Lament of the spoiled American girl

What is it about the change in seasons that always makes you feel like you have nothing to wear? Even though you have several plastic storage boxes under your bed full of colder weather clothes from last year, a stack of sweaters you haven't touched in months on the closet shelf and an entire rack of work-appropriate pants, you stare at these things despondently and think: there is STILL nothing to wear. In fact, you can't imagine what you wore the last time it was cold and rainy because you couldn't possibly have worn those things.

It took me an hour to get dressed for church yesterday because I was also getting dressed for the baby shower I'd have later that afternoon at my house. With people from church. Which means those girls would see me at church AND at my house. You can see the difficulty? Or maybe you are like my husband, who is stymied every time he gets out of the shower and finds me standing in front of the closet, where I have been for fifteen minutes, rejecting every item inside and making plans to go to the mall.

To my credit, I rarely ask his opinion. And to his credit, when I do ask, he actually tries to have an opinion. Too bad it is always the wrong opinion.

There are just so many facets to Getting Dressed! What am I doing today? Sitting at a desk? Walking around? Who will I be seeing today? Do I want this person to think I am Put Together or has this person seen me with bed head and hairy legs? Do I want to be Breezy? Do I want to be Professional? How comfortable do I need to be today? What if I can't walk too far in the shoes that go with those pants? If I can't wear those shoes I can't wear those pants and I have to start ALL OVER AGAIN.

Several summers ago my sister Becca lived with me in my scary tiny studio apartment for a month or two. After just a few days into this sharing-a-room project (which I never had to do growing up, except for that one time when my mother was so scandalized by my filthy room that she made me switch with Becca and I had to live with Katie and let's just say that THAT didn't go over well AT ALL) I realized that I had a built-in opinion maker. And Becca is of the discriminating sort. My sister owns as many shoes as Nordstrom. When I said, "Does this look okay? Or maybe I should wear this instead?" not only did she have an opinion, it was RIGHT. Rebecca would never let me out of the house looking as I do today.
Today I am wearing:

• Barely work-appropriate khaki pants that are sort of falling down because I cannot find my belt anywhere in my house, even when I cleaned it and looked in all the possible hiding places, like the refrigerator and the filing cabinet.
• A hideously lime green sweater that is shaped funny and makes me look like a Granny Smith. (WHY do I buy clothes from J. Crew, the fashion house of six-foot-tall women shaped like thirteen-year-old boys?)
• A t-shirt under the sweater because my boss thinks 49 degrees is a pleasant working environment, creating a lovely lumpy effect.
• Shoes from Target.
• Gray socks. Because they are the only pair that do not have holes.
• Poorly styled third grader hair.

I was thinking that I would really like to be Nina Garcia. Do you think Nina Garcia ever stands in front of her closet and laments the fact that she has nothing to wear? Perish the thought! First of all, Nina Garcia must have fifteen closets full of designer castoffs, not to mention the heaps of clothes she'd have access to at work. Nina Garcia would never have to wear the same thing twice. Also, Nina Garcia is a Fashion Director. A Stylist. She knows what works and what doesn't! Do you think Nina Garcia stands in front of her closet(s) fretting about what to wear to a baby shower? No. Nina Garcia calls up Michael Kors and dictates exactly what kind of look she's going for, and a handmade original Michael Kors arrives on her doorstep the next morning. Oh, to be Nina Garcia.

Comments

[Jennifer]

After just going on an internet shopping splurge, I SO know what you mean. I also hate that one day it is 55 degrees and the next it is 80. It makes it so hard to plan what to wear ahead of time.

Of course, the only people who see me are the people who hang out at our town library and the town coffee house, but still and all...

I will have buyers remorse in a couple of days when the packages start arriving.

[Antonia]

haha! I know *just* what you mean! It is a pain when you've chosen an entire outfit, but then suddenly realise that for some reason you cant wear the shoes which go with the skirt you've chosen, and so have to start again but only have 10 minutes before you have to BE at your destination because you've spent so long choosing what to wear!

[Courtney]

I just did some major internet shopping this weekend due to autumn onset and the nothing to wear blues. In my defense, for the past 3 years we lived in Atlanta and California, so the climates were pretty mild, and we have now moved to New York. And last year I was in my final trimester of pregnancy and had given away a gazillion clothes to make room for baby clothes and maternity clothes (because it took 6 years for me to get pregnant...so I was kinda overzealous about purging clothes from the infertility years and more than a little shortsighted about what I'd do with the combo of new baby expenses and consequent lack of clothing funds for myself plus the need to wear nonmaternity clothes in autumns to come).

Anyway, your post made me smile. I relate to the utterly stymied before the closet phenomenon. Big time.

[orangepaas]

you are *so* not alone...but this year's bonus is that since I'm a million months pregnant, I really *don't* have anything to wear when the season changes, and I really *do* have to make shopping plans for later in the day! Sweeeet.