Made to Measure

The box of patterns in a tailor’s box said it all with ” Tailor Made to Measure”. How wonderful to know something was designed to fit your needs ! Throughout high school and college , I sewed many of my clothes. My fingers would touch a new fabric and I could just see what it might become. Sewing met my creative needs as well as ensuring that my long legs could be covered past my lower calves and that my slightly short arms wouldn’t be wearing sleeves that always needed a cuff. Somewhere along the way I stopped making my clothes; probably because it took too much time, became too expensive or because it became easier to believe that a manufacturer could make a size eight to fit me. Of course they can’t.The evidence surrounds us that our society that praises creativity and individuality, but  does not offer respect or support to those who are different. In education, curriculum and testing are one size fits all. In shopping, one size fits most. Advertisers would have you join the group – elite, smart enough, wealthy enough or insecure enough to buy what they promote.Custom lives like custom clothing require a price – the decision that making choices based on self-understanding enables our lives to fit us in a way that mass-produced lives cannot. Time to find a new pattern! A chance to alter and embellish!

Dressing for Success is Overrated

In a shop window in Boston, this dress called to me! Loudly! In CAPS! Notice me! I’m fun! Audacious! Confident! And whimsical! Obviously its purpose was to lure me into a shop where clothes are still made of fabric and most are factory made in places I can’t begin to pronounce. I never walked through the door. I shot a photo and continued on my way imagining the response I’d prompt while wearing that dress. Envy from those who didn’t have the guts to wear it, but secretly wanted to. Hilarity from those who thought I looked like I had partied way too long the night before. Questions from those who just don’t understand whimsy. What it meant for me was dressing as who you are and not to meet their expectations. Although I’m not sure I have ever met the collective “they”,those arbiters of taste and appropriateness who whisper in our consciousness at the most inappropriate times. People won’t take you seriously! What if your stem gets caught in the copy machine? How could you even think of wearing that out? Why don’t you dress like Ms. Gray Flannel? The worst part is that often it’s our own voice we hear. Our fear of being noticed or worse, being accepted as creative and risk-taking, keeps us from wearing on the outside what we feel on the inside. While I’m not sure the flower dress wouldn’t meet a tragic end if I wore it to school, there are parts of it that I can wear today. I need to start.