women- /snip/"
I don't know if thinness even comes into the equation (though i wish it would...). The notion seems to be that the more exposed your body is, the better, regardless of how much or what you're actually wearing, or of whether you've got anything anybody would actually want to look at. Several cans of worms there though...
Interesting. All I've been able to observe lately is people's coats: and I've been amazed at how many actually aren't wearing ones that are warm enough.
So the women weren't dressed for the bodies they actually have. That's fascinating. Are we/they in denial? Or does the fashion industry and media just somehow make us/them that unconscious?
Sad.
The world really needs WT.
I'm glad "spongebob" didn't come up as a topic of conversation...or, even, the Other Bob ;).
Hey, it can be really hard to dress for the body you really have when society and the fashion industry have no interest in you doing so. I have a nasty habit of still wearing things that I have slightly grown out of because it is so hard to find reasonably priced, well-fitting clothes. And that gets depressing. That, and Pants That Are Too Long is a very variable definition from generation to generation, as, while I agree (and don't comment too much on) most of the WT blog commentary, I always notice older ladies with pants that are too short and it drives me nuts. I have a terrible time finding pants that are long enough (and that aren't the low-cut style that give me plumber's butt). Short pants cut me off and make me look stubby. I can't give an excuse for the miniskirts with Uggs look though, on behalf of my generation, I apologize.
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