When I was in Grade 7, I recieved my first and only “real” detention. Oh sure, I’d received plenty of lunchtime detentions for neglecting my math homework, but the real detentions – the Black Book Detentions – were handed out only when one did something really bad. The very name “Black Book” brought to mind a musty, multi-volume book, covered in cob webs and kept in a secret candlelit chamber. What egregious crime landed my name among the scrawls of my fellow delinquents? I cheated on my Memory Work.
Every week, students were tasked with committing a particular verse of the Bible to memory. I usually fared very well in these, but this week, I was hung up on the very first verse of the passage (I had already written out the rest!). In a rash and foolish move, I tried (unsuccessfully) to sneak a peak at the completed selection inside my desk. My teacher caught me. I was mortified, and choked back tears for the duration of the afternoon. I still remember the big ol’ zero he wrote at the top of the page – it had a sad face inside it.
My memory failed to work that day, and I so failed my memory work. However, I won’t go ahead and say I’ve got a bad memory. I’ve actually got a very good one, in certain contexts. But that’s the frustrating part: I couldn’t recall that verse when I needed to, I can never remember where I leave my keys, what bills to pay, and when the garbage has to go out, but when it comes to recalling the lyrics of 90s pop songs, the filmography of long-gone child stars, and the jingles of local furniture stores, I’ve got an encyclopedia up there. That’s likely why my blog so often ends up at back at nostalgia and reminiscing. These useless facts gotsa go somewhere!
And that, coincidentally, is where we come back to what I’ve got on today.
This skirt is a recently acquired thrift from my favourite Salvation Army. It’s pleated, it’s minty, and it’s pretty darn trendy considering it’s another 70’s find. The colour is insanely popular these days. I mean sheesh, It’s all over my blog! As soon as I put on this skirt, I went uber matchy-matchy and painted my fingers and toes in that colour, too. But while my memory may not have retained all of Psalm 29, it did dig up something random that puts this outfit – and that very trendy colour – in perspective. Before my seafoam manicure was dry, I remembered a Mastercard commercial from nearly 14 years ago. It was a foggy memory – about seafoam and bridesmaids. I’ll I needed to Google was “seafoam mastercard” and there it was.
If you don’t feel like watching the clip, the premise is simple: It paints a little vignette of a pretty, sad little bridesmaid, forced to wear a most-ghastly shade of seafoam from head to toe, simply to appease a stereotypical bride. But then the two women share a lovely, moving embrace while the voiceover says “a friend wearing seafoam for: priceless”.
It’s quite funny, isn’t it? Something that was deemed a particular kind of torture (Seafoam nails! Horror!) is the same thing I willingly delight it not 15 years later. And look at her dress – it’s lacy, asymmetrical, and all kinds of pretty by today’s standards. I actually kind of love it. My memory might fail me on occasion, but I do appreciate when it provides little gems like this, simply because it keeps me humble. It reminds me that it’s all been done before: everything that’s considered old and dated one year might be considered new and trendy the next. It’s a reminder of the fickleness of fashion. I’m obviously still privy to being swayed by colour trends and fads, but that shouldn’t be the defining factor in how I dress my blog, or by body. If I like the seafoam, I should be rock it whether it’s on trend or not. Remind me of that in a few years.
A closing word of advice: Trends aside, you can wear just about anything so long as it’s paired with a plain white tee, because that’s one thing that will never be out of style. That’s pretty easy to remember, eh?
Love the skirt and the shoes! And that comercial is just adorable!
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Love the color of this skirt, super candy sweet. You look adorable in it.
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Thanks Tara!
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I cannot believe you found this beauty at a thrift store. It’s amazing! Love it! I thinkI would wear it every day!🙂
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And don’t things just seem even nicer when they come at thrift store prices? Can’t beat that feeling!
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Hahaha, he wrote a sad face beside the zero…Priceless! And it’s funny isn’t it about fashion trends. They say they move in 14 year cycles.It looks so good on you that I cannot remember a time when that style wasn’t “in”.
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Whoa! 14 year cycles lines up perfectly in this scenario. I’ll have to hang on to this skirt for atleast another 14 years, then😉
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This phrase: “how i dress my blog” really struck me. So true, too. I find myself all too often forgetting what I like to wear and remembering what everyone else likes to wear on their blogs. But my blog is mine. Thanks for this reminder.
Hannah
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No problem Hannah. It’s easy to forget! But you have such great personal style, you hardly need reminding🙂
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Your memory is insane! Love your skirt.
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Great outfit – simple and gorgeous! I just love the “seafoam” skirt! How was this color ever unpopular?! 🙂
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I know! Makes you think what WE now deem as hideous may soon be on its way back…
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You always have a lovely way of wrapping your new thrift stories in anecdotes. I like this one best – so smoothly done.🙂
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Thank you! I appreciate that my readers are able to stick with me as circle around, trying to tie it all back together.
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That skirt is such a good find! I think it is so amusing how things go in and out of vogue. Definitely something to keep in mind.🙂
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what a great post! i don’t remember that commercial, but i also think that dress is lovely. as for cheating…i can only imagine how awful you felt! you poor thing!
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It was scarring! But man oh man, kept me on the straight and narrow for the rest of my days😉
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I love pleats and that’s a perfect color for you!
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i immediately fell in love with this outfit when i saw the first picture, but then i had to laugh because i wore one really similar last week, so obviously i loved yours! sea foam is the best.
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Ooh! Yours is lovely too! So soft and pretty.
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I can’t wait to see the clothes I love right now being considered hideous. (: You, by the way, found an incredible vintage skirt there.
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Thank you Sarah!
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Delurking to say, “You have a great butt, and it looks fabulous in that skirt.”
Because it needed to be said.
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Ha! I, for one, welcome all delurkers everywhere if they end with comments like that.😉
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We are memory twins! My boyf jokes that I can remember what I ate for dinner on October 20th 1982, but don’t ever ask me where anything important is. P.S. I love sea foam, and that looks mad cute on you!
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Haha exactly. I can remember what my husband wore on our first date, and not what that date actually was…selective memory for sure.
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I’m so jealous of you thrifting this- I can’t get enough of this color or pleats lately! I guess those are both pretty trendy of me🙂 It is funny how fickle fashion is and that you remembered that commercial is pretty awesome. I love your new header!
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Oh thank you! My sister drew up the doodle. She’s great!
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You’re so right – we are definitely skirt twins this week! Our skirts look identical… we are good at thrifting if I do say so myself🙂
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Agreed. High-five for our minty-fresh thrift skillz.
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Well that commercial is pretty awesome! But weird, irrelevant to now, and funny but still relevant in some way?
Anyhow, I LOVE your skirt, especially since it’s so difficult to find vintage pieces that are on trend.
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Too true. Even if the reference doesn’t quite catch, I still find it effective. And thanks! I now just watch to chase this success with more skirts. More!
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Love your skirt:)n u r absolutely right whn u say anything goes with a white top:)
Prerna
http://www.vivalahighstreet.wordpress.com
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Thanks Prerna! I abide by that rule so much I’m repeated it today😉
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this whole look is super cute on you! and that fact that the skirt is vintage makes it even better🙂
Chioma
http://www.CsEvolutionofStyle.com
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I really like that there is a story behind what we put on ourselves. It makes it personal rather than just “bought this online, look!”. Granted, I do that because the thrifting gene seems to have passed a generation in my family, but seeing the finds you get, and the stories behind our decisions makes me want to try again!
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OMG Julie you got a Black Book detention?!? you?!?! I had no idea!! lol
Great post as per usual!
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Haha! I was SO SNEAKY. It happened the afternoon before the volleyball team went to Bomanville for the tournament. Also, Tom was my desk partner at the time, so I was SO SCARED he would tell the whole volleyball team.
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