FEAR AND CLOTHING

Another year almost gone - yesterday was Christmas, and it was a lovely one. The house all decorated albeit with stacks of stuff lining the walls like a neat almost hoarder. Most of it was covered with silver or red fabric, and the silver tree with my favorite decorations atop the one stack of plastic bins. If you kept your eyes to the east, north and west sides of the dining room as well as the table, you'd be OK. And by you I mean me. Steve made the dinner, while cookie exchange cookies from group were the dessert. Eleni contributed pastitsio and it was so delicious I think she outdid herself. Everyone looked festive and Maria came too which added great sparkle. Roger dropped by before dinner and Helmut after, for extra notes of festivity and fun. It was a sunny Christmas day, but today is gloomy and gray - the perfect day to stay in, write thank yous and keep after the constant mess and visual cacophony. My mom is somewhat stranded at LGA so I'll be a little nervous all day until I know that she's safely back to Naples. I somehow stayed up until 4 last night going from movie to movie. The best part of all is having my son under the roof.

Fear and Clothing Unbuckling American Style by Cintra Wilson - The cover got me, the title almost put me off, and I expected to be bored. But it didn't work out that way - Cintra writes about fashion for the New York Times, and she has that long article way of writing. However, when the long article is about fashion and style which are always pop cultural touchstones for me, it works. Especially when the writer is funny, smart and snarky in a mostly good way. She looked at fashion and style all over America, and with an open mind. She searches out people with unusual or detailed looks and she'll never put anyone down for how they dress. Her heart and mind are open to all the different ways that people cover and adorn their bodies, and toward the end of the book she almost started the discussion about anything goes. Which means that everything is in fashion always (if it's in the stores then it's fashionable?) Karlo Steel has an archive of curated fashion magazines in his walk-in closet, and she asked him what happened. "I think there's too many people invited to the party. Too many designers, Too much of everybody doing everything, bringing everything back, all the time."  

Which for me means that everything I'm saving and can't let go is all good. Half of it is in a pile for remakes - where I'd supposedly turn this into that and wear it or carry it. Because I like the fabric, like to sew, like to transform. Maybe next year?