Category Archives: fashion

Spring Cleaning

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Okay, Easter’s over, and if you didn’t get your spring cleaning done already, don’t panic. There’s still time. Step No. 1? Declutter! Get all that junk out of your house. I promise that you’ll feel as if you put your house on a diet — it will feel that much lighter and sleeker. And the best way to declutter? A yard sale. Look, it’s win-win. You clean house, you make some money, you help the economy by offering folks some bargains and you further the cause of reduce-reuse-recycle. What’s not to like? Oh, yes: The hard and boring work of putting a yard sale together. But you’re in luck, because I talked to some yard-sale veterans who passed along some no-fail yard-sale tips for a newspaper article I wrote on how to have a successful yard sale. Read it at http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20100402/ARTICLES/4025007 and get ready to have the best yard-sale ever.

And while you’re at the TimesDaily Web site, read my weekly column at http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20100402/ARTICLES/4025004, where you’ll discover the question that goes with this answer: “If your veins showing through the rip are as dark as the denim.” I promise you, this is fashion advice you will not get in Vogue.

Shoes

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Yes, please. I'll take one of each.

Tupelo, Mississippi

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Tupelo, Mississippi, has everything you could want: Great food, great people and great shopping. And two of those three are at The Main Attraction, downtown at 214 West Main Street. An eclectic clothing and gift boutique, Main Attraction is a place to while away the afternoon and unearth some you-can-only-find-it-here treasures. Owner  Barbara Fleishhacker is the genius behind the collection of flowy cottons, retro jewelry and fun and funky accessories. It’s Hippie Chick meets Southern Lady with a bit of Wouldn’t It Be Fun To Backpack Through India thrown in. Both Barbara and her store are warm, friendly, cool and hip all at the same time. In fact, she’s a vital voice for downtown Tupelo development and her store is a gathering spot for fellow Tupelo fans — and anybody who can’t resist the lure of a find. And, actually, there’s a coffee bar, too, so you can find all three of those things you want. The Main Attraction is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays-Wednesdays and Fridays, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursdays and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. Phone number is (662) 842.9617. Visit http://themainattraction.biz for more.

Shopping

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My friend Susan has a consignment store in Sheffield, Alabama, that’s full of  treasures you just want to take home with you. Susan also has hired a new part-time employee with a wonderful creative eye for display and a stylish flair for vintage fashion. Okay, that employee is my Younger Daughter, but still! Susan and YD make a great team and visiting Upscale Resale is like browsing through a fun and funky antiques shop . I love the way YD has put together these retro looks with coordinating gloves, hats and handbags. Makes me feel all Jackie-O and Audrey Hepburn. I just missed the white-glove era but I (barely) can remember my mother tucking a pair, along with a floral cotton handkerchief, into her purse as she’d get ready for church on Sunday mornings. I think I remember that, anyway. I’ll have to ask her if she ever wore or took gloves to church when I was little or if I have completely and totally made that up — which is entirely possible. What I am sure of, however, is that a pair of white gloves is the perfect accessory for this lovely plum-colored spring suit with the pleated skirt and gorgeously tailored jacket. I can just see this at church on Easter Sunday, can’t you? Upscale Resale is at 2613 North Jackson Highway in Sheffield. Phone number is 256.381.7773. It’s open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.  In addition to vintage clothing and jewelry, there is furniture, art work, home decor, glassware, books, holiday items and all sorts of things. You’ll love it!

Style

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Oh my goodness. Or, as my 23-month-old grandson Capt. Adorable says with a huge grin, “Oh my cookies!” When I was wandering through our local mall and spied this window display of new spring things, I had two thoughts: 1) Those are so cute! 2) Too bad I’m about 30 years too old to wear them. and 3) These are psychedelic T-shirts? Kids today don’t know the meaning of the words! And, okay, I know that’s three thoughts. That’s how disturbed I was at seeing these versions of what I spent my teen-age years in. I means, we were the ones who pioneered the statement T-shirt! We were the ones who liberated the humble T and turned it into cool! We were the ones who unleashed the power of Peter Max on the fashion industry! Well, you’re right, it was really our older brothers and sisters — I always say that I would have made a great hippie in the 60s but my parents made me go to bed at 8. By the time I hit my teens in the early 1970s, the hard work had been done and jeans and Ts were the uniform of the young and all I had to do was reap the benefits. Before the flower-power fashion revolution, “new clothes for spring” meant white gloves and pillbox hats. Today, thanks to the Love Generation, it means light-weight groovy T-shirts. Young people today have no idea. Oh my cookies!

Oscars

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Every year I imagine I’ll throw a fabulous Oscar-watching party. I imagine everyone — me, included — wearing Caifornia-chic casual style. I imagine a creative bounty of innovative finger food. I imagine intelligent movie-savvy conversation. But of course what happens instead is that I forget it’s Oscar night until three minutes before and I end up watching in my ratty pajamas and eating out of a Cheetos bag and saying things to the cats such as “‘An Education’? I’ve never heard of that movie before.” The cats are not impressed. However, if you imagine a glittering and successful Oscar-watching party and you have faith that you will actually do it, then take a look at this AP article about Oscar-inspired cocktails: http://www.heraldnews.com/lifestyle/x655498432/Oscar-inspired-cocktails-toast-the-movies It might have shown up in your local newspaper but in case it didn’t, you’ll want to take a look. Raise a glass for me, and I’ll in turn toast you with a Cheeto.

Shopping

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There is no way in the world that I could ever wear these shoes, but that does not stop me from drooling all over them and creating a scene at the mall. Actually, I was creating a scene by taking pictures of these beauties, which people don’t usually do at my local mall — but I am a determined blogger dedicated to bringing you the newest and the best, no matter the cost. And, truthfully, when I first walked by, my immediate reaction was, “Have they installed a Lady-Gaga section now?” Even more truthfully, my original immediate reaction was, “Have they installed a hootchie-mama section now?” but when I used the term “hootchie mama” the other day my 23-year-old daughter claimed she’d never heard that saying so I figured I’d better act as if I’m in the 21st century and put “hootchie mama” to rest. And, just to be clear, I in no way think Lady Gaga is a hootchie mama. She is a talented and hard-working performer and I wish her every success. It’s just that nobody can deny she wears hootchie-mama shoes. And we all know that a little bit of hootchie mama can be a good thing.

Fitness and Fashion

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Yup, that’s me. And Younger Daughter. This is the photo that goes along with my most recent Fashionably Speaking column in the quarterly magazine Shoals Woman. I wrote about workout wear — how women of my generation have bad memories of having to wear ugly and baggy clothes for those required PE classes in school and how those memories keep us in ugly and baggy clothes when we work out today. Women of Younger Daughter’s generation, however, don’t have that baggage. They know that sleek and fitted is the way to go — and when you look good and feel good about the way you look, then you’ll feel good about yourself. Or something like that. Anyway, we had a great time at our local YMCA taking these photos. Younger Daughter is a good sport to play along — but I can still outwalk her, no matter what I’m wearing. Although, it’s true, she can outrun me even if she were wearing heels and hose. Oh, well — we each have our talents! Read http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20100224/SW/100229968/1085/sw to find more tips for incorporating fitness with fashion. For example, you can certainly consider your mad dash around the store to spend your 30-percent-0ff coupon when it’s five minutes before closing time as aerobic exercise. Works for me!

Soaps

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Okay, I’ve given up spa pedicures, learned to shop clearance racks first and cut my coffee-shop habit in half. Are you satisfied now, you stupid Financial Crisis??? On the other hand, there’s no need to be pound-wise and penny-foolish and drop all luxuries. After all, a girl needs a little indulgent pampering in her life. And for my hard-earned money, it’s amazing how a $3 bar of soap can make you forget that you really should clean the toilets and change the litter box today. I love scented soaps, especially handmade herbal ones. I promise you that a bar of richly fragrant homemade soap is one treat you do not need to forgo. Like the lovely Bee and Flower Chinese soaps you can find in import and Oriental shops for $2-$3. Rose and sandalwood are my favorite scents, and I think I’m as intrigued with the Chinese packaging as I am with the soap itself. You can find handmade soaps everywhere — that’s part of the hunt. I picked up this bar of organic coffee soap at Keens Beans coffee shop and roasters in Pensacola, Fla., http://www.keensbeans.com. The label says the soap will moisturize, protect, provide antioxidants, exfoliate, help with fine wrinkles and neutralize strong kitchen odors on your hands — I just like that it smells like espresso. Scented soaps make great gifts, too. Older Daughter — Capt. Adorable’s mommy — brought me wonderful Soaps by Jan soap and lotion as a thank-you for babysitting when she and my son-in-law spent a recent weekend in Chattanooga, Tennessee, http://site.soapsbyjan.com. One of the best things about Soaps by Jan is the creative scent mixtures: Check out 1969 Patchouli Lime, Peppermint Sage and Crone’s Garden with 12 homegrown herbs. These are a bit more expensive — $4.75 a bar — but definitely worth it.

Family

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At 22 months, grandson Capt. Adorable already is rocking cool pre-preschool fashion.  Wednesday afternoon was a little bit warmer (in the low 50s!), a little bit drier (no rain for 24 hours!) and a little bit sunnier here in north Alabama so we all headed out to the park for some rare outside fun. Let me tell you, there is nothing like chasing a little guy around a playground maze of slides and steps and balance beams to chase away any adult-onset winter blues. And what does the well-dressed pre-preschooler wear to the playground? A cozy striped hoodie topped off with the perfect pair of shades. I was laughing too hard to snap it, but the Captain somehow did the pull-the-glasses-down-a-bit-and-peer-inquiringly-over-the-top move so smoothly that I wish I had taken notes.