Tuesday, April 5, 2011

A - Z Challenge: Dressing up

Where I live, on the casual west coast of Canada, we don't do a lot of dressing up.  Truly, the occasions in my life where jeans are not acceptable are very rare. 


But it wasn't always this way.  I can remember (now that I'm retired, I can say stuff like this) having clothes that were kept for 'good'.  In fact, when I was at grade school, I had three categories of clothing and shoes.  There were the school clothes:  no girl went to school in pants.  Dresses and skirts were expected.  On cold winter days we could wear pants under our skirts on the walk (always long) to school. After school, we had to immediately change into play clothes.  This was usually a dress but what my mother called 'dungarees' were OK, too.  Of course, we also changed our shoes.  Then, come Sunday, we wore the very best stuff to Sunday School: good dress and coat, hat and gloves.


We lived in a small country town not far from Vancouver - it's a huge suburb now - and the family would occasionally drive in to shop at the big department stores.  Oh, the agony, as a teenager, of trying to decide what to wear.  Of course, when we got there, we could see that we would always be recognized as outsiders anyway.  That's probably what produced the angst in the first place.  When I went off to university, my mother insisted that I have skirt/jacket suits and good pants and  sensible shoes.  That would have been fine if I'd been a professor.  But these were the 60's, man.  That kind of style wasn't going to make it on campus.


Dressing up has always meant getting into fancy clothes that I wouldn't normally wear.  As a child, I loved clomping around in my mother's high heels (old) and holding up the long skirts of one of her old party dresses.  There was no lipstick or face painting for us kids.  Unless it was Hallowe'en and then we were allowed to have some lipstick to complete the effect.  I still wore my Mom's clothes as a costume.  Today, dressing up for most children only means wearing a costume but it's still pretend.  And,  now, as an adult, I hate to wear costumes.  And I avoid dressing up, too.

10 comments:

Rudee said...

Heck. I missed C and must go back, but not without saying I completely agree with everything here. The last picture of that angel is gorgeous!

Tony Payne said...

Dressing up is more popular with girls, but I did love to dress up in my cowboy outfit when I was very young. I still have a photo :)

Gill - That British Woman said...

I have even see people wear jeans for church....dressing up is a thing of the past.....

Gill

Empty Nester said...

I don't like dressing up either. My girls loved dressing up when they were growing up and two of them love dressing up even now that they are out of college and on their own. Our two college girls are still into jeans or shorts and t-shirts-though they will dress up occasionally.

Great post- loved the pictures!

Margo Kelly said...

LOVE LOVE LOVE the pictures! :)

Ginny Hartzler said...

That's you and your mom in the first picture? I enlarged it to get a better look, I LOVE it!! I was always taught to SAVE my good clothes for special occasions, so as to keep them nice. NEVER wear them around the house or out shopping!! If I did, I would get yelled at and sent back upstairs to change. I will die with brand new unworn clothes in the closet!! But I agree with you, I hate to dress up, partly because it's so hard to get the stupid panty hose on and that alone counts for a day's worth of aerobic exercise!!! Guess what I gave Anne Marie for her birthday? A dress up trunk filled with clothes, gloves, and jewwlry. The trunk was pink fur, and now I wish I'd posted it!!

Mimi said...

Love your take on Dressing up!
And the pictures are great, new and old.
I think I'll be like you when I retire- jeans are just so comfortable, and comfort is Everything in my book!
But, just an odd time, i like to dress up for going out! Just to make it feel special.

Joanna said...

Oh I loved to see that photo of you in your bell bottoms and tunic and I remember that scarf. Thanks for the memory, Steph.

Anonymous said...

Cute post! My Mum used to make snazzy fancy dress costumes for me when I was little :O)

Natasha said...

What a delightful post. I was never a girlie girl, but dressing up was something I loved.
And I too had various sets of clothes- one for each occastion.

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