Peg Kerr's Journal

Sometimes when I grief-shop, I make excellent choices.



Buy it here.

It's been awhile since I posted one of these. It's a little blurry, but yes, I'm still wearing the dress every Friday. And I felt I look pretty good today.

I discovered the blog Advanced Style and have been poring over some of the entries with great interest. First of all, I've been thinking a lot about my body and how I dress. Pennies have been tight for quite awhile, but although I don't know much about fashion, I know all about the mental lift it can give you when you feel as though you look fabulous.

This blog spotlights women in their seventies, eighties and even older who dress them to suit themselves and carry themselves with confidence. Some of them look stunningly elegant:





some of them (in my opinion) look more than a little dotty:




but what pulls the blog together is these women's self-confidence. Many of them choose pieces with brilliant color:











They are dressing to suit themselves, and they've reached the age where they can say they don't really give a flip about what you think; they're not doing this for you, they're doing it for themselves. It's the difference, as one woman puts it, between 'Look at me!' and 'Here I am.' It's no coincidence that many of these women have active and busy lives into advanced old age.

The man doing the blog, Ari Seth Cohen, has a book out and a movie in development:




I'm very attracted to these women, who seem quite sure of themselves. It was interesting to probe my reaction to these pictures of confident crones, if you will, (and I use the word 'crone' in the best sense of the word) with the more wary reaction I have to the Red Hat Society (and not just, as sdn says, because their website looks so awful that it sort of breaks the eyes). The Red Hat Society, if you'll remember, is a social organization for ladies, primarily over 50: they do outings together, where they all wear purple clothes and red hats. Both Advanced Style and the Red Hat Society are trying to tap into the power of older women, help them harness self-confidence. And yet...I once was in a Red Hat Society store, and it struck me quite forcibly: 1) how corporate it is...see all the stuff they're trying to sell (note all the ads on the website) and 2) maybe it's encouraging women to discover their inner zing, stand out, be bold. But note how it works in practice: all the women at a Red Hat Society meeting dress alike: red hats, obviously, and purple dresses. The women that the Advanced Style blog follows seem to me to be much more individualistic. And they often make their own clothes, or create their own art pieces that they wear, sometimes with thrifted items.

I am sure the Red Hat Society has been a godsend to some women, opening them up to new adventures.

Somehow, I kinda think I might prefer, however, to hang out with the ladies profiled in Advanced Style.

but I'm still wearing the Little Black Dress every Friday.

(Hey, naomikritzer, here's what I did with the sweater vest you passed on to me.)

Fiona's dress for the homecoming dance this Saturday: $15, and another $4 for a camisole from which I cannibalized a lace panel from the front to pin into the dress to give her a little more cleavage coverage. Both from Savers, a thrift store. We're going out to shop for shoes tonight. I will try to get pictures up later.

Here we were at the beginning of the day. (Delia was in that 'don't take my picture' mood.)




Some new acquisitions:

Delia got a jingle coin bellydancing costume. Lovely and cheerfully festive!





Fiona got a new green skirt from Felix Needleworthy, the tricorne hat that she tried on last year and fell in love with (I took a picture of it then, and she uses it as her Facebook profile picture), and a new leather bodice. She got the hat at New Ptyerodactyl Leather; can't remember the name of the shop where she got the bodice. Whoa, the combination is absolutely stunning.





Here's the picture I took last year of her in that same hat which she uses as her Facebook picture. It's one of my very favorite pictures of all time of her:

Renaissance Faire 2009 Fiona's Facebook picture

Here we are at the end of the day. Not such a good picture because of the sun's glare (and Fiona's hat throw's Delia's face in shadow). I'm wearing a new belt I got at Renaissance Leather.

Today, I'm wearing my workaday uniform yoga pants and a blouse with an inset black plastic detailing at its center, with the blouse fabric ruched around it. I'm wearing the uniform dress open over the blouse, with the bottom edges pinned underneath, making a sort of swallow-tailed jacket. I'm pretty pleased with this one.

The dress I have underneath my Uniform Project dress is an ingenious design from American Apparel that can be worn about fifteen different ways. Very versatile.

Hmm. I think I wore that necklace the last time I took a picture with the dress.

Interesting. A New York Times article (here) caught my eye about this project. Reminds me of the Uniform Project.

Six Items Or Less
A global experiment examining the power of what we don't wear

The Experiment

What do our clothes say about us? Why do spend so much time on what we wear? What happens when we don't?

Starting Monday, June 21st 2010, a group of people from California to Dubai are going to take part in a little experiment: each participant gets to choose six (and only six) items of clothing and pledge to wear only these six items of clothing for a month. They'll share their experiences here at sixitemsorless.com

There are exceptions that don't count towards the six: undergarments, swim wear, work-out clothes, work uniforms, outer jackets (rain slicker, outdoor jacket), shoes and accessories. You can get multiples of the same item for laundry purposes, but different colors count as separate items. Or you can tell us to stuff it and make your own rules.

People have asked what the philosophy is behind the experiment and most assume it's a statement about consumerism. In reality, we haven’t dictated a driving thought. Rather it’s about putting a challenge out there and seeing what people bring to it, do with it and talk about.

Check back daily – people are posting all the time. or follow us @sixitemsorless. questions? sixitemsorless@gmail.com

It should be an interesting month.

I'm already wearing the Uniform Dress on Fridays. That's been fun. I might think about doing this, too.

Maybe.