Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Curiouser and Curiouser…

I have a problem with winter. That is to say I don’t know how to dress for it, even with my Connecticut Christmas background. Back in sixth grade I preferred the snooze button to the blow dryer. I waited for the bus at the end of a very long hill and my wet head would freeze into stiff dreads in the wind. I also thought it was cool not to have a coat and to jump out the door unbeknownst to my parents just in my hot-pink Champion sweatshirts, which I assure you were really slick at the time, and leggings. Hey, it was the early nineties. No one said it was pretty.

Today I saw on the morning news that it was forty degrees in the city. I argued to myself that I would spend a total of fourteen minutes outside, tops, in my work outfit jumping from my apartment to the subway to the office and back. I wore a skirt, bare legs and optimism (I’m with Anna Wintour on hose, I’m more comfortable sans, ever since the day I grew out of white tights and a corduroy jumper).

Let me stress that this seemed like a good idea because in the morning I’m in a bit of stupor, everything in the house keeps soporific. My room is a warm little jewel box of pink and blue blankets and antique lamps and does not adequately prepare me for the harsh reality of the outside world. Since I did not want to stumble to work in heels, but rather make the switch once in the lobby, I slipped them in my tote and went, in flip flops, to the train, reading Word Power Made Easy, mouthing aloud “philanderer” as the instructions of the GRE-sanctioned book insist.

On the subway, in the winter, I fit right in…and so the question remains…where is my barometer of normalcy when it’s so hard to elicit stares? I’m a bag lady-in-making, I can see it now…I just need to start accumulating cats and then I’ll be on my way…muttering, ill-dressed and late as always...

3 comments:

Miss Scarlet said...

Haha! Flip flops!? Hilarious.

I LOVE winter and LOVE LOVE LOVE winter clothes so I tend to overdress. They say it's 60 (damn warm winter we're having) and I still wear a sweater. I've been kind of angry it has not been colder lately. I have a lot of cool scarves I want to wear.

Anonymous said...

Baglady or not, you are still adorable...

Anonymous said...

i have not been home in a couple of days, due to extenuating circumstances (read astoria is far from bushwick). In order to deal with this I just bought a new bag of socks. Rare is something better then a new bag of socks. I just straight up threw the old ones out. Yeah, just like that.

As for bag lady-
Until you have tucked plastic bodega bags under your belt (done that)
Worn two or more knit hats at once (double check)
Had an animal print on some item of clothing (check, shirt)
fingerless gloves (oh man the ones that fold back, check)
12lbs of change and a cigarette butt in your pocket (yep)
and tape on your shoes (they still work)
you'll be fine. Skirts and flops do not a bag lady make. Just a poor weather dresser, which makes people like me mutter under our breaths.