Clothing as persona
The other evening at canasta, S was wearing a gauzy dress in bright tropical colors...she said she liked it because it's pretty and flowing and she felt like she ought to be running through a field of flowers in a tampon commercial. (They haven't made tampon commercials like that in about fifteen years, so if you don't catch the reference, chalk it up to the generation gap, 'k?) To which
sbjb replied that if that was the case, the dress would have to be white, to prove the product worked.
Later, after everyone else was gone, S and I were hanging out, and we got onto the topic of clothes again. I mentioned that the dress she had on reminded me of a dress she'd given me about ten years before---long and gauzy, although this one had a black background and was printed with a pattern of little violets. I told her that every time I wore that dress, I felt like an internationally reknowned cellist mingling at an orchestra fundraiser.
She thought I was nuts.
Okay, maybe I've spent too much time reading J Peterman catalogues, but there are certain pieces in my wardrobe that trigger a sense of another life I'm having in an AU wearing that item...my black faux fur hat transforms me into a glamourous Russian spy on her way to rendezvous with her contact, I'm a naughty schoolgirl in my red and black plaid skirt, a Fifties B-movie sex kitten in leopard print, a rough-and-tumble cowgirl in denim and a red bandana.
There's an old Oingo-Boingo song that asks "Who do you want to be today?" (and someday, I'm going to take some of the pix from my "Couture" file and turn them into a montage icon that asks that question), and it's a valid question. For the most part, I'm happy with my life, but the added dimension of another persona gives a little sparkle to the days when mundane routine is all-too-boring.
Time to go dress for work. Who am I going to be today?
sbjb replied that if that was the case, the dress would have to be white, to prove the product worked.
Later, after everyone else was gone, S and I were hanging out, and we got onto the topic of clothes again. I mentioned that the dress she had on reminded me of a dress she'd given me about ten years before---long and gauzy, although this one had a black background and was printed with a pattern of little violets. I told her that every time I wore that dress, I felt like an internationally reknowned cellist mingling at an orchestra fundraiser.
She thought I was nuts.
Okay, maybe I've spent too much time reading J Peterman catalogues, but there are certain pieces in my wardrobe that trigger a sense of another life I'm having in an AU wearing that item...my black faux fur hat transforms me into a glamourous Russian spy on her way to rendezvous with her contact, I'm a naughty schoolgirl in my red and black plaid skirt, a Fifties B-movie sex kitten in leopard print, a rough-and-tumble cowgirl in denim and a red bandana.
There's an old Oingo-Boingo song that asks "Who do you want to be today?" (and someday, I'm going to take some of the pix from my "Couture" file and turn them into a montage icon that asks that question), and it's a valid question. For the most part, I'm happy with my life, but the added dimension of another persona gives a little sparkle to the days when mundane routine is all-too-boring.
Time to go dress for work. Who am I going to be today?