Fashion Weak, August 29th

Why is it that when some styles call out to us we are powerless to resist? I remember the tube top craze when I was in eighth-grade. I HAD to have one. It was a pale lavender color and I wore it under a rainbow button down that I carefully tied in the front. This was my planned outfit for the last day of junior high school. What on earth must I have been thinking? In this case I plead The Eighth– as in my eighth-grade fashion sensibility must have been off.

My son had a fashion moment too. When he was in high school he was desperate for a pair of distressed biker jeans from the fancy French designer Balmain. They were a whopping $1950! We trampled on over to Bergdorf and he tried them on just because he could. They were cool, but actually not a great fit and hello?? No, he didn’t get them! I remember searching far and wide to see if there was an acceptable alternative that would satisfy his fashion craving. I had a feeling they might be knocked off and appear in other lower priced retailers. This quest actually turned into a great life lesson.

We ended up finding a similar style at another pricey mall store that specialized in jeans. The ticket was a fraction of the Paris price, but at $350 still too steep for his (MY) budget. We continued shopping until voila! It turned out that Express, the fast fashion retailer had a similar style for only $79. I am not saying that eighty bucks was a bargain for jeans, but they offered a buy one get one 50% off! And when you compare this deal to those Bergdorf blues, it looked like quite the steal. With hearts aflutter he entered the fitting room to sample the look. The jeans fit absolutely perfectly and we were both thrilled. He ended up selecting a dark blue wash and a lighter shade as well. Honestly they looked like an exact replica of the pants he pined for and fit even better.

Fast forward to spring break a few months later. We were strolling the strip on South Beach in Miami and a group of edgy guys not more than 25 years old walked past us. One guy called out to my son, “Hey, rockin those Balmain jeans?!” “Yeah,” he replied immediately as he ran his nervous palms down the thighs. It was quite a moment! “MOM! They thought I had the actual jeans!” “I know, dude. Ya see? Nobody really knows except you. If those pants look good and make you feel great, you don’t need recognition from the outside world. Those pants are money! They give you confidence.” And they did.

We had a big talk about when it’s actually wise to splurge on something you want but that the item you decide to spring for should be timeless and valuable– not a flash in the pan fashion fad. And he agreed. Years later that high school fit no longer flattered his frame and he ended up donating the Express duds along with a pile of my fashion must haves that eventually went awry. (You would have thought that I’d learned the lesson years before, right?!)

What can I say– I’m proud to have raised a fashionista with the amazing power to repurpose or resell those fashionable faux pas he once coveted. But like me, he is fashion weak, and when he wants something badly enough he will find a way to get it!