That's Haute

For those of you who know me, this confession will come as no surprise.
I am quite the fashionista.
And I like me my clothes.
I have tried to curb my impulses, I really have.
I have weighed the value of a new pair of boots against the total of the electricity bill, I have pitted the new seasons maxi dress against the cost of groceries and I have balanced the metallic wedges against car repairs.
Sadly, I remain immoderate, intemperate and extravagant.
But dammit, I am fabulous.
I'll admit I've have had to work hard at it too in recent years.
Eschewing other obligations (i.e. having a "real" job) to pursue "writing" has seen a considerable drop in my spending money and has simultaneously reduced the incidence of new and potentially fabulous entrances by up to 70%. Sad and tragic I dare say.
I don't need to dress up every day any more.
And this has been hard.
For, while I will be the first to admit that fabulousness is intrinsic, I will also confess that much of mine has been given definition by my clothes. I have always worked hard at punctuating my look with an exclamation mark, underlining it purposefully, couching it between quotation marks that have spoken of "chic, style and an undeniable and fabulous chichi".
And none of it has been accidental.
My je ne sais quoi is something I've worked hard at...
Alas, I am a Madame X and a Satin Doll.
I am both compulsive and obsessive.
Indeed, those incalculable and dreadful, weight altering fluorescent lights lurking over full length mirrors, the equally numerous and smug boutique proprietors the world over, and my sad, beleaguered credit card, will attest to it...
Yet, while having no runway to tread, there have always been my children's friends to entertain and boardrooms of peers to titillate and tantalize.
Yes, it was inevitable too that my diligence would catch the eyes of others with a succession of nodding, rewarding this fashion dilettante with praise and raised eyebrows.
Indeed, no one has taken my fashionista status more seriously than I.
In and out of meetings, on the street and on the beach, in a restaurant and in the city, on a walk and here at home, now...
Yes indeed, in front of the computer once more, just like I was yesterday and the day before that and quite possibly tomorrow...
Yet, while my yoga pants and t-shirt are chilled out cool, ridiculously comfortable and insanely conducive to hours spent in front of my new audience, they are hardly fabulous.
Alas, they are dull.(Rick Cain and Terrell Sandefur will heartily attest to that!)
For that garb is dismal and dire and the antithesis of my fabulous chichi.
So you must excuse me as I retire in haste to my bedroom for some timely fluffing.
I may not enjoy the same audience; I certainly do not have the same money, but I still enjoy the same desire for fashionable frippery, my circumstances rendering me both creative and clever.
For necessity is the mother of invention, is she not?
And lo, though I flounce before my mirror, frisky and frolicsome in my new maxi dress, it's frippery floating about me like so much fluff and nonsense, it is the fluff and nonsense that I have created, for I make DO, skillfully shopping from my closets, reworking from incarnations long since abandoned.
Sneaking a garment from Coco's closet...
Sadly however, I am not yet skilled in the art of fashioning these Michael Kors' Paris Metallic sandals and I frolic in the pricey little buggers with more than a little guilt... Well, more of a guilty pleasure really.

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Here's a look at what's "haute"

~Kirsten Ankrom is a 21 something mesmerized by the world of fashion
with a slight obsession for shopping and all things à la mode.Her fabulous blog "Through the Looking Glass" chronicles this fashionista's attempt to go a year with no clothing purchases!

~The classics never go out of style. Joe Negri's newest cd "Dream Dancing" is classic jazz guitar at it's best! Available at cdbaby.com, noteworthyjazz.com and joenegri.com


~It's a bird, it's a plane, it's neither of those things. It's Macon Man and he's HOT! Coming soon!



~George Petit's new band GP5 debuts May 25th at SOB's in NYC. Click here for the event link.

~Spice things up at the 3rd annual Jazz Under the Stars Patron's Party. Contact the Jazz Association of Macon for details.

~Dido's latest cd "Everything to Lose" available May 24. Brillz.