Thursday, June 27, 2013

Peasant-chic

After the notorious $89 bra got a hole in it - this before I'd even washed it! and not even somewhere where it might have been pulling! just bad construction (Made in France, I had such high hopes) - I'm extra-reluctant to "invest" in things that can snag. Similarly, I "invested" in a pair of not-the-absolute-cheapest white canvas sneakers (Superga, because those fit and the Converse didn't, even though I liked the Converse more), with the goal not so much to keep them pristine as to have them not full-on drenched in filth. Shortly thereafter, an incident with an especially poodle-friendly (and unfenced/unleashed) golden retriever took care of that. I now have a greenish-brown pair of sneakers. Inevitable, but still, sooner than expected.

The combination of dog-adventures, ubiquitous mud in the "with-it city" I live in, and my capacity to ruin a garment just by looking at it, suggests it's time to go the navy-potato-sack route of head-to-toe denim.

But I'm kind of obsessed with the idea of a Romanian peasant blouse. A white one with blue embroidery. Like Suzanne Pleshette wears on this one episode of "The Bob Newhart Show." Very 1970s. Cultural appropriation? I'm going to say that as someone of 1/4 impoverished-Romanian ancestry (Jewish, but not sure how that impacts the blouse situation - plus the current likeliest contender ships from Israel), I'm if anything culturally appropriating when not wearing such a shirt. However, a shirt along those lines has the impressive potential both to snag and to acquire every stain imaginable. This will now need to be mulled over for a few months, as is my way.

3 comments:

Sigivald said...

Converse (or equivalent) come in black.

There's good reason for this.

(Also, if they fit you, I'd suggest the "build your own" option for not-white color options, but...)

Britta said...

Since your bra is brand new, I would suggest taking it back and asking for free repairs or a replacement. If it's a high end lingerie store, they should be willing to do that. I seem to recall that when I bought my really fancy bra it came with a two year 'warranty.'

Phoebe Maltz Bovy said...

Sigivald,

We all have our style preferences, and black Converse won't do.

Britta,

An excellent idea, and I did consider this. Slight problem there is that it's a $33 trip (before Metrocard fare) to the store in question. I'd need to be heading into the city for some other reason. Also, I don't remember anything about a warranty...