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March 28, 2007
Love me, love my ratty t-shirt
or at least, try to be friends
Eileen’s post on Monday got me thinking about men and fashion sense. Or lack thereof. I’m speaking specifically here of my husband’s Batman t-shirt. This shirt has attained legendary status in our relationship because it really is that atrocious: ancient, faded, riddled with holes and so threadbare it’s damn near translucent. And the yellow bat emblem silkscreened onto the black cotton is all cracked and peeling from too many spins in the dryer. This shirt is no longer fit to serve even as a dust rag. But Mr. Tall loooves it. “It’s a classic,” says he.
“Yes…I’m starting to see your point,” I’ll coo. “Here, darling, you’ve had such a hard day. Let me do your laundry for you.”
But he is wise to my tricks. He knows that were I to get my paws on that shirt, a tragic “accident” would befall it (I’m thinking lots of bleach and perhaps a lively round of tug-of-war with the dogs.) So I grit my teeth and bite my tongue and tolerate the world’s most heinous article of clothing.
For now.
When I ask Mr. Tall which items from my wardrobe he’d like to banish to dust rag status, he craftily refuses to answer. (Actual quote: “You always look great.” Sweet, but sadly, a whopping lie.) My mother is not so reticent. Seven years ago, I bought this great drawstring skirt at the Gap on sale ($12!). It was cute, comfy, and surprisingly well cut, considering it was made of sweatpant material. You know what I’m talking about? Heathered gray on one side, fuzzy terry texture on the other? Okay, well I loved this skirt. Wore it constantly in the summers with T-shirts and tank tops. We had something special, this skirt and I, until last October, when the fabric literally wore through in the seat. I still choke up just thinking about it.
Lucky for me, Gap still makes sweatpant-y skirts, so I trotted right out to the mall and snapped one up. It’s now warm and sunny in Arizona, so I busted out my new skirt last week.
“Wait,” my mother said when I met my parents for dinner at a casual pizza joint. “I thought you got rid of that skirt?”
“I did. But they had another one sort of like it, and I couldn’t resist. Isn’t it cute?”
“NO!”
And the floodgates burst open. Turns out, my mother had despised the original skirt from the get-go and had been patiently awaiting its demise from its first wearing: “It’s baggy, it’s boxy, it breaks all the rules of What Not To Wear, and I wouldn’t leave the house in it. I certainly wouldn’t wear it to dinner.”
“But I looove it,” I said.
Next to me, Mr. Tall snickered. “Hey, here's an idea—when we get home, let me do your laundry for you.”
So confess: what crimes of fashion do you commit in the name of comfort and nostalgia?
Posted by Beth at 12:06 AM | Comments (4)
Comments
I can relate to Mr. Tall with the classic comfy T-shirt. I had a great tshirt fromt he Mountain Shop with horses running through the snow that I bought on a trip to Colorado, but sadly it began to get holes in places that made it impossible for me to continue to wear it in publin and I had to consign it to the garbage--couldn't put it in the dust rag bin, just too sad, had to make a clean break.... (sigh)
I also have this great black knit dress--sleeveless, with cute embroidery around the scoop neck line--that I wore CONSTANTLY every summer for several years. Even after it got pretty faded I continues to wear it as a cover-up, but it also got a hole in an awkward place and so I sadly put it in the "to get rid of" pile this year when I went through my clothes. That dress and I have been through a lot together--hope I can find another one....
Posted by: Sheri at March 28, 2007 10:00 AM
For me, it's the beloved oversized (and now with a few bleach stains and very faded) Harvard sweatshirt that I bought decades ago (literally, back when I was in high school). My husband hates this sweatshirt and refuses to let me wear it out of the house, even if we're going to visit family. But for me, it's a cherished comfort and the only sweatshirt I'll wear because it's just perfect.
Posted by: Dia ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.literarychicks.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at March 28, 2007 2:08 PM
I'm guessing Cowboy would be happy to burn my pink and purple flannel jammie pants that I wear with my pink tank top I got for doing a triathlon. I wear them with a grey hooded sweatshirt and, when it's really cold, Ugg boots (actually faux Ugg boots).
Posted by: The LC Eileen at March 29, 2007 6:44 PM
I have a couple t-shirts I wore to high school that I still wear. They're pretty worn and okay have a few holes in the seams at the neck but they're comfy and I keep them around for if/when I do painting. They probably won't make it to the end of the summer though :)
Posted by: Lis at March 29, 2007 7:56 PM
