skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Real people. Real fashion. Real stories.
At 8 o clock this morning, it was 8 degrees outside. Cold weather is officially in the building, folks. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that the response is dreary; in fact, if you take a look at the fashion around you, things seem especially cheery.
Candy-colored scarves, fairisle mittens, and thick knit hats popped nicely with color against the crisp morning sky. And there were some surprising trends too: both aviator sunglasses and shorts were spotted as people hustled to work in downtown Columbia or to class at Mizzou. But there was a winter flair to the summer wear. Aviators are surprisingly chic when paired with long, flowy scarves. And shorts (or even short skirts) look cozy when paired with thick tights, tall boots, and knit socks that peek out at the knee.
This is all way to great a photo opportunity to pass up. This young lady to the left said she brought over her style from Scotland. When she lived there, shorts with tights was the style, so she kept doing it here.
See more wintry goodness in the slideshow above.
Tracy is probably the most honest fashionista that CFW has covered. Are you ready?
She’s 47, and makes no bones about it. She also has two fashion philosophies, and she makes no bones about them:
“Cover up flaws, and [have] one noticeable garment. Like earrings or your scarf. That way you can look at one thing and feel okay about your outfit even if the rest of it sucks. Or if you have one jacket you really like—just dress around it.”
She’s been spotted in lots of black. What gives?
“Black is very grounding to me, which probably you could analyze, or my shrink could analyze,” she laughs. “I really do have so much that goes with black. Every now and then I pull out a brown and I can’t even function. I have black on every day.”
Black also serves another function for Tracy:
“If you have a tendency to feel big…black makes you feel smaller.” But she’s not… big. “I know, but there’s always that feeling. I had twins in utero and I can’t get past that feeling. I gained 70 pounds, so there’s always that feeling.”
Even though she’s a mom, and that has affected how she looks, she refuses to give up on her appearance. 70 pounds gained and lost, children to raise, and nearing 50, she won’t let herself blend into the sweatshirt-slugging mom masses.
“A lot of people I know are like that… where my kids go to school there are these moms and they have kindergarteners, and they’re full on gray.” And she’s not talking about hair: “It’s like they are gray. They’re done. Where’s that coming from?”
It’s easy to see how Tracy would have a hard time understanding where they’re coming from. She’s continuing her education at Missouri’s Journalism School, even after an already-successful journalism career. Tracy is the kind of woman that will probably be learning Mandarin when she’s 75. She’s not the kind to burn out, or fade away. But she knows you have to work at keeping yourself going.
“It’s awkward to say my age, but in a way it’s not,” she says. “Because what are you going to do? When I’m 57 I’ll go, gol, 47 was really young!” she laughs. “And there are people who are 67 and doing really great things. Why not?”
There’s another reason, too. A more painful one. “Part of it is, my mom died just over 50. And she was in bed from the time she was 40. So… part of it is probably from that bad experience.”
She recalls a movie, Finding Forrester. “There’s a line where Sean Connery says, ‘Who knows why some people live and some people don’t.’ You can look at that on a superficial level, but in a broader sense I think he means why not just live, versus not live?”
Craft shows are always a great place to pick up funky items to wear. But if the term "craft show" conjures up images of quilts and baby booties, check out this Columbia Missourian article here that calls the show "sophisticated and diverse." It has info about featured artists and what they make --everything from bowls to necklaces to blankets.
The important stuff to know is:
Where: Boone County Historical Museum, 3801 Ponderosa Road
When: Today 6-9, Friday 9am - 4pm, Saturday & Sunday from 11-4
Cost: FREE!
These craft shows are always a good place to find original Christmas gifts too, for those of us who think about these things early!
If fashion is just a costume, then there's no better holiday than Halloween.
A quick survey at Ragtag gives us a glimpse at the most popular costumes in Columbia:
Men dressed in drag was a big one, as evidenced by the plethora of men in wigs and mom wear; Zelda and Marilyn Monroe had some manly proportions last night. You could also see celebrities, such as two Kurt Cobains, Groucho Marx, Liz Lemon, Kid Rock, and John Cusak in Say Anything. Two Ghandis were spotted chatting with one another. Some others sported truly original creations, like the Absinthe fairy (complete with green hair, green eyelashes, and a huge sparkling sugar cube), what looked like a "rocket man," and a "bunny taking a crap on me" getup. The female pope gyrating against another woman was just one of many examples of blasphemy. And of course, there was everyone's favorite-- the non-costume "less is more" look-- which made the normally respectable streets of Columbia look like a brothel convention. Of course, that getup (or lack thereof) is the whole reason for the last category of popular costumes: creepy old men dressed as creepy old men.
So who needs the sugary stuff that will rot your teeth when there's eye candy all around? See the slideshow on the right to ogle some more.
