What a Contrast!

Hi Everyone,

I can’t believe that it has been 3 weeks since my last post! Time flies when you live life to the fullest during retirement. In case anyone is new to this blog, it is basically my opinion on how to use clothes to minimize the areas of my 66 year old body that I need to hide so I don’t need to use a body shaper (yuck!). I use the clothes in my closet as examples of how to do just that. I recently looked at Lynn Slater’s fashion blog. She is a 70 year old woman with great fashion sense. The problem is that I can’t afford the clothes she wears and I can’t pull them off because she is very thin (definitely not me!). However, I like the way she mixes textures in her outfits. I also liked the quote she wrote on her blog: “Spend time knowing who you are and then thinking about your clothes as expressing who you are”. I am a very open minded person so I think of my style as very eclectic. Lynn also said that people talk about when you age you become invisible. I think she would agree with me that one way to become visible is through the outfits that we wear. I agree with her that age is irrelevant when it comes to fashion style.

I always like to talk about current fashion trends though I wear what I like even if it is not trendy. I don’t want to seem like a chronic complainer in my blogs but what is this trend of tucking a small portion of the front of a shirt into the front of a waistband and letting the rest of the shirt hang out?!! When I was looking at Lynn Slater’s pictures, there she was wearing the above said trend showing a very flat belly. If I tucked my shirt in, even a small portion, I might just as well strap on a neon sign on my midsection that flashes “LOOK OUT, BELLY BELOW”. The last thing I want people to notice is the protrusion of tier 1 (the dreaded belly). I never thought I would thank Kim Kardashian for anything (I just don’t get her popularity) but let’s face it, she made big butts popular so that is one problem I can leave “behind” me (sorry that was a “back ended” play on words). Because of her, I can solely concentrate on the problem in front of me. There is no way I can tuck my shirt in the front. Not only would people notice how large my belly is but they might also see the less-than-appealing rubber band I sometimes use to connect the waistband because I just couldn’t get the pants buttoned or snapped on that day (not a pretty picture, but true).

So let’s talk about a fashion element that I do find interesting which is “contrast”. Let me give you a few non-clothing examples to make my point. There is not one room in my house designed in “country” decor but if I walk into a touristy general store or an Amish shop, I am mesmerized by the amazing quilts. I am in awe of the choice of contrasting squares of cloth that shouldn’t go together and yet they do. Another example is when I peruse through a magazine and come upon a picture of a French country living room. I am drawn to the style of combining a striped couch with flowered pillows or chairs. The contrasting patterns hold my attention. It’s like going to an art museum where I eventually become bored with looking at landscapes, portraits, and floral paintings. Just when I think I can’t look at another painting, I walk up to an abstract Picasso and I say “Whoa, what the heck is this?!!” and because of all the contrast, I can’t take my eyes off of it. It is because it makes no sense, I find it interesting.

I think the best example of contrast in design can be found in my back yard.

This is a picture of my backyard as I am looking out the sliding glass door of my family room. I have over 30 containers around my lot that I planted not counting the flower box around part of my deck. When I invite my friends to my backyard , they usually take their time looking at each container or grouping. I believe my landscape design, including containers, is interesting because I use a contrast of textures, colors or shapes. For example, in the container seen in the lower left hand corner of the picture, you can see the fuzzy plumes of the Rubra grass and its spiky red leaves next to the dark, scratchy green leaf of the heliotrope with its purple flower that smells like vanilla bean when the sun hits it. Also in the container is the spade shaped, deep purple leaf of the potato vine and a red geranium with coral begonias, both with lighter green leaves. Let me relate this to articles of clothing. To me, a top is a top is a top, some are pretty to look at but after one glance you don’t need to look any further. It would be like planting all 30 containers with geraniums. However, when you wear an article of clothing that has a lot of contrast, just like my plant groupings, it becomes interesting and fun to look at.

On that note, let’s look at some interesting outfits. Remember, it is not important if you like or dislike my clothes, they are only a way to demonstrate the concept of “contrast” in fashion.

Who would have ever thought that a camouflage pattern would look perfectly fine on a pink flowered background or that a tie-dye pattern would look good with a flowered pattern. How about all the different colors of green. I wish I was in the Bahamas! I paired this top with a pair of green jeans and an olive color tee underneath. With a casual outfit, I wear what I consider to be my casual accessories. Those of you who know me are aware that I am technologically challenged. I still use a flip phone and I have no idea how to use the phone’s camera. I do not want to be digging through my purse to find out what time it is so I always wear a watch. I have watches of many colors so I always try to use them as an accessory by coordinating them with the color of my outfit. Here I an wearing a green watch and an small antique gold metal plate that says “Well behaved women rarely make history – Eleanor Roosevelt”. That is so me!!! I am also wearing dangling hoop earrings with multiple antique gold charms and colored beads. If I am wearing metal jewelry I like to keep it all in the same metallic family, silver with silver, gold with gold, copper with copper. I tend to wear dangling earrings when there is no other accessory around my neck because they distract the eye away from my long neck, much like an outfit with contrast tends to distract the eye away from all my lumps and bumps.

I love this jacket! It is made up of several different patterns all of which have a shiny gold metallic thread running through each swatch. What could be better than that! It is the closest I will ever get to the real thing. What makes the jacket so interesting is that each pattern not only has a different design bit they are also different in shape and texture. I have paired it with the somewhat shiny material of both the top underneath and the black, polyester blend pants I am wearing. The accessories include a gold and black watch, bracelet, and ring. I have added more contrast by pairing a curved line gold necklace with a pair of straight line gold earrings.

This gray and black jacket has swatches depicting several different animal prints and is combined with an argyle pattern. All the swatches are made of rayon and wool so I added more texture by wearing a previously worn pin (earlier blog) that is made up of feathers that reminds me of zebra stripes. I am wearing a black top and dark gray pants. Because my face tends to look washed out when I am wearing gray, I wear a bold, shiny, silver necklace which brightens up the skin color of my face. I am also wearing shiny silver earring, rings and a silver and black watch.

I decided to throw this jumper dress into the mix. It is made up of two different flower patterns and a cheetah print, each print is divided by a black stripe with a small pattern running through it. I am wearing it with a black jewel necked top but you could wear it with any top that matches one of the colors in the jumper dress. I am wearing a sunflower pin because one of the patterns is made up of sunflowers. I am wearing cheetah print earrings with a solid brown bracelet with gold trim. Because of the gold trim in the bracelet, I wear the outfit with a gold bracelet watch. The ring I am wearing is made up of three different metals of varying shapes and colors that match the colors in the dress. I said I don’t usually mix my metal accessories but this is the exception because they are all in a single piece.

That is it for today. Just one order of business before I talk about my diet. As I have said, I have little knowledge of technology. I realized that if you are reading this blog on your iPhone, the place to indicate that you want to follow my blog is at the very end unlike on the iPad where it is located on the title page. Just hit the word “Follow” if you want to get a message telling you when the next blog will be posted.

As far as my diet goes, I lost the weight I gained over Christmas but nothing more. So really, I am starting from square one. Here is my problem, I don’t cook or bake but I am obsessed with baking contest shows on Netflix. My sister recently showed me how to get to Netflix on my iPad and I have been through every episode of every baking contest I had access to on the streaming service. The design of each dessert is amazing! I really think I am getting subliminal messages to stop at the bakery I pass when I drop my dog off at doggie day care. I don’ think I could drive safely with blinders on my eyes so I have been taking a longer route to and from the daycare so I won’t have to pass by the bakery. Willpower, Willpower, where for out thou, Willpower!

Until next time,

Remember, God loves you and so do I.