Here we are at that silly time of the year again when it is
impossible to know what to wear. Fall is wonderful, but for the ‘not so-fashion-conscious
woman’, it presents untold problems. While men only worry about “when is the
next game?”, women worry about whether to wear a sweater or a blouse.
Granted there are much bigger problems in the world, but it
is the nagging little day-to-day decisions that can make us crazy.
"I wore a sweater to work this morning and now I'm
sweltering," said one lady where I work while she fanned herself with the
papers she was reading on the Subway.
I know the feeling. Mornings are cool, so the turtleneck
sweater seems perfectly fine, but later in the day, you wonder what in the world
you were thinking and whether you were fully awake when you dressed this
morning.
So, you try to find clothes that are "in between",
neither hot nor cold. The little fall tees don't seem warm enough and the snug
sweaters are pushed to the back of the closet. Unfortunately, I don't seem to
have many in between clothes; they are all either summer or winter.
"Layer" advised one of my sensible friends.
So, I pile on the clothes until my arms cannot bend and I am
barely able to walk. Then I spend the day taking off garment after garment as
the temperature goes higher during the day. By the end of the day, I need a
wheelbarrow to carry my clothes home. I am just not the layering kind of
person. I want to get dressed once.
The heat situation in the Subway doesn't help much either.
Too many people, very little space to breathe, they never seem to get the
temperature quite right. And about the time when we walk out of the subway,
what happens? You guessed it. It becomes cold again and we shiver and curse the
weatherman while waiting to run into the comfort of a warm building. The way
the sun hits the windows of the building seems to make temperatures vary a lot
as well. Mornings are shady and cool, afternoons sunny and hot.
Meanwhile, we still have the original problem of what in the
world to wear without looking like a rag woman or a teddy bear.
I think I have finally figured it out, more or less. Medium
weight pants, neither my light summer ones with the stripes, nor the thick ones
like my corduroy favorites. Let's see, that leaves about three pairs that I can
rotate. Then there are the shirts with long sleeves that seem to work pretty
well. Top it off with a cardigan sweater and I can pass until the sun starts
doing its thing with the windows.
Coats are impossible. While it is cold enough for a coat in
the morning, I find myself carrying it on my arm in the afternoon. Time to dig
out those fleece jackets and "all weather" coats. All weather? Now
that's a term invented by the fashion industry, well aware of the changing
seasons. Nothing is "all weather." I think it means that it will shed
water as long as it isn't pouring rain and will cut the wind, but not actually
keep you warm.
Anyhow, by the time I get this between seasons thing all
figured out, I’ll hopefully know what to wear for today.
