Skirting The Issue
I'm trying to focus on small joys nowadays. The older you get, I've found, the better it is for your mental and emotional health to count every nickel and dime of gifts (giftlets?) that life bestows. I still aim for the big-ticket items - Bill Gates riches, unprecedented career success - but those things are hard to come by, if they come by at all.
Anyway, a few months ago, I stumble upon a pretty and tasteful denim miniskirt on sale at The Gap. It was only for $6. Wow, I said. Buy it, my 13-year-old daughter said. It was pretty, and it was cheap – two giftlets in one teeny fabric!
Small problem, though. I never wear miniskirts. I've always wanted to wear them. In my teens, I wore them once but when I took one look at my scar-littered and quite un-girly muscular legs, I immediately changed into jeans and never looked back. Those scars and the muscles came courtesy of multiple scrapes from tree climbing expeditions and patintero and taguan games with my playmates in Batangas, Philippines. What can I say – loved the games, hated the souvenir.
But the scars have faded somewhat and I've since appreciated my muscle-y leg tone so maybe I can pull it off now? Yes, my daughter said. Yes, my husband said. Um, ooookay, I said. At home, I put it on and smiled at my reflection on the mirror. Not Kate Moss, but not bad either, Not-Quite-Mrs-Robinson.
Fast forward to present: I've worn the skirt so much they've faded a bit. Yay to small joys.
This morning, however, I opened my latest O, Oprah magazine and my small balloon of joy popped. According to O's creative director, Adam Glassman, I have a little more than a year left to wear it.
"Miniskirts on women over 40: Are they okay, is it giveaway time?" the article's headline asked.
"GET RID OF THEM, AND FAST!" Glassman said. Okay, the caps and exclamation mark are mine but because of its context, it just felt like he was shouting. Damn you, fashion arbitrators, and damn our society's slavish attention to them!
Oh, well, I guess now I'll have an excuse to wear my skirt everyday for a year. I'll take my small joy, thank you very much, even if it comes with a truncated shelf life.
3 comments:
my take on fashion is this... if the item makes you feel good and you look good in it, then by all means - whatever it is, wear it.
wear the skirt after 40. life is too short (no pun intended) to worry about what others think of you.
i don't think diane lane, sandra bullock, catherine keener, mary louise parker, monica belluci, sharon stone would let anyone else dictate what they should be wearing at their age.
sashay on, sistah!
Sista, if you can still flaunt it, go right ahead! Wear that skirt! Because we Filipina Moms always look younger than our real age anyways!
As long as it looks good on you and you feel good wearing it, go right ahead, wear it even if you're 60(although I doubt if your mini will last that long, he he).
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