New Year, New Notions.

The other day I watched as a woman (probably a size zero maybe a size two) tried on a double breasted peacoat, size medium. She turned over to look at me...my mouth was at the floor. She was smiling. "How's it look?!" What I wanted to say was, "really?" REALLY? I wanted to tell her that I wear a medium (I am a size 8/10/12 depending on how gutsy i'm feeling that day) and there was no way she and I wore the same size. But then I realized her pants were easily 3 sizes too big, her shirt was nothing but a flood at her hips and wrists, she literally looked as if she was a child wearing her mother's clothes. I couldn't understand it. How does someone walk around in clothes that are so incredibly big? Does she not look in the mirror in the morning and think it odd that even her belt can't keep the jeans on?

So, when she turned to me, smiling, I nodded. I complimented her on the choice of coat, saying that wearing it belted really defined her waist well. I then picked out the XS and suggested that she try it on--just for kicks. She kind of shrugged as if asking "are you sure?" In my head I was screaming "yes, YES!" But I just smiled and gave it to her. Her arms went gently into the coat, she pulled it on, and the shoulders were no longer drooping off the sides. She buttoned it, belted it, and then turned to the mirror. I smiled. Finally you could see the beautiful little figure she keeps hidden under all those clothes. And when she saw herself it was if something had clicked. She saw how it looked, how it felt, and understood.

So whether it's you buy clothes that are too big for you, or too small, or even if you think your derierre can't carry a print, everyone has preconceived notions about clothes: what they can wear, what they can't, and what they do--when they shouldn't. I recently bought my first pair of "skinny" jeans (the trick is...if you're blessed with hips and thighs, get the "straight" leg fit--they'll fit like skinny jeans without the super uncomfortable fit). I now sport leggings (sometimes!) under dresses to make them appropriate for the winter chill. Branch out. If you need to, bring a new friend shopping with you to help open your horizons to different cuts, and different styles. Don't just go by what you read in magazines: adverse to popular opinion, there are more body shapes then just apples, pears, and bananas. And, if you find floods at your hips, wrists, and lots of extra fabric at the thighs, please take off your mother's clothing and walk into a new year, with new notions.

Starting 2010 off right. Saying thanks and smiling.

The presents have all been opened, the thank you notes sent out, and my holiday season retail feet are just now starting to recover (beauty is pain—heels never come without a price). Without being too personal, this year has been in many ways my best, but also, by far my hardest. I ran. I fell. And I picked myself back up. I am where I am because of the people in my life: my friends, my family, my colleagues. Because of you, I have grown. And to this, I say Thank you.

So, to get down to business, yesterday I was sitting with a couple of friends. The conversation (as it almost always does) went from boys, to men, to clothes. When discussing clothes the question was posed of what our favorite outfit was. One friend said it was a dress that she wore when she first started losing weight. She wore it to a bar and for the first time (or so she says) men started to notice her. Another friend mentioned a pantsuit that she had in college. She didn’t know what it was, the light color, or the cut that looked as if it was made for her, but she said that every time she wore it, the world just seemed right. Then it came time for me. I thought for a while, it used to be a Charles-Chang Lima dress that I got at a consignment store on the Upper East. I loved wearing it, I could wear it to work, wear it to church, it even served as my dress for Audrey Hepburn on Halloween. Not anymore.

I have this green dress, the Benny dress from Diane Von Furstenberg’s fall ’08 line to be exact. It sat on the rack at Saks for months. I would visit it. Try it on. Twirl around. Look in my empty wallet and grudgingly put it back. I did this until one fateful day…I was at Nordstrom Rack and saw it on the clearance rack a couple months later. Size 8. It was on sale for $120.00 marked down from $400.00. And so this is how this amazing green dress became mine. It sat in my closet, tags on, unworn for almost a year. It made the trip from Cleveland to Nashville and still just sat. Whenever I had a hard day, or needed a pick me up, I would squeeze my way into it (and I really do mean squeeze)..but every time I looked in the mirror, it was totally worth it. I’m not sure what it is—maybe the emerald green color that goes perfectly with my “red” hair or the way it seems that I have the perfect waist to hip ratio when I wear it, to drop every jaw in the room, but it makes the world right. I know, sounds crazy, but so true.

So in light of the hard year 2009 was for me, I decided to start 2010 off in the only way that felt right. I shrugged off my insecurities and squeezed myself into that green dress. I put on heels that made me 6 1’, tamed my curly hair, and smiled. 2009 Was a year for learning. 2010 is a year for doing.

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I apologize that it seems my blogs are becoming few and far between. This changes now.