In Praise of the Ratty Old _ _ _ _ _ _

Everyone has one— that ratty old something too comfy to part with, too raggedy to be seen in good company (family excepted). It may the pilled cardigan you reach for every time there's a chill or the perfectly broken-in slippers that truly have seen better days. We just can't seem to get rid of them. Even worse, we really don't want to. There's something very comforting about those things you put on almost without thinking. I have two: the ratty old bathrobe and the ratty old sweatshirt.

THE BATHROBE started out quite the sale find at Anthropologie, so it had provenance. Rather than save it for good (an invite to—say—Downton Abbey), I wear it all the time. It's not too big and not too small, not too short and not too long. It's a nice shade of mouse grey terry in a jacquard pattern that looks like vintage toweling. By now it looks like the towels you should keep in the garage for emergencies. It's suffered a few mishaps in the washing machine (how did those bleach spots get there?????) and managed to pick up a rust stain that is now eating through the fabric. The pockets are misshapen from being overstuffed with kleenex. It's still the first thing I reach for after a shower. I know what it looks like so I just avoid mirrors. It's not my only bathrobe. I have two others hanging on the same hook outside the bathroom and one in a box in the closet that I even look at sometimes. AND I've my eye on a waffle weave cotton kimono style that I'm sure would be perfect. But not as perfect as this one.

THE SWEATSHIRT is another story. I picked it up at the coop the weekend I had a date with a boy at Ohio University. I was a junior in high school (still can't believe my mother let me go), and I don't remember the boy for the life of me. I have a vague memory of him at the fraternity house, but you could pull out my nails and I still couldn't tell you his name. That sweatshirt, though, has painted every apartment or house I've ever painted and planted any garden I've ever grown. It must have shrunk as the sleeves are barely bracelet length. If you ever want a sweatshirt to feel like a fuzzy, soft second skin, just wash it regularly over the course of 65 years. This is not an item to be replaced. It still performs its intended functions perfectly. I make no apologizes when wearing it. It is what it is, with an added layer of nostalgia. 

Maybe now you will look at your ratty old friend in a new way, since that will be the only thing new about it.

Nothing New Underfoot

 
These Jimmy Choo pumps from his Fall 2024 line are the perfect example. Aside from the fabulous shade of red and terrifying shape of heel, they look so very much like a pair of Capezio navy kid heels I bought in 1965. 

I've not been wearing them all these years. They've sat in a box way at the back of the closet as a relic of a very distant past—young woman in the big city. Why did I keep them? They were one of the first things I bought with My Own Money and the shoes I wore to my interview with the Art Director of Glamour Magazine. I got the job.

They also reinforce my conviction that THERE IS NOTHING NEW.

Fashionable fact: the older you are the less new there will be. I didn't make up "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." Sometimes it's a relief to find you don't have to reinvent your wardrobe to feel stylish and current, but relief is turning to malaise.

It would seem a very good year to restock your basics—the white shirt, the perfect tee (or tees), the classic pullover or cardigan, jeans, etc. Take a good look at what you've been putting on without a second thought. So often we don't give these close inspection. Discovering the fraying, graying, pilling and yellowing of life can be a bit of a shock!    

This is not to say dressing for fall 2024 doesn't have its challenges. Things are always being put together differently. It's how you do it that is the challenge. As always it's about flattering your body type and fitting the occasion, and—most importantly—making you feel fabulous. That never ends. Only this year you may be spending more time in your closet and less shopping.

But when you do, bring money. Lots of money.