Ties to an Earlier Time

One thing my three daughters-in-law and my sister would probably agree with me about is that I have very little fashion sense. Mostly, I don't care too much and rather like the term eclecticism. Unfortunately, all those things that look so great on other eclectic women somehow don't always work on me. When I throw a great scarf over my shoulder it always slips and i never know what to do with it when it keeps dropping in my way. If I combine two unexpected colors or prints they look just as awful as everyone told me they would when I was a girl. If I do decide I like a popular style, it's not until it is on the clearance rack and therefore I'm the only one wearing it once I finally put it on. So instead of being eclectic and fashion forward, I tend to be frumpy at worst and eccentric at best. (I don't really mind the eccentric part as much) It's my dream to have Stacy and Kelly and the What Not To Wear crew ambush me for a makeover.

However, I do know what I don't like. Some of it has unfortunately found it's way onto my body because of other people's opinions and I somehow (hee hee) don't have those pictures in my computer. On the assurance of my best friend that it was absolutely perfect, I once bought a floor length orange,gold, and black paisley long sleeved dress to wear to see Yule Brenner in the revival of the King and I. Luckily my brother who had told me to bring something to NYC to wear to the play, forgot to buy the tickets. (it was used twice as a Halloween costume before being turned into a stuffed animal). I wore a floor length multi-striped crocheted shawl, with a long patch work skirt, and white peasant blouse on the advice of my sister's best friend when we went to see Scrabblebuff in her college review. After the performance, SC asked me what in the heck I was wearing.

But there is one thing I never wore when it was originally trendy.
In fact, I never owned a tie dye shirt until 2007 when it was one of my work shirts at Cosmic Cavern in Arkansas. We all had one and we all wore them only on the last day of our work week.

I really wasn't into the whole Flower Power and Hippy generation since I was already busy loving my own family and having babies and not having time for all the other "interesting" experiences of the late 60s and 70s.

I confess ,however, that one of my children did wear something that looked exactly like this. There is no way any of you can get me to tell you which one it was because he would be furious and his brothers would never let him hear the end of it!


Funny thing is, I taught Girl Scouts how to do Tie Dye in two different decades but I always gave the t-shirt I produced to whichever girl didn't make it to the meeting. I love the idea of tie dyeing but I'm still not ready for psychedelic colors. I just never got around to making one in less vibrant hues. Here's a good book on how to do it if you are game enough to try it.


In my Mom's generation, women rarely had to contend with the dilemma of whether to toss out expensive clothing that was out of fashion or hang onto it just in case. Brought up in a make over, make new, or make do era Mom would shorten or lengthen a skirt, take it to the tailor, or embellish it to make a new look. Life expectancies were shorter and rarely did one see a fashion from forty years ago return as we do today. Not only that, but the word Retro had not been coined then either.

Mom never fell for the trends of the day and had no trouble telling my sister and I which ones she'd prefer we avoid. But I was rather boringly conservative even as a teenage so we had very rare dust ups over clothing. Mom had really wonderful taste and had grown up wearing current and fashionable frocks. I think she'd like some of what is available today and would probably more in the know than I am. But I don't think she'd be crazy about Tie Dye in it's newest incarnation any more than she was during it's first.

I think she might let me get away with this one however. It's comfortable and cool and feminine. In fact, Mom might wear it herself to work or to a casual event. So I think I'll try to find one like it and think about Mom when I wear it. If she could be here today I know where we could find these skirts.

Oh yeah, I didn't mention the Geezer guy in this one yet, did I? While I didn't know him as a teenager, I am 100% certain he never wore a tie dye shirt either. But he also had to wear one at Cosmic Cavern once a week, (although he managed to have a different clean shirt as often as possible on the last day of his week.)

But I did find something for him too, just in case we ever go back to a place like Coffeyville, Kansas where it gets pretty cold at night. He might balk when he sees it though, what do you think?
See ya down the road,
Yarntangler