I tried on four things yesterday. Made by Masai, a Danish company, which made the dresses I have. They are quite funky and European. Have a look at them, saef, though they may be too arty for your needs.
I did, Birchie, and I like this, though I haven't got the height to carry off this look.
I've heard it called the "Lagenlook" but here in the U.S., I think of it as Eileen Fisherdom. I have fears about this clothing, which nevertheless appeals to me. (I have a sheer linen navy cardigan by Eileen Fisher.) I fear that if you wear this clothing too much, or even try on too many pieces consecutively in a retail outlet, it will take control of you and force you to move to Vermont or Taos, throw pots, write poetry, grow out your long gray hair and start braiding it. You will become a vegan, surround yourself with organic things, install an Envirolet composting toilet and become judgmental about the life styles of former friends and nearly insufferable at the Thanksgiving table.
Saef it's grim out there. You really have been putting in the hours. Sorry it almost backfired.
The Liberty's blouse sounds lovely. I can see the Tana lawn blouses now, hanging so coolly in the "Elizabethan" part of the shop. I've never bought them as, for me, they sum up Home Counties conservatism. I'd never be able to wear them straight, or with irony. But the blouse will work well with your company, I'd say, given its UK location etc. It'll press a little button, oh so subliminally.
Take it easy today. I'm about to hoover the sitting room floor so I can do my exercises, pack, and leave on the first leg of the journey. No cake or sweeties for me today.
Last edited by silverbirch; 07-27-2013 at 03:07 AM.
Birchie, that's so interesting, to put Liberty clothing in that context. I suppose Liberty style was radical when the sufragettes were throwing themselves in front of King Edward's race horse, but means something else entirely now. I don't like the Liberty prints with tiny florals, or those that are fairly realistic, but I am attracted to the William Morris prints, particularly those with recognizably Art Nouveau abstract shapes. I like that whiplash line and the naturalist-on-hashish aura. That's the great thing about the English love for the countryside, IMHO, the walking & the amateur naturalism.
Somewhat recovered this morning but having to pack up my car and dreading that 2 PM cookout.
I'm fascinated by this clothing conversation, so I've had to go look everything up for a frame of reference.
I love the Masai dresses I found. I also love a lot on the Eileen Fisher website. Though I can totally see the comparison that Saef made - my mother is a nurse, and has worked with the same doctor for 25 years in the smaller town just south (on the Alabama line) of the small town I grew up in. This doctor is married to a fantastic woman who has always been an odd fit for our little town - she is a school teacher, made her own baby food, never cuts her hair and wears it in a long braid almost to her knees now, tries to be vegan but never quite makes it with Dr. Woody (seriously, that is his name) though preaches it from the rooftops to those who will listen,and grows her own veggies in their back yard. She wears these long flowy dresses, always has. She is described as a hippie by the nicer folks, and as a crazy vegetable freak by the not so nice. Every time I buy an long flowy dress I think of her. Dr. Woody is leaving the practice this year, both of their boys are in college now, and he and his wife are moving to Montata to live in a little cottage and be closer to nature. He will practice a few days a week at the local hospital. So my worry is that people here in the bitter south will judge my by my clothing if I step too far into the flowy dress. I can get away with Old Navy and Gap and Kohl's versions, but the fancier ones people here just can't wrap their heads around.
I'm fascinated by the Liberty blouse reference, and don't quite get it. Help me understand? Is it the style often affiliated with a certain group of people?
I'm down to 144.3 today, which puts me one pound down from last Saturday. So even with all of my fussing this week I'm still down four pounds from when I started my exercise challenge with PhotoChik on July 1st. I guess I can't complain - if it keeps slowly going down every week I can learn to live with the bumps up here and there. Maybe for the last five weeks of our challenge I should only weigh on Saturday...
Last edited by Shannon in ATL; 07-27-2013 at 02:24 PM.
In a motel room, have to get up at 4am but will get back to you. So interesting. (Travelling in green bamboo/grass patterned skirt from post-baby outfit and lovely pale blue blouse by Ghost, bought in Dublin about 15 years ago. On my feet ... this will get you going ... a pair of Birkenstocks. In my defence: my hair is very short, my ears are not pierced, I do eat meat. But I'm from the tail-end of that hippy period. I was 14 in 1969 - it had to have had an effect.
I love any shoes that treat my feet like the magnificent biological wonder that they are. Bought a pair of Merrell sandals; I think I could sleep with them on. I sat in on a thesis defense when I was in college that was a mechanical/biological analysis of the forces on ankles, knees and hips by progressively higher heels (in 1/2" increments), and swore off most mainstream "cute" shoes forever. I have a lot of tree-huggin' hippie in me - I am moving toward sustainable living an inch at a time.
On the maintenance/losing a few front - today was a spectacular fail. For the Star Trek fans, it is the classic picture of Picard doing a facepalm. I am eager to go to bed, and start over tomorrow. I clearly cannot be left at home alone. Geez. I guess on the positive side, I ate all the crap in the house, so I can't be any worse tomorrow.
I'm fascinated by the Liberty blouse reference, and don't quite get it. Help me understand? Is it the style often affiliated with a certain group of people?
Shannon, what I'm talking about in these posts is a cotton shirt made by Liberty of London, in one of the Liberty Art Prints. They make the most intricate cotton prints. The ones that I like best come from archival designs that originated in the 1910-1920 period. They are in the Art Nouveau style. Some of the names of the prints that I like best are Hera, Ianthe, Strawberry Thief, Grenada, Tree of Life, Lodden, Mauverina. Here is an online page showing you some of the shirts.
Liberty has collaborated with J. Crew and also with Target.
I got through the cookout and actually ate some of their food, like crudites, shrimp, and in a bowl, some wimpy. Wimpy is the Pennsylvania word for Sloppy Joe. I got some looks for not eating it on a bun. It was like eating chili that had no Mexican seasonings and was too sweet. There were five desserts, thankfully one of which was plain cutup fruit. Two of the men there were well over 300 pounds, massive, and they showed me the genetic inheritance I'm battling, but their likely Type 2 diabetic issues ensured the presence of the cut-up fruit for dessert, as I'm sure their wives would've scolded if they had any of the cobbler, cheesecake and pies on the dessert table.
Okay, my weight picture was wrong in my head. I was 144.3 last Saturday, so yesterday was the same. Today was 143.5 though, so the same amount of progress from last week. At the beginning of July I was at 148.5, so five pounds down. Whew.
I'm picturing the face palm, Becky. Hope today is better.
Saef - my mom used the same make Sloppy Joes a lot. Now I think I wouldn't like them.
Loving these clothing discussions. I noticed my fashion awareness increased when I lost weight.
Liberty of London appeals to me but I have not made any purchases in that brand yet. I remember they did a line for Target a while ago that was popular.
I lean toward the arty eclectic side of clothing. The romantic and retro side not the Bohemian hippie side. I love the small novelty prints and the impressionistic colors. Most clothing in this style is not regularly found in mainstream stores. Need to shop online. Loving Mod Cloth, Eshakti and Anthropologie.
Oh DSTalks , I have just this year come to love Mod Cloth. I find my shape lends itself well to clothing styles that can only be found places like that.
Saef - those patterns are lovely. I like the cut of shirts like that, but seldom buy them. I often feel strange with the fit of them over my hips, especially when I'm sitting. I tend to wear more tanks and shells with a thinner fabric button down open and over the top.
I've been sitting here since I read your post about the BBQ, thinking on the 300# relatives you spoke of and the genetic possibilities you fight. I have a number of those relatives as well, along with other issues in the family I struggle against. It worries me almost daily. I have to trust that I am doing everything I can to move further from that end rather than closer.
I've been on a rollercoaster over the past 24 hours or so, struggling with the usual body image issues.
Woke up in a motel, the morning after the cookout, and found the usual exercise room in motels in this price range, with its handful of beatup machines, like the gymnasium equivalent of the Isle of Misfit Toys. I ran & speedwalked for an hour on a plastic treadmill with a slightly loose belt. And then, after visiting with another relative, the long drive home, caught in the New York-ward traffic of Manhattanites coming home from their country weekends. Once home, told myself I ought to go lift weights, but I felt so tired, and I'd been on a treadmill. As usual, when tired & decompressing, I wanted to eat & eat. I finished off the Bing cherries, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.
But oh, then my cousin's wife sent me photos from our Berkshire stint, and I saw myself in shorts & a sleeveless top, and I didn't look the way I thought. In my mind's eye, my legs were thinner. I can't believe how unhappy I felt, and how irrationally, I wanted to make myself feel better by eating more, of all things. That's where those Bing cherries came in.
This morning, though, the scale said I was at 149.2, which is a loss of several pounds from before I set out on vacation. This always happens. I restrict a lot while away, don't sit at a desk all day, snack a little less, and generally end up holding the same weight or losing.
But then I returned to my usual gym and 6 AM spin class, got a spin bike that must've been refurbished, because my usual seat settings were wrong and the thing was ... molesting me all through class. Afterward, I did weights. I should've felt strong, but the memory of the vacation photos was haunting me.
Birchie You and I are of the same era - i was 13 in 1969 and desperately wanted to look like everyone @ Woodstock (Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, etc.). I will never wear Birks, even though I have the wide feet ideally suited to them.
Now I could model for the Eddie Bauer or L L Bean catalogues as they were about 15 years ago. The women were mesomorphs with defined muscles and looked like they should be fly fishing in Colorado or something.
Now unfortunately they are more toward the emaciated waif side.
it's grim out there. You really have been putting in the hours. Sorry it almost backfired. 
Bought a pair of Merrell sandals; I think I could sleep with them on. I sat in on a thesis defense when I was in college that was a mechanical/biological analysis of the forces on ankles, knees and hips by progressively higher heels (in 1/2" increments), and swore off most mainstream "cute" shoes forever. I have a lot of tree-huggin' hippie in me - I am moving toward sustainable living an inch at a time.
Geez. I guess on the positive side, I ate all the crap in the house, so I can't be any worse tomorrow.
