So last summer, I bought bright fuchsia pants from the Gap. They were cute, but they were an impulse purchase. Every time I went to put them on to wear them out, I always hung them back up. "Do I want to wear fuchsia pants to grocery shop/run errands/go for coffee?" And I never did.
But I paid $40 for them and they were cute. What would I do with them?
I would re-purpose them! This Spring, they are my yard work pants. And I must say, they are the brightest, boldest gardening pants on the block. And they are filthy today! I must confess: a lot of clothes I tire of, if they are comfortable enough, will become my yard or my housework get ups. And most of them can be quite gaudy. I am no Miss Dani when I am out working - think of me as looking like Little Edie B. rather than her lovely cousin Jacqueline Onassis or our Dani B!
Today, I was wearing the loud pants, an old maroon oversized ugly fleece jacket and an old beige knit hat and my gardening gloves! I am sure the neighbours talk, but I don't give a hoot! I need tough clothes and if fuchsia pants fit the bill, all is well. I am sure the bees will love them!
Do you re-purpose clothes like this? Do you have your own special getups, or are you always coordinated?
And speaking of coordinated, I believe that myself, historian David McCullough and the scarf designers at Madewell are in some kind of bookish love triangle.
First, I read Mr. McCullough's book Americans Abroad, about Paris in the 1800s. Madewell makes the Paris scarf:
Nice coincidence you say. Perhaps. Then I read his book on the Brooklyn Bridge and the designers come out with his scarf:
Hmm, you say, and hmm, I say as well. But today, was the weirdest. This week, I began the hstorian's book on the building of the Panama Canal. And then today, in the new releases, this:
You tell me. Get ready for the Teddy Roosevelt, John Adams or Johnstown flood scarf. Just sayin'...
Finally, a quick review. I recently got my new jcrew schoolboy blazer in heringbone in antique linen. Needed a light coloured blazer and am pleased as it will go with lots.
A bit of a closeup:
That will be it for me for neutrals this season. I am set. Now I am looking for something fun!
Hope you all have a great Wednesday! I am off to get my hair cut and coloured! This afternoon, my dad's old nursing home is having a memorial for the patients that died this year and since they will be acknowledging my dad, will go to that as well. Will be glad to see the staff again who took such good care of him before he died.
Stay safe out there!
 |
| hmm - september of last year- not loving this outfit. |
But I paid $40 for them and they were cute. What would I do with them?
I would re-purpose them! This Spring, they are my yard work pants. And I must say, they are the brightest, boldest gardening pants on the block. And they are filthy today! I must confess: a lot of clothes I tire of, if they are comfortable enough, will become my yard or my housework get ups. And most of them can be quite gaudy. I am no Miss Dani when I am out working - think of me as looking like Little Edie B. rather than her lovely cousin Jacqueline Onassis or our Dani B!
Today, I was wearing the loud pants, an old maroon oversized ugly fleece jacket and an old beige knit hat and my gardening gloves! I am sure the neighbours talk, but I don't give a hoot! I need tough clothes and if fuchsia pants fit the bill, all is well. I am sure the bees will love them!
Do you re-purpose clothes like this? Do you have your own special getups, or are you always coordinated?
And speaking of coordinated, I believe that myself, historian David McCullough and the scarf designers at Madewell are in some kind of bookish love triangle.
First, I read Mr. McCullough's book Americans Abroad, about Paris in the 1800s. Madewell makes the Paris scarf:
Nice coincidence you say. Perhaps. Then I read his book on the Brooklyn Bridge and the designers come out with his scarf:
Hmm, you say, and hmm, I say as well. But today, was the weirdest. This week, I began the hstorian's book on the building of the Panama Canal. And then today, in the new releases, this:
You tell me. Get ready for the Teddy Roosevelt, John Adams or Johnstown flood scarf. Just sayin'...
Finally, a quick review. I recently got my new jcrew schoolboy blazer in heringbone in antique linen. Needed a light coloured blazer and am pleased as it will go with lots.
A bit of a closeup:
Hope you all have a great Wednesday! I am off to get my hair cut and coloured! This afternoon, my dad's old nursing home is having a memorial for the patients that died this year and since they will be acknowledging my dad, will go to that as well. Will be glad to see the staff again who took such good care of him before he died.
Stay safe out there!
Your bookish love triangle! The Madewell scarf person must be reading the same books, there is no other explanation.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the mention. Please note that I don't do the tough work in the garden but I do send out MrBP. You should see him after working in the garden all afternoon, he's covered in mud like a little kid.
I have some old JCrew green cargo pants I have set aside for garden work, I don't know why I ever bought them. Maybe this year they'll get some use?
Your new linen jacket is excellent. You'll wear that loads!
YOu should have seen me yesterday - I raked for 2 hours and was covered in it! ANd then came in and found an ant in my hair! It was quite the scene! Fortunately, it is raining today, so I am safe!
DeleteThere must be something between the books and the scarves!!
ReplyDeleteI have repurposed some of my clothes as lounges/sleeping clothes... I am not really working outside the house... We don't have a garden, only a small yard and a very small loan... I plan to do some gardening in pots this summer but when I will work I will wear my jeans... Your blazer looks great... It fits well in your closet. Have a sweet memorial afternoon. Take Care
Steph
thanks Steph! Considering how sore I am this a.m. - am wishing for a smaller yard - we have over an acre!
DeleteWishing you the best today at the nursing home. That is a nice thing for them to do.
ReplyDeleteThat is totally bizarre about the scarves! I thought okay, Paris, Brooklyn, those are used every where, but Panama? Random. Teddy scarf next? :)
Your blazer looks nice on you.
I love the fuschia pants as garden pants! I do re-purpose, but honestly my categories are quite fluid. Something will be "home clothing" and then I'll have a flash of inspiration and it will get incorporated back into my regular wardrobe. On Sunday, I wore a PJ top out.
Oh good for you - I need to be that creative!
DeleteThe Madewell designer is definitely monitoring your reading. Love the linen jacket, it's a keeper. This will be a bittersweet afternoon for you. It's nice that they do that, such a comfort for families left behind. I wear my holey JCrew cashmere tees at home to keep me warm & to remind me that these should always be bought at a steep discount.
ReplyDeleteMarie - I have just discovered Joe Fresh tees - $6 a pop - bought 4 each for my daughter and I - lovely cotton, lovely fit, lovely colours! And for $6, you don't care if they only last a season!
DeleteI once had a small lizard jump out of a tree and into my hair...very traumatizing. The insects are going to love your new garden pants. They will mistake your for a flower. I do agree that you will get lots of wear out of the blazer. Looks great on you.
ReplyDeleteLizard - ugh! Everyone mistakes me for a flower!
DeleteYou are rocking that blazer to absolute perfection!!!!! I love it!
ReplyDeleteThanks Rynetta!
DeleteThere must be some kind of literary scarf soothsayer career here. How funny!
ReplyDeleteNavy and naturals-- that's me, too, much of the summer. I got vintage red ( or Nantucket red as some call it) capris so this will be my splash of casual color. To garden, I wear some frightful things. Couple years ago I was out in my usual state of dishevelment and a car pulled up:"Do you know the owners of this lovely place?" "Yes", I said.
Oh Lane - that is funny!!!!! I will remember thAt all day!
DeleteThat is so funny about the scarves! You need to go place a big bet on the next gigi race out your way.
ReplyDeleteAgree, WMM, the odds are good! And FYI the "gigi"s are the horses, one of first bits of Brit I picked up from my FIL.
DeleteI'd love to see a scarf featuring TR's childhood - he was an overindulged only child who had many interests and wealthy parents. This turned out to be a great combination for once, because TR grew up with both a sense of adventure and a sense of duty.
ReplyDeleteWe have to dress protectively when gardening out at Flintstone Manor because of deer ticks. Lyme disease, dontchaknow.
Love the jacket.
Thanks Fred! I would love a Tedddy scarf! Actually - Teddy had two sisters and a brother, Elliot, who was actually Eleonor Roosevelt's father (am I the only one who didn't know that Eleanor was also a Roosevelt and a cousin of FDRs?) McCullough's book on the early years of that family are riveting, especially their trip down the Nile!
DeleteOh and deer ticks - yuck - we get them, too and are always checking ourselves!
wow, were they Icelandic? There's an app for that!
DeleteI am a BIG on repurposing clothing. Like you, I have my repurposed garden clothes. Yours are very chic! I am quite tall and broad shouldered and have been able to wear my teenage son's hand me down J Crew dress shirts and even a few pairs of jeans that don't look too bad for gardening. I take J Crew's borrowed from the boys theme to a very literal level! I also have a collection of the boys Hanna Anderson cotton clothes from when they were little that now make great cleaning rags. I even repurpose clothing and sweaters for sewing projects as I do quilting and some home decorating projects with them. If I can't find a second or third life for my clothes they get donated to Good Will.
ReplyDeleteThat is a good idea - must steal from son! Husband is an XL Tall, so no possibility there, but son is a skinny men's medium!
DeleteI can't steal from my XL Tall hubby either-thank goodness. It was when my boys wore a men's small that I could get away with it and kept a few nice J Crew shirts and even a tweed blazer for myself. Now that they are probably finished growing (6'4" and 6'5") there is way less to "borrow from the boys."
DeleteYour linen schoolboy blazer is lovely and what a great fit!
Oh - I wish I had done that from my son!
DeleteRecently I snatched one of Hubs' white dress shirts as my own (a shirt he never wears) and paired it with a belt. I was quite pleased the shirt actually fit me! So it's mine now.
ReplyDeleteThe fuchsia gardening pants are fab! :)
LR - I love a man's dress shirt - so chic! I really must start ordering from men's section
DeleteAlmost eerie about the scarves. Do the McCullough's own stock in the parent company, has anyone checked? Wendy, I look forward to your blog everyday, and read it when I first wake up which is getting earlier and earlier, although I don't always comment first thing.
ReplyDeleteI hope the memorial service goes well for you - will be a bittersweet afternoon.
Thanks Kathy - it was very nice. The thing I found jarring was how many of his "buddies" have passed away from there, just since November. As for the McCulloughs - good question! I need to write Mickey - maybe the designer is a relative or just a geek like me!!!!
DeleteI am afraid most of my regular clothes would not be comfortable enough to use for gardening. I usually use my old workout/hiking/camping outfits for that purpose. I have spent the last weekend weeding and it felt great. Today is such a beautiful day here, I think I am going to go sit on the deck now until I have to pick up my daughter from school.
ReplyDeletelol about the scarves...
Oh - hope we get your weather again soon - it poured all day, which is not a bad thing, as it will get rid of the end of the snow. It was warm here today at least and there is nothing lovelier than a warm spring rain!!
DeleteI buy a shot of colour then head back for the safety of my greys and camels. But I love those fushia pants on you!!! - think about how you could wear them more casually - with denim and comfy shoes? so you can wear them shopping. Clearly those companies are tapped into your ruminations and need to pay you some commissions, missus!
ReplyDeleteI am thinking that maybe I am dating the designer and just don't know it yet...
DeleteI loved the fuschia pants as well, and if the stains come out, they may be seen again out and about, but I kind of like that they are my gardening pants, too!
I don't repurpose much -- tank tops that I used to wear under blazers that have had a long life sometimes become running tops if they are made of cotton. I have a category of tops (sleeveless, cotton or sweat-wicking) that I wear specifically for hiking and running though, so there isn't much call for my lawyer-clothes to become exercise-clothes. I don't garden, which seems like it would be a good in-between (I have the least green thumb in the world, I think).
ReplyDeleteYou look fantastic in that blazer -- absolutely love it. Great match with your coloring.
Thanks Michelle! That is what I am slowly working on - a more casually chic wardrobe, with a few dressy suits and dresses that can be called upon for meetings or events.
DeleteHow lovely of the nursing home to have a memorial for those who passed away!
ReplyDeleteYour blazer looks great! I just had my hair 'fixed' on Saturday and there is no greater feeling, I must say. Hope you have fun!
WMM- that is not re-purposing- it is wearing. They are washable! I try to make use of my clothing and not get stuck in the habit of saving something for "good". I do sleep in my old tank tops. I really like the neutral outfit on you. It is very chic. The memorial sounds really lovely.
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