I INTERRUPT THIS BLOG POST TO THANK ALL MY ATYPICAL60 FRIENDS FOR THE OVERWHELMING AMOUNT OF BIRTHDAY GREETINGS AND WISHES!!
I AM THE LUCKIEST BLOGGER IN THE WORLD BECAUSE I HAVE THE GREATEST FRIENDS! THANK YOU FRIENDS!!!
And Hugs and Kisses!! Thank you for being a part of my Birthday!!
And now, let us resume with today’s post:
Bonaparte and I had a great date night for my pre-Birthday dinner on Saturday evening. We returned to Ma Maison in Ardmore for another enjoyable meal.
One great thing about the Philly area is the overabundance of BYOB restaurants. I wish this was the norm everywhere!
Bonaparte poured…
..while I enjoyed a starter of duck rillettes..
My date night outfit. My bio hair! I also wore my plaid Lady Jacket, new jeans I purchased at Marshall’s, an old–very old cotton shell from Talbots that I wish was still sold and a pair of red, pointy-toed heels from Vince Camuto. YES. This is how the OVER-60 woman dresses!!
Wearing that plaid jacket got me to thinking about my favorite madras shorts and the fact that I needed to find them because the warm weather is finally here! I went to sleep dreaming about them.
I woke up this Birthday Morning to a very nice gift card to my favorite store! Bonaparte knows what I like!
And Bonaparte does not want me using any store credit cards either. I can’t wait to use this card!!
I also woke up on this Easter Morning and thanked my buddy, Hipster Jesus, for gifting me with another year. Then I went on to ask him to please return to Earth so that he could remind people the true meaning of Christian behavior.
Yes, you did. And I was one of them and, like the song that Little Peggy March sang back in the early 1960’s, I will always follow you!
You know, things like compassion, empathy, love for all humanity, equality, kindness, non-judgemental behavior. The Basics. They have gone into hiding and need to resurface.
Then I asked Him for help. I know—this is just so awful, but He knows me.
I asked him to help me find my favorite shorts. The madras Bermuda shorts I got last summer at J. Crew. I love those shorts. And I want to see how much tailoring needs to be done on them since my weight loss.
My favorite shorts of all time. I needed to find them. And I asked Hipster Jesus to help me. They fit me last year!
And off I went into the garage in search of my all-time favorite pair of shorts.
In my search, I discovered quite a few dresses that I had forgotten about. I also found other shorts that I wore last year but my madras shorts alluded me.
Not quite in a panic, I shrugged and figured that eventually—meaning at some point today, I would find them. Even if it meant taking every closet apart as though I was a police officer with a search warrant, I would find those shorts.
In the meantime, I rummaged through the clothing that I did find and came across some gems from a few years back that became too tight. But–the good thing was that all the dresses were pretty much basic–nothing trendy and they could still be worn! I laundered, ironed the clothing because after sniffing and carefully inspecting for stains, I only needed to put one skirt in the wash. I’ll wash it later on in the week.
So I ironed and tried stuff on. To my surprise, the shorts from last year were very loose. Way too loose, in fact, to wear.
I really like these striped nautical shorts but the waist was incredibly big..
I was shocked at how much room was in the waist. They fell down to my hips when I walked down the stairs. I can’t wear them this year.
I did throw on the neon yellow eyelet shorts and wore them with a belt. Monsieur Bonaparte, Fashion Expert, informed me that the shorts were, in fact, too loose to wear even with a belt. They will be placed back in storage with the other shorts that were too loose.
They don’t look bad at all from the front, but in the back they were just sagging too much. The GOOD thing is that Bonaparte said he would take me shopping and buy more shorts for me.
But, I will share with you the clothing that made the cut–and they are all basics:
This is a dress that I purchased at J. Crew Factory some years back. It’s a bit on the shorter side and I never got around to wearing it. At all. The weight gain made it impossible to get over my thighs. It fits now. And yes. It is still on the short side. I wouldn’t wear it to work, but it is a nice summer dress to wear after a day at the beach or if we go out in the evening. I wore my Rondini “Bikini” sandals in the pics because I plan on getting a lot of wear out of them this coming summer. They are comfy as all get out. Back to the dress. I love the way this yellow statement necklace looks against the navy.
and with hair pulled in an updo, it is a nice warmer-weather look!
Same basic dress only this time with a scarf–which is great to wear in air-conditioned movie theaters.
This is a dress that I absolutely love and haven’t worn in over two years. It is by “Cos” and I picked it up in Paris many years ago–when I was lean enough to buy clothes. in the City of Lights! The dress is high waisted but I still like it. The top is knit and the bottom cotton and it has pockets! Honestly–what is not to love. It is also a very basic dress. There is nothing trendy about it and it is about eight years old.
The length is office friendly and I can dress it up a bit with heels. In all honesty, I should have changed my bra before trying this on. A less padded one makes the dress look even better!
Another J. Crew Factory purchase from a few years back. To tell you the truth, I’m not crazy about the dress because I wish the waist line was lower. The Cos dress has a purposely high waist line–so it’s almost an empire waist. But this dress is made for women who don’t have a long waistline. I like stripes though. And I can wear this to work so it’s a keeper…
…and I happen to like the way it looks with this lightweight dotted scarf!
A great shirtwaist dress is difficult to find. Many of them have a tendency to look a bit frumpy. This dress–is just great. I cannot even remember how long ago I made the purchase. I can’t remember if it is GAP or GAP Factory. I do remember that when I made the purchase the arms were way too tight and I wore it maybe once. I am so happy I held on to this dress. It is basic as all get-out, but I love it.
I can belt it if need be, but I would rather keep it more like a shift. I can wear ballet flats to give it a more polished look for work. I’m telling you, this is a great, great dress that has managed to keep classic over the years!
OK. I gotta tell you a story about this dress and the next dress I’m photographed in. Bonaparte took a photo of me in this last summer. I literally started crying because I had gained so much weight that I looked like a white whale in it. I was shocked. And I was sad because this has been one of my favorite summer dresses. It is loose to begin with so I’ve been able to wear it through thick and less thick times. I’m happy that I can wear it again this year. It’s also very airy and lightweight. This is another GAP dress.
This is me last summer in Theoule. This dress was tight! VERY tight…
This is the dress this year. Yeah. I’ll be giving it a lot of love!
Basically, it comes down to this—don’t buy anything new before you check to see what you already have. Everything old is new. I found a couple of striped dresses. Guess what? Stripes are in mode now (I refuse to say “on trend”. I cannot stand that phrase). I have another post-in-progress about stripes. Stay tuned!
Take that older item and make it new with a scarf, or shoes or accessories. If it is basic, you can work with it.
And this scarf? I can wear it with the navy shift dress or even the white dress. It’ll look completely different!
Oh..and I did manage to talk some more to my Hipster Jesus. He told me that what I was looking for may not be what it used to be.
Darned if He wasn’t right!!! After another trip down to the garage and another rummage, this time in an old chest of drawers. I found my beloved shorts. And I tried them on. And they don’t fit. They are way too loose.
Look at how ill-fitting my madras shorts are. The crotch area is not where it should be..
That is NOT the crack of my ass. It is the small of my back and the shorts fell down to my hips and not in a flattering way. Do I get them tailored? I said yes, but looking at this pic, I’m not so sure…
The one pair of shorts I managed to salvage. Stretch denim. J. Crew. They were tight as a vise last summer. Now they are a normal fit. I’ll probably wear these to the threads this summer.
Lesson learned? I’m glad I’m a “Basic”. If you stick to basics you will be able to hang on to clothing for years. In the blogosphere of fashion, my thinking may be a bit…well, basic but I don’t care.
That’s the beauty of wisdom with age. It isn’t about following trends anymore. It’s about what lasts and what you like and what you know looks and feels great for you. We old ladies got it going on!!
Oh! And guess what else I found? Remember the gray Old Navy $15 T-shirt dress that I raved about. The one I put on last week and discovered not one, not two, but three stains all in the course of about a minute? I discovered another one of the dresses that is still in the plastic! Oh yes! Now I have an older, brand new, never-worn dress to stain!
Why I buy multiples!!
And today’s song–let’s have some fun! Little Peggy March “I Will Follow Him”! You know who I’m talkin’ ’bout!
