Clothes Maketh the (Wo)Man

This month’s Journey to 35 challenge is to focus on my appearance.

This sounds a little shallow, so let me explain:

Before we went to the UK, I worked in a position that allowed me to wear fairly casual clothes, but I still took pride in what I wore. If I wore jeans, I made sure I wore a nice pair of sandals or boots, and I always wore mascara. In London, I wore make-up, heels and smart office wear; I wore jewellery and brooches, and I loved the act of getting dressed up each day. Even when we returned to Dunedin and I was playing at housewife for the couple of months before Tiny arrived, I made an effort to look nice; I made an effort to look nice for when Tall got home (how 1950s housewife does that make me??!).

Then I had Tiny, and for the past 17 months, I’ve been stuck in a rut. A jeans-nursing bra-cardigan-ponytail kinda rut. In the morning, I throw on whatever is clean, and the only consideration is, “how easily can I feed the monster in this top?”, and “does this still even fit???”.

And it’s BORING. I miss that girl who took such pride in what she wore, who enjoyed buying new clothes and putting together new outfits. The one who wore the heels that are probably now home to spiders and dead woodlouse, and used the make-up that’s drying out in the bathroom. Who wore dresses. Oh, dresses!

So I’ve decided to spend September welcoming her back. While I won’t be donning the sort of outfits I wore in London, I will be making more of an effort. And it’s not just the clothing side of things that needs some attention. I’m approaching 35 – middle age – and should probably start looking at my beauty regime….or lack of. I’m blessed with good genes (my mum is 71, but looks 61), but I really do need to look after what I have.

This month I’m going to:

1.  take more pride in my appearance: get out of my jeans-and-Chucks rut;
2.  use the night cream and eye cream that are gathering dust beside my bed;
3.  wear more colour: ditch the black (except for when the All Blacks are playing!)!; and
4.  get a haircut that isn’t a variation on what I’ve had since I was 18.

"Dust. Anybody? No? It's actually very low in fat. You can have as much dust as you like" - Marjorie Dawes, Little Britain.

Advertisement