How a woman dresses
A housewife must be practical and feminine!
The greatest obstacle to dressing nicely is not having what you need and want in your closet and drawers. The ideological wrangle involving societal norms and which tribe we ought to be in should be avoided. Let’s just be normal.
We live in the 21st Century and in theory can do whatever we want, but in practice, it’s not easy to get well made clothing that flatters. Additionally, we may not be quite realizing that no matter what our style, femininity matters.
We’ll leave aside the dressing up/party/Sunday category for the time being.
Today’s Lesson is to spend some time studying the question, “What I can wear, what I can obtain for my wardrobe, to be both practical and pretty?” I’ll focus a bit on cold weather, since that’s what I’m dealing with right now and what presents the biggest challenges.
Once I was on a college campus in the South, marveling at how amazingly attractive the female students looked (at first I didn’t realize they were students and was mightily puzzled, to my husband’s amusement — “Where are the students?” I literally asked). It hit me that here in the North our fashion suffers in part because the battle with the elements has caused us to give up.
Does that have to be the case, I asked myself? (In recent years I think some have even given up on staying warm. But that’s another topic.)
What can I do to be warm but also pretty, in this jeans-and-sweatshirt world? Could I invest in tights, corduroy and wool skirts, base layers, nice sweaters, including thrifted ones? Could my down jacket have a shape to it — a waist of sorts? What about pretty scarves?
Can my plaid/layered/bundled existence be tweaked to acknowledge my shape and sex, as well as allow me to build a wood fire in the stove, do dishes, run outside, and (this was a long time ago) nurse a baby?
I don’t know where you live or what issues you face. Maybe you’re quite warm right now. I am just taking you through one of my analyses for myself and my choices. Apply the process to your own situation.
Just think about how you can make things more practical as well as prettier, for yourself!
We’ll talk more next week.
The Brushwood Gatherer 1 by Louis-Simon Cabaillot-Lassalle
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My book on how to live with the Liturgical Year: The Little Oratory
The School for Housewives brings you short, practical, and thoughtful messages to inspire you to make your home. If you’re new here, go to the homepage for the previous Lessons; the categories are arranged in the menu bar at the top.
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As with everything here at the SFH, the best thing is for you to take my ideas, coming from my experience of 45 years of marriage and raising seven children, and apply them to your situation with discernment, prudence, and confidence — and a sense of humor!
If you think the NE dresses in an unflattering manner, come to the west coast. It’s shocking how sloppy we are on the Left coast. Even dress up occasions are no reason to put on something other than jeans and a tee shirt!
We also have almost universal tattoos even on the women. Nothing less feminine than an entire arm covered in what looks like gangrene. It’s everywhere
I’m old enough to remember people getting dressed up for symphonies and plays… it hurts my heart to see someone in jeans at The Nutcracker or Les Miserables. But more on topic… winter IS hard… I still wear dresses and skirts but definitely feel frumpy. I’m in North Texas… so I feel like that’s harder… I feel like if I was further north/NE it would be easier to have a set outfit like fleece tights with wool skirts and sweaters… but what can start out at a 20° degree day here can end up in the 60’s… layering is so hard without looking frumpy! In regards to previous posts I do feel like hair is the key… that even if there’s a little bit of frump in the outfit… if our hair is done and we carry ourselves well it makes up for it. (I hope). If only previous fashions could come back into style. I love the When Calls the Heart fashion and think I just need a beautiful warm coat to make it work in the Texas winters. It’s just hard when one day can be 19° and the next 60°