040 Juggling. And Paris. But mostly, juggling.

Is fashion really about fashion at all?

Earlier this week, while starting my morning with black coffee and fashion news, I scrolled across this pic of Hailey Beiber leaving Hotel Costes in Paris. 

Immediately I had this overwhelming urge that, I too, desperately wanted to be in Paris having dinner. But more importantly, I wanted to be wearing this coat (which conveniently was already sitting in my shopping cart somewhere on the internet) while having dinner in Paris.  

Sure, I could easily hop on a plane to Paris for a weekend wearing the coat. (With pants, of course, because I am not someone who walks around in public in my drawers.)  But the reality is, if given the choice of a noisy restaurant, be it Paris or Philadelphia, vs a quiet dinner at home, my choice is obviously the one closest to my bed.  

So why the urge to eat moules frites under the Iron Lady looking like I stepped out of the Matrix? 

I think it’s because fashion at its heart, has an inspirational agenda.  If you’re wearing- THE dress, THE coat, THE shoes- the projection is one of being fabulous and having it all together…even when the reality is, you’re falling apart.  Or, more likely, somewhere in the middle-hanging on for dear life.

To quote Deion Sanders: “If you look good, you feel good. If you feel good, you play good.  If you play good, they pay good.” 

While I agree with Coach Prime, I do question that, if taken to extremes, the pursuit of “looking good”  is a thinly veiled attempt to fill our voids- a physical balm for emotional wounds. As if racks of designer duds and high priced stilettos are camouflage for the parts of ourselves we’re trying to hide. 

Bob, my best friend, my sounding board, the most brilliant person I know, doesn’t understand the hoopla surrounding fashion.  He’s a man that wears a uniform every day.  Not really a uniform like UPS or such, but rather a clothing formula that is the same, day in and day out.  White dress shirt, black jeans, black shoes, black belt. I’ve flexed my fashion muscle a bit over the years to expand the formula slightly with this or that, but basically it’s stayed the same.  It works so very well because the clothing is always the supporting cast, never taking away from the main character. 

It’s no surprise when he is genuinely perplexed by, say, two leather bags that serve the same function, yet the one with a certain logo costs 10x more. 

Same function; not same price

He’s right of course, yet, I’m not convinced I’m ready to give up on fashion just yet…

I have this life analogy that we are all jugglers and the balls we juggle represent the areas of our life that are important to us- family, spouse, career, children, pets, education, friends, health, joy, etc etc (you get the picture).  Everyone has different balls.  But the caveat is that we can only juggle a certain number at given time. Try to keep them all in play and you risk all the balls falling. 

It is impossible to juggle all the balls all the time. 

What does this have to do with fashion? Nothing.  But also everything. 

Perhaps the urge to jet to Europe in an amazing leather coat has more to do with the feeling that I’m not doing a great job with the current juggle than it has to do with anything else.  

A fashion balm to soothe the disappointment in myself of late. 

So, instead of flying to Paris, or buying the coat, or eating fries, I’ll be over here working on my juggle, making sure the balls in the air are the ones that actually matter.

I wish the same for you. 

xo,

A

PS. I thought I’d leave you with a VERY vintage clip of a guy who worked out the juggle.