Fashionista

I'm in the midst of a two-day middle-of-the-week "vacation." I needed some time to deal with personal things. On the top of my list today -- cleaning out my closet. I really hate to part with clothes. But sometimes you have to take off the rose-colored glasses and take a close look in the mirror.

"Whoa, whatever made me think that looked good on me?" -- Into the giveaway pile goes my once favorite pink jacket.

Going through the closet makes me wonder what those two self-proclaimed gurus of fashion on "What Not To Wear" would make of my fashion choices. I shudder to think, but would likely welcome the advice.

I don't know how I came to be "my age" without a clear definition of my fashion style. Unless comfort is a style. My clothing choices often would cause my daughters to look at me incredulously and ask "Are you wearing that?" Well, yes I am.

I'll never be a fashionista, and am fascinated by the whole concept of finding "your style" as the gurus say.

My little granddaughters are fun to watch as they develop their own sense of style. Their parents dressed them in pink and Disney princess style when they were younger. Then the older girls discovered Hannah Montana and High School Musical. But they've now outgrown that and don't want to wear clothes with "someone's face on it" as the 8-year old said. GD1 now likes to wear trendy clothes with lots of accessories.

GD2, now 7, is still trying to find the style she likes. Hopefully, she finds it before she's my age. She's still loving the princess dresses, but also wants to be like her big sister and wear cooler clothes.

The 4-year-old has always had her own sense of style. She loves to wear black...and leopard print...and princess dresses. Not all at once, of course.

My grandson is leaning toward the hip-hop style -- minus the saggy pants. He's reed thin anyway, so he's always having problems with his pants. But he loves the bling -- chains and such and caps that are way to big for his head. But he also likes polos versus T-shirts, unless the T has a logo for his favorite game, WWE or sports team.

Their fashion preferences will change as their interests change. I saw my son go from being a surfer/skater to wearing country shirts and tight jeans and then reverting back to his beach bum wear. My middle child dresses better than I do, but she's always been the conservative, go for comfort, with the occasional foray into trendy one. My youngest has always been the fashionista, and she always looks good. Of course, I do still have some blackmail photos of her wearing camo and stripes at the same time when she was about 8.

But whether we let our inner super model shine or simply wear the most comfortable clothes we can find, the most important thing is that we find our own sense of self. I think I've done that.

That won't stop me from trying to find the fashionista in me -- she's in there, somewhere.