A Barbie Fan Speaks Out

I will freely confess that I am a Barbie fan; I stayed in the closet for a long time but I played Barbies well into my teens and even after that I still made all kinds of Barbie clothes, mostly “olden day” gowns and hats.  I even made bloomers and lavish petticoats.  I made doll houses for Barbie and created all kinds of stories for her while playing with my little sister.  We made one doll house at the bottom of Mom’s linen closet and amazingly my mother let us keep it there for weeks on end.

This week Mattel revealed a new series of Barbies that included petite, tall and ‘curvy’ as well as various skin tones and ethnic looks.  There is a lot of discussion around this new creation but some of it seems a bit of bosh to me.  First of all the skin tones and ethnic looks are not new, they have been around for quite a while and does anyone remember Barbie’s original best friend Midge who had a very different face, a pug nose and freckles? 

The real talk is about Barbie’s unrealistic figure which of course has been talked about a great deal of the years but from the first time I saw Barbie I fell in love.  I liked a “grown up” doll much better than the baby dolls which I abandoned immediately when I got my first Barbie (which was actually the doll Mitzi – Barbie’s original rival).  I loved to be able to dress her in different fashions and back in the early 60’s Mattel brought out really great quality costumes complete with hat, gloves and shoes to coordinate with the outfit.  In those days the outfits were beautifully tailored unlike the cheap clothes that is put out today.

The discussion I heard on the news this week claimed that Barbie was basically a fashion doll and not in keeping with real life.  I thought “what kind of talk is that”?  Of course, girls love to dress up the doll in different costumes but if a girl has any imagination she is going to make a story out of the costume.  Today Barbie is wearing her stewardess outfit and she is flying off to Hawaii.  Once there she will meet Ken and they will have a holiday on the beach where, of course, they will find a body of GI Joe.  Barbie luckily has brought her camera and immediately takes pictures of the crime scene.  As luck would have it, she brought along her notebook, etc. 

Any girl with the real stuff knows how to play up with Barbie or any other toy.  Her imagination is only limited by whatever is put in her brain by negative talk and curbing adult ideas. 

The difference with the 1960’s and 2016 has a lot to do with the programming on television.  Today children appear to be taught by the example of what is thrown at them on television; vampires, crime and sex seem to be the fodder on television and even in young adult books.  In the 60’s we watched westerns, detective shows and family shows.  Even by the mid 60’s there were female detectives like Honey West, Emma Peel and April Dancer (the girl from UNCLE).  Enlightened parents taught their daughters that they could go to university and aspire to any professional open to men.  Today, what is being taught?  I’d like to know where the problem lies.  But don’t blame Barbie, please.

A Word About Purses

I like purses.  I am addicted to purses.  I have a lot of purses.  I cannot resist purses despite having a lot of purses.  Did I mention I like purses?

A well put together fashion shot should always have the woman in nice shoes and her hand should hold a fabulous purse.  It will catch my eye every single time.  I am one of those people who study a picture seven ways to sundown, whether it’s an interior design or a fashion plate.  I like to note the earrings, the bling, the shoe but give me a purse every time.  I’ve often said that my mother was the shoe addict and I complimented her by being the purse aficionado.  Not that I could always afford a great purse but I always looked at them.  Today I can afford to buy a nice purse although I am not a fan of paying for a name brand.  I look at the Coach purses and walk on by without purchasing as I think the price is ridiculous for what you get.

For every day I like a practical purse with lots of space, preferably more long than deep, lots of pockets on the inside and some on the outside (great for car keys on one side and bus pass or ticket on the other side).  Currently the fashion is to have a longer handle but not on a shoulder strap, easy to carry on the arm or lift under the arm, clutch style.  I like subtle metallic colours for flexibility with shoes or boots but also I really like a nice grey colour.  I am not crazy about black or brown and will gravitate more towards a tan with some accent colour.  In summer I like colour or straw or cream but I love a black and white swing bag.  Nautical or navy, oh please, I’ll have one too.

I go weak at the knees for a clutch purse in bright red, emerald green, cobalt blue or canary yellow.  Beads, gold or silver for evening, please let me sit down for a minute because I cannot decide which one I like best.  When will I use it?  Who cares, possession is nine tenths of the fashion law, isn’t it?

Did I mention that I have a weakness for purses?

Fashion for the Retired Woman

Now that I am retired one would expect not to require fashion.  Wrong.  A woman who has been dressed for the office for 40 years cannot just turn off her need for something stylish.  I may look like a Ukranian peasant when cleaning out the chicken coop, in sweat pants or dirty jeans, bulky sweater or old ski jacket and an amazing variety of toque all unflattering but when I go shopping for groceries in town or lunch with girlfriends I must be decked out to the max.

I take my cue from the most elegant woman I know, my mother.  From the time I was a little girl until my mother was in her early 50’s she never, ever went grocery shopping or elsewhere in anything but a skirt and blouse, or dress.  She did not start wearing slacks until she was in her 50’s except when she was in the home or going for a casual walk with my father.  I remember her changing into a skirt in the afternoon, after she had finished her housework, so that she was always dressed nicely when my father came home from work.  She always wore makeup, not a lot but always lipstick and foundation.  When she was 15 years old her sister Lise gave her an eyebrow brush that she has to this very day and she always brushes her brows with Vaseline to keep them smooth and glossy.  She has used Pond’s cold cream morning and night for over 60 years, also something she learned from her sister (despite my father protesting he didn’t like the smell and despite me trying to get her to try Mary Kay skincare products she has stuck with her Pond’s cold cream, with the green colour, I think it’s “normal”).

If I have a bad hair day I escape under a hat and will wear it in the store even if I am cooking in order not to disgrace the family.  As I have written in the past, hair is a bit of an obsession with my mother and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.  In my youth I wasn’t much given to caring about what I looked like, especially where my hair was concerned, and to be honest if it wasn’t for my mother’s look of horror I would not care very much which way my hair went so I am very grateful that I actually look good in a hat.  In the mornings Mom and I compare our hair and even though we look like wild hottentots I ask “whose looking Ma”?  Most days I look like an Iroquois while Mom looks like Einstein but we bless water and a good brush and hope for the best!

To get a well-dressed look a woman really only needs a nice pair of dark dress pants, a nice blouse and a good jacket.  A scarf or statement necklace can set things off and always a pair of earrings to finish the face.  A good jacket is important but not that easy to acquire.  There are plenty of jackets around but it’s key to find one that will wear well and not be too trendy.  A blazer style is excellent with good colour, blendable colour (black, navy, grey are best as they go with most things).  I don’t think a person will look overdressed in a jacket as it can look both dressy or casual depending on the blouse, t-shirt or sweater worn underneath.  If you like trendy, that’s okay, but if you need something to last for a good while, a classic jacket is money well spent because they don’t come cheap.

One of my favorite shops has got to be Laura because the quality is there and they cater to women of all sizes and ages.  They are not trendy like some of the younger shops but they have on target styles as well as classic looks.  And the price is right.  Definitely my first place to look for something be it suit, dress or blouse.  And did I mention purses?  But that’s for another time.

 

Honolulu and High Fashion

Second day on vacation and while I am thoroughly enjoying the tropics here are some observations.  There is no escaping shopping when you are in an American city.  Fifth Avenue is not just located in NYC, it's in San Francisco, Seattle, Dallas, Miami & Honolulu - to name a few of the cities that I've personally witnessed the moves!

There are also some observations about people living in paradise like conditions  - they appear to be very laid back and happy. Life has a very different pace when lived in perfect surroundings.  Even though people may be living on the economic edge as they likely are when they exist by working on a marketing booth they seem to simply be happy, welcoming and very polite. They have, in general, a very customer friendly attitude which is lacking in Canada.  I write this despite having an incident at the market that was quite disturbing.  I almost made the sales person cry.  She kept asking me how much I would offer and I was adamant that $25 was it.  She kept trying to push the price higher and I said no, that's okay so finally she wrapped it up and asked for The $25 but when I have her the money she wanted tax money and I said no, that 'snot the deal, it was $25 or we can cancel the deal  But tax, tax, tax and I said no, no, no. Finally I gave her an extra dollar and she said go, go, go.  And I still think I paid too much.

Its easier to shop at Macy's.

Fashion Trends

In my teens I used to make sketches of different dress styles and then I used to make fancy gowns for my Barbie dolls even though I was challenged by not having a lot of good material.  I was never a very good seamstress but I must have inherited some of my mother’s sense of style since I was interested in clothes.

       There is no question that a woman feels 100% better about herself when she knows she is dressed exquisitely.  Even in the right jeans, with a nice shirt and trim jacket, she can be a knockout.  But there is something wonderful about a truly nice dress with all the glitz and glamour that makes a woman look like a goddess.  Fashionistas everywhere pour over the magazines after Oscar night to see the celebrity gowns and right now I bet many are waiting for the next season of Downton Abbey to see the gowns Mary  will be wearing.

       In grade 6 I had to make an 18^th century gown for my Barbie as a special history project.  Little did my teacher know that I had already pored over a calendar of fashions which my mother had received in our Christmas parcel a year before.  I was already well versed in the fashion of different eras.  I had learned that a petticoat was not a coat at all but an underskirt.  I knew what pantalets were and I had been exposed at a tender age to the design of a corset (my grandmother wore one).  The following year my parents began purchasing the Knowledge Encyclopaedias from the grocery store and then I was truly in love with the different centuries fashions.

       My favorites include Eleanor of Aquitaine’s period (12^th century); the Renaissance; Antebellum South’s extravagance; the Roaring 20’s and today’s gowns. Enjoy these plates.