Black Garbage Bags Filled With Treasures And Why My Style Is What It Is

  This is me in 1990 and this is my first pair of jeans. Please note the absolute joy in my face ~ or lack of. Please also note the lace these jeans have and the neon green scrunchy I have somehow fit around my head like a headband. My t shirt and sweater are pretty awesome too and the pendant and watch!!! I mean shut the front door! I really had it going on. These jeans were a Christmas gift by the way and not out of a black bag.

  When I was growing up I remember vividly the times I got to go to a store and pick out my clothing. Why? Well it happened VERY rarely. My mom has never been one to be concerned about fashion and with our lack of funds (my parents had five children and lived on one income for quite a few years) that meant most of my clothing came out of black garbage bags. Can I just say something? I loved that. I loved the black garbage bags. They were like Christmas. However that also meant that my style was unique and since I was a child in the 80's probably that is everyone's story; but my clothes were always a bit behind the times so they were even more special. However I didn't give much thought to my clothing. My grandmother made us pretty dresses for church which I loved, and we lived on a farm so I am sure all my other clothes were beat up pretty quickly.

Here is a grandma special. I love how happy I look and how magnificent the collar and sleeves are AND A HAT to top it all off. I must have been in my glory.

Here I am going to collect eggs. This coat is pretty great. I feel like all us eighties children must have at least one picture with a coat like this and this one is pretty tame. I love that I have a red bow on my head too and those boots!

 I am writing about all this because fast forward to today. I asked on facebook what people wanted me to write about and Lynsey said 'my style.' First off I wanted to say that I really REALLY admire people who have an intrinsic sense of what looks good on their bodies. I love it when people  are confident wearing color and scarves, accessories (head bands, necklaces, earrings etc), and assorted materials or patterns. I myself usually do not feel gifted at pairing these types of things. I have never felt very fashion forward at all and I think even though the black bags growing up didn't bother me I got sort of attached to them and never stopped dressing from them.  As time went on my style sort of evolved out of wearing all my friend's old clothing but over time figuring out what of their clothing I actually liked and why. It was a process of growing up and letting go of a bit of poverty mentality around it. I did start getting new clothes in highschool but those black bags never lost their thrill.

Lately in the last probably almost two years of almost any picture posted of me I am wearing a pair of jeans with a hole in the knee. That hole is there because the jeans are so old. They were out of a bag and they are the only ones that have fit me since I had my last baby almost, ahem, two years ago now. Rips are in so it works and I like how they look. I can do them up having to suck in too terribly much. I have tried to buy new jeans but nothing works and these oldies do. So that is my one pair of jeans. I find that when I go to the mall I get frustrated. I find a lot of things just ugly and the sizes suck. Not always mind you! It just needs to fit nicely and look like it wont only be in fashion for two minutes.  I go to Value Village and I'll find one or two absolute treasures and then I wear them out! That makes me happiest. I was given a long grey sweater and bought another amazing knitted one in Vancouver that is incredible and so I wear them all the time. I don't agree with leggings at all. I have JUST started wearing skin tight work out pants with long shirts and I feel naked if I don't have short black skirt covering my butt. I bought them at Winners. I have found some treasures at Winners actually so that is my other go to store. The brand name I like that I buy new clothing from is Pink Martini and there is a store in Vancouver called Spank, of all things, that I find treasures in every time I am there and they carry Pink Martini.

Here is a picture of me on the farm when I am thirty. I am wearing a dress from Winners, a sweater that is probably fifteen years old from my cousin, leggings from who knows where and some pretty snazzy gum boots from...I dont remember but I still have them and I still love them.

 
I am super sentimental about my clothes. I still have dresses from childhood. At one point I had my friend's mom's wedding dress in my closet, my grannie's coat and sweater, my grandma's vest, my friend from highschool's jacket and the list goes on! I have my wedding dress, grad dress and clothes that I feel like I just cant part with. When we did all the moves a couple years ago I got ruthless and parted with some of them but my closet is still partially sentimental. I have never been one to have a lot of clothes. I have one pair of jeans (a couple others I keep around in case I miraculously slim down a bit but it is literally about three pairs) and I have one or two pairs of shorts. I have some 'work out' pants (aka leggings that are thicker) and a couple skirts. I find my weakness has been cute dresses. I usually buy those new. I love them but hardly wear them because they are delicate, and I am nursing right now and can't really maneuver in them so they sit in my closet. I have a couple scarves that were my grandmother's and mothers but I don't really know how to wear them although sometimes I do. They are in vibrant beautiful colors. I have some great absolutely incredible shoes that I love but don't really show case much because I wear flip flops or grey gum boots every day. I wear a long undershirt every single day under whatever I am wearing. I don't know when that started but it is my staple now and I can't not wear one.

I usually have some sort of colorful floral cotton purse/bag.I have not grown up enough for simple brown leather but it has been calling to me more and more.

Over the years I have had comments about my 'style' that has caught me off guard. Do you think about how other people view you? I usually don't. I usually don't even remember to look at myself in the mirror! One time I went through most of my son's birthday party in my PJ's before I realized it. I was horrified and my friend's told me they thought I just didn't mind. Anyway I have realized that people have alluded to my style over the years and so maybe I have one. Sitting down and thinking about how I dressed as a child, and really all through life, has made me so grateful! What a gift growing up not worrying about how I looked. I put on what I was given and was grateful, at least to some degree! Sometimes now I struggle with feeling that I often look poor because most of my clothes are second hand but that has only come on as an adult. I did not feel that way as a child. Anyway this is the beginning of a couple little posts on my 'style!' It has been fun to write them  :)

Here is a last shot of when I was about ten or eleven. This is a killer outfit for an eleven year old don't you think? I know I got if from a lady in her mid thirties and that is why you can sort of see that they are rolled up about fifty times. I know for a fact my eleven year old daughter would have a fit if I tried to get her to wear something like this. And my hair. Wow. I could post so many more but you get the drift.