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Shopping for the life you live - NUTS TO THAT!

ironkurtin

Veteran

I have thought long and hard about Angie's post about shopping for the life you lead, and - well, UGH!

I finally parted with some long-hoarded NYC coats and cashmere. But now... I realize I don't WANT to only buy things for Austin's hot weather. I find the summer season so uninspiring. So much more thought and interest goes into designing the other 3 seasons, which we barely have here. I have lots of lovely summer things, but it's like I purchased them out of duty because I know I HAVE to have them. I also know I won't have them for very long, because they will stain, and I will be washing them constantly due to sweat - why bother to emotionally invest? And I LIKE to emotionally invest.

That's a nice linen top... but ooooooh how much more I love that smart jacket I can't possibly wear here for more than a few weeks.

So nuts to shopping for my life. I need the fantasy!

Shopping

38 replies

Latest reply was from Aziraphale

Laura

(website)

Veteran

I completely sympathize. The only bonus of cold weather is the clothing.

Is the weather starting to get hot in Texas already? Because this sounds an awful lot like Ana's thread about "does everything have to be a 10"!

Amy

(website)

Veteran

You simply need to travel more

ETA: I completely sympathize. Much of my love of fashion is rooted in my fantasy life. I need it too.

Sveta

(website)

Veteran

This is hard, IK! When your dominant season is the least you like to dress for...
You should book vacations for eary spring and late fall when it is still hot in Austin and go somewhere north to extend your cold season dressing...:-)

HelenInCanada

Veteran

I say travel is a must then!

rae

(website)

Veteran

Sounds like it is always winter in your office! So not a total fantasy at all.

fauxpas

My mother's words are riniging in my ears..."Dress for the job you WANT!". This fits perfectly...."Dress for the LIFE you want!". I am right there with you!

Ana

(website)

Veteran

These are my thoughts exactly, IK.

Laura, haha, I'm busted. Sorry for all the whining. ; )
It's been all over the place recently. Some days it's in the 50s, but then it will get to almost 80 the next day. I think part of my problem with the heat here is I hate being sweaty and sticky at the same time. The best approximation I can think of is being trapped in a sauna, covered head to toe in a micro-thin layer of honey.

Vildy

Veteran

I had to click on this one! My husband says that I'm only not too hot or not too cold
about 2 weeks of the year. I have tried to make the life I have fit closer to the one
I'd rather have: I live in a dangerous neighborhood in one of our murder capitals.
I don't want to look like I'm lost or looking to buy drugs but I don't want to give in to
dressing like a hootchie mama. No kidding, city hall downtown used to have a
sign up for employees that they were not to come to work dressed as hootchie
mammas. It's sorta working for me, neighborhood guys often say, "Good morning,
Miss."

LoP

Veteran

I had these thoughts passing through my mind as I got dressed this morning.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Well, unless you want to live the fantasy and dress in what you buy, no matter if it matches your life or not, it really is a losing proposition. I should know, I have had what amounted to lovely closet decorations for years that never once made it onto my body.

Ana

(website)

Veteran

Mo, that's a good point. I sort of took the post to be more about blowing off steam than an actual plan of action. I definitely try to purchase items for my climate and lifestyle. I think IK's point was that what is appropriate for our climate just doesn't really light her sartorial fires. I feel the same way, and I just accept that's the way things are. Then I go shopping for short shorts. : )

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Ana - I totally get the frustration! It is STILL 80 here in FL. Some summer looks can be airy and feminine but mostly it's just no fun. I'll be happy to go home to my mountain closet very soon

Sharon

Veteran

LOL at Vildy. I am wondering how a "no hootchie mama" dress policy would be expressed in bureaucracy-speak.
IK, living in a warm climate, I sympathize.

Laura

(website)

Veteran

Ha, Ana! Covered in honey and stuck in a sauna. Brilliant description!

I do understand though. Not sure how I would live without sweaters, jeans and boots, and not getting to wear those except a couple of months a year? Eeep. Why don't you all move up here to Chicago?

Laura

(website)

Veteran

Ha, Ana! Covered in honey and stuck in a sauna. Brilliant description!

I do understand though. Not sure how I would live without sweaters, jeans and boots, and not getting to wear those except a couple of months a year? Eeep. Why don't you all move up here to Chicago?

Barbara

Veteran

IMHO, perhaps we should shop NOT ONLY for the lives we live, i.e., somewhat practical, but ALSO shop for fun, totally fabulous purchases that reflect a COMPLETELY different lifestyle. Hence my mild addiction to animal print. And a fascination with anything Rachel Zoe wears.

velvetychocolate

Veteran

Sveta's onto something here!

I wonder what the opposite of 'snowbird' is? Places like Seattle need to get on this bandwagon, and start offering up summer getaways to "cool."

Ana

(website)

Veteran

I think my dream would be to have a summer home in Seattle and then winter in Austin. I love the winter and spring here (not counting all the spring allergies we have), but knowing what is coming kind of takes the shine off. If there are a string of gorgeous 80 degree days...in FEBRUARY...it's hard to enjoy knowing that means this summer will be particularly bad.

Barbara, I think your post is really good! There must be a balance.

Laura, thank you! : )

Vicki

(website)

Veteran

IK, I'm not a summer fashion lover and, guess what, I live in California! I prefer the other seasons, so I can wear the things I like (boots, jeans, jackets, etc) and what I don't like to wear are shorts and sleeveless tops and I don't own these except for a couple of knee-length pairs of fitted walking shorts. In the summer, I don't usually run too hot, but I still keep my tees rather light in fabrication. Aside to Ana, didn't StacyJo say that honey is very hydrating to our skin? That could be the silver lining in your sauna! I think there is the practical side, but finding fashion in it is key.

MsMaven

Veteran

I like your spirit. Surely there is a way to inject some fantasy into the every day wardrobe. What fun to try and figure it out.

Ana

(website)

Veteran

Haha, Vicki! Good point. I remember my grandmother telling me that I should be happy because the humidity would keep me from getting wrinkles (Ha! Turns out not to be true at all!). Actually, I just got back from Idaho and had terribly itchy skin on my legs a couple of days until I put a ton of moisturizer on. I guess it is a silver lining I don't have to worry about that. Although, I do get heat rash sometimes, so maybe it's a wash. ; )

Back to IK's original comment, I do think there are more interesting design details and just more style in the Fall/Winter collections in general. I wonder why that is? Maybe it's just that there are more details that I happen to like.

Anonymous

it's super cold here (-13C) and I dream at my pretty sundresses and pumps and sandals while i trudge to the snow on the side-walks , wind blowing in my face. I had a cami, a sweater, a blazer a puffer coat ( belted ofc) jeans and boots, and i was thinking "maybe I should have layered tights underneath the jeans".
Or yesterday, when I did the cami , dress , cardi , boots , leggings , coat, and "there's 5 inches of leg uncounted for and it's freezing". So please please look at the bright side.
As for weather as nice as autumn and spring, yeah, I believe you, I'd miss that too ( summer can get too hot and boring).

ironkurtin

Veteran

Anya, you should move to Austin! You'll never wear layers - especially those kinds of layers - ever again!

mrseccentric

(website)

Veteran

Oh, IK, Ana, etc. i understand your emotions! when i married 12 years ago i moved inland from Berkeley, California. Lovely lovely lovely fog almost every day, no need for air conditioning, i wore layers layers layers, tweedy deets and scarves and tights galore! It was a perfect fit with all of my natural style loves and i never ever had to think about what i wanted to wear - i just did.

A mere dozen miles inland meant colder winters but also much much hotter and longer summers. Just about every tactic i used to pull looks together was a big no-go in 90-100F heat. I had always been interested in style, and decided after a while that i wanted to use this opportunity to expand my style instead of just settling. I have to say that i have learned so much about my own style and style in general by grabbing the bull by the horns (yes, i am a Taurus and discovering how to dress like ME in these unpromising circumstances.

And the even happier part is that this has reverberated into my fall/winter style, revitalizing and refining it more than i thought possible.

I don't think i'd ever choose to live in this type of climate, given me druthers. But i am So Glad that i decided to dress for myself in this situation - it's made a huge, completely positive difference in my style! And even better i don't have to wait for 'something else' in order to enjoy dressing. We can never be certain that that other circumstance will unfold for us, after all.

I apologize for taking this thread in an inspirational direction - i hope you understand steph

p.s. just a couple 'hot looks' that i love

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Mo

(website)

Veteran

Cute looks Steph! The natural fibers are a godsend for sure. But I have to say (having lived in both), CA Bay Area inland hot and southern US hot are two different animals. I would be screaming, ripping at my legs in look #4 in Louisianna or Florida, or Texas on the Gulf coast. Just sayin'

ironkurtin

Veteran

Ha! I LOVED living in Berkeley back when I was a brighteyed student. I also loved my summers in the Arizona mountains. And in the LA Valley where I grew up. But I was younger and more robust then.

I have a lot of nice summer things and I'll show 'em off come bazillion degree weather. But I just don't like summer duds as much as winter ones. I don't like having to shave my legs all the time. Or being unable to wear jeans or boots. Or sweating the second I step outside. Or getting heatstroke and bug bites. Or having to be super fit to feel attractive in the scanty clothing I need to wear to survive.

I still layer in summer. I just like layering in winter more.

mrseccentric

(website)

Veteran

Mo - thanx! and absolutely - we have dry heat here, which is NOTHING like with humidity! that said, 100F is still hot (especially for weeks on end).

and IronKurtin, i would have said the same myself until about one or two years ago. In other words, it took me pretty much a decade to decide to make my peace with this new climate - i cannot fault ANYONE for not doing so themselves!

Another element which i think made a big difference for me is that i sew a lot of my own clothes. Actually, taking a look at what i posted, the seersucker (brilliant in the heat) jacket is the only piece i didn't make myself.

What can i tell ya. I didn't say it was easy!!! hang in there and have a great day! steph

Aziraphale

Veteran

Ironkurtin, I absolutely understand your pain! Texas would kill me.

How about you start accumulating awesome jewellery (if you haven't already) so you can add interest to your summer outfits without adding insulation? I get tired of summer clothes faster than fall/winter clothes, too, for some reason -- although I love that I can go sleeveless everywhere in the summer.

ironkurtin

Veteran

Want to hear the sad part? It gets so hot here I can't wear any sort of necklace. The sweat gets caught in it and it gives me a rash.

True story.

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