Wardrobe Therapy?

What's this?
You can read all about it here. Wende in Phoenix has decided to expand MGR's approach to curing one's home to curing one's wardrobe. I’m going to join in too…I’m a Stay-at-Home-Mom of 4 children, and I just turned 40—I feel like I’ve lost my own sense of style and am definitely in a fashion rut. Now that my youngest child has started attending pre-school, I am spending more time outside of the house volunteering for various organizations, and am trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. As a former clothes-horse turned frumpy mom, I’d like to regain some of my joie de vivre and look a little bit hipper (and a little less hippier).

When I first left my career in development for an art museum to become a SAHM, I had really nice clothes and nowhere to wear them. After years (yes, years…I had 4 children in 5 years) of pregnancies and the resulting changes in my figure, I wear black. Black pants, black shirts, black skirts, black tights, black coats, black shoes, black sunglasses. I know people refer to me as “Link’s mom, you know, the woman who always wears black.” I will ALWAYS love a good pair of black pants, but I truly need to add life and color and pattern back into my wardrobe.

The Quiz.

More Favorites.
Candidate for "Best Dressed," real or fictional.
I’ve always loved historical dramas for the luscious clothes….I’m someone who has been known to watch movies solely for the clothing. Out of Africa…Room with a View…Howard’s End…all those Jane Austen flicks…Orlando….Elizabeth…all the Merchant Ivory films. I aspire to the preppy-bohemian-artiste/trendy-librarian look, but my real wardrobe does not resemble these clothes…I never wear pastels, embroidery, velvet, lace or romantic gauzy things. Or any pattern, ever. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a real person who dresses that way—I haven’t picked up a fashion magazine in a long, long time…

Favorite garment/outfit EVER.
In my first “real” career out of college, I worked in a law firm where women HAD to wear suits with skirts….I had the most perfect black suit from Ann Taylor….fit me like it was custom tailored for me and looked great in the office or out on the town….it had beautiful buttons and an unusual curved neckline—looked vaguely like a Chanel. I always felt like a million bucks in that suit. I probably wore it a bit too often.

Current favorite garment.
A pair of black pants that actually fit me well—purchased at Kohl’s—liked them so much I bought three pair. A black tailored trench coat that fits me really well and makes me feel like I live in NYC.

Favorite thing to wear, if reality weren't an issue in any way, shape, or form.
Brown a-line embellished velvet skirt, teal vintage-look cardigan with skinny brown belt, ethnic bead necklace, patterned tights, knee-high dark brown boots, paisley scarf thrown casually around shoulders—with a Russian-inspired embroidered coat. I don’t currently own this outfit or have the guts to wear it.

or

A straight floor length low-cut black velvet dress by Oleg Cassini that I found in a discount store for less than $10….This dress makes me look about 10 pounds lighter and 10 years younger and accentuates my curves in a positive way. As a stay at home mother of 4 young children can you imagine any time I’d actually have the opportunity to wear this garment out of my house? I do pull it out of the back of my closet and try it on sometimes to fantasize.

Favorite store, given unlimited wealth.
I don’t know…maybe Prada or Anthropologie or Eileen Fisher—I love those clothes, but I don’t know if they are made to fit me. Add in some vintage thrift-store finds for personality.

Favorite fashion faux-pas story to tell, now that the scars have healed.
During the 10^th grade during the early 1980s when everyone was extremely label conscious and actually took the Official Preppy Handbook seriously, I was mortified when a popular, snobby girl made sure everyone knew that I had worn the same pair of Gloria Vanderbilt jeans (I owned only one pair) several times in one week (oh the horror!). I’m sure I’ve had other faux-pas that I’ve blocked out of my memory, but one good thing about wearing all black is that it is generally easy blend into any environment and is generally appropriate for any occasion.


How You Live & the People Around You

If there were a uniform for the place where you spend most of your time, what would it be?
Most of the moms around me wear black track suits with stripes down the leg and matching hoodie or t-shirt with yoga pants, jeans or khaki capris. (I absolutely never wear track-suits, jeans or t-shirts—somehow they make me look very butch, and forget about khaki capris—NEVER in a million years) I definitely have my own uniform…black pants, white v-neck, black cardigan or jacket, black clogs, sunglasses. That’s how I think of it too…a uniform that I really never have to think much about...just grab it, throw it on, and go.

If there were a uniform for where you spend your leisure, what would it be?
Same as above.

Your Wardrobe

What is the problem with your wardrobe?
Too much black. Not enough color. Need more flair with accessorizing, and details that express my personality.

If your wardrobe could speak, what would it say is the problem?
Lighten up for a change! Are you in mourning? Trying to blend in? Trying to look skinny when you aren’t? Give us some color and shape! Stop buying baggy black things to camouflage yourself and let us embrace your curves.

What one thing do you want your wardrobe to do more of?
Be more colorful.

What do you want people to say about your wardrobe?
“She’s very hip and interesting-looking for a middle-aged mother of four children.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I think she might be an artist.”