clothes

A couple of years ago, when I was required to wear "professional attire" to work, I had this idea that I would buy a sweater vest or two in neutral tones to wear with long-sleeved button-up shirts. I like button-up shirts, but they take me a LONG time to iron. I'm sort of stupid at it. So I thought if I could wear a sweater vest, I could get away with ironing just the sleeves and the collars, and no one's the wiser to my wrinkly torso! But alas--at this time, the fashion world had not caught up with my time- and labor-saving idea, so I went on mostly avoiding wearing button-up shirts and gravitating towards knits and sweaters, which do not require the iron.

Then what ho! A few weeks ago at the local GAP outlet, a cute black crew-neck sweater vest. Paired today with a green/black striped Old Navy button-up shirt, my ensemble got a positive comment from fashionista coworker a mere 15 seconds inside the door! I do feel that I'm dressed pretty sharp. But it feels almost wrong. I made a point of wearing jeans, because if I'd worn slacks or khakis, well, that just would have been too drastic. It feels almost wrong to be attired so well. Usually I just wear a T-shirt bearing some inane expression, such as "BANDITS," "Alaska is for players," or "Kiss Me, I'm American." I don't know if my spirit has caught up with the trappings.