Dress Less

For the better part of my fifty-nine years, I have dressed in an unvarying uniform of sweatshirt/tee shirt and jeans. It served me well at fourteen and felt comfortable enough in the years as a young mother and by the time my forties and fifties came, why bother to change? So it has been rather a 'shock' to the old "Same ol' same ol'" to have the opportunity here in Arizona to wear shorts and tank tops and dare I say it... sundresses?

I have always had a soft spot for sundresses, mostly because living in Dillon Beach, one didn't have much call for them. But I'd buy one whenever one would take my fancy and if we were vacationing in Mexico or Hawaii or a warm weather Caribbean climate, then I'd trot one out and wear it. A sundress makes one feel airy and light and cool and almost like a child again. A sundress is just something I could never take on a daily basis. Until we moved to Superior, that is.

Shorts are fine. I've learned to show my legs and I must say I haven't been tanner in years. But donning a sundress and sandals for running uptown, well it just feels mannerly and grown up and the right thing to do. (Maybe it's my Southern roots emerging!)

When we closed up our house in Baja last year, I asked Bill to bring back a rust colored full skirted sundress I'd bought thirty years ago. It still fits and still looks good on me, so the other day before heading into town, I put it on. When my sister and I went into a newly opened dress shop in Casa Grande, the saleslady commented on my dress saying how pretty it was. I agreed and told her it was thirty years old and time to buy a new dress. I emerged with not one, but two dresses. They liked me both and didn't want to be stuck back on their hangers in the store. Suddenly, my closet was getting smaller.

A few days later, I put on another sundress, a little red coverup I'd bought in the sales brochure from Victoria Secret ten years ago (are my clothes all this old?) and wore to several different Caribbean resorts. Bill and I walked downtown to do some shopping. Our first shop was at a secondhand shop. The owner is a beautiful flamboyant lady who prides herself on wearing smart vintage clothing. That day she was wearing a handpainted (big purple orchids on a turquoise background) sleek shift from the Seventies that put my little red knit number to shame. The one I like on her is heavily adorned with long swingy fringe. But she looks real good in most everything she puts on, maybe it's her honey gold locks. Whatever. The vintage shop lady in her vintage clothes. She's definitely into dresses.

Then we progressed uptown to another shop. Here, two sisters in their fifties were also wearing some nice little cotton frocks. When the temperature was hitting the low Nineties, it was the way to stay cool. One of their customers came in wearing black stilettos and a black mini skirt with an off the shoulder tunic adorned with long black fringe. Goodness... this was fun! Most of the time at the beach, my customers dress much the same as me: sweatshirt and jeans! This warm weather dressing could get to be fun.

So I've got my eye peeled for some vintage sundresses. I'm sure they're here somewhere. It will just take some time to open up a trunk filled with the right clothes and then I will blend right in. And leave my sweatshirts and jeans packed away for the beach visits.