A Dress Code

"Adornment is never anything except a reflection of the heart."  ~Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel

Over the weekend, as I sat in my overly-stretched stretchy pants and old Coldplay concert t-shirt (which is not quite old enough to be cool and vintage just old enough to be gross), I read Annette Tapert's "Always Dress to Impress" in the Wall Street Journal.  The article gently chastised those of us who run errands in yoga pants, fetch our children in the dreaded mom jeans or fanny about with a greasy ponytail sans makeup.

Sure, ladies, it's 2012, we're (mostly) liberated.  We can dash about in whatever we want.  We get to choose.  It's not Paris in the nineteenth century when women had to get permits to wear pants.

However, as comfy as you claim those old running shorts are, as boxy as your husband's t-shirt is, do you feel glamorous?  Do you feel like a woman (I believe that's a Shania Twain song)?  Do you feel like the best you (okay, I'm getting a little Oprah on you, but stick with me)?

I am guilty of this habit too.  The other day I pulled on one of my favorite maternity shirts.  Well, I have not been "with child" for about eleven months now.  So, this was just silly.  It did not fit, but it was so soft and reminded me of my big belly.  After wearing it for an hour and catching a glimpse of my ill-fitted self in a mirror, I realized I looked haggard.  I could be typecast: thirty-something, stay-at-home mom, exhausted, remnants of her former self.  Yep, that was me.

So, I'm going to make an effort not to fall into a pattern.  I may be the only mom at library story-time wearing skirts and cute cardigans and funky earrings, but I'm not doing this for anyone but me.  When I look good, I feel good.  And, I bet you do too.  Do whatever it is that makes you feel pretty.  Do it often and don't fall into the comfort rut.