is it just me?

very often I look at people with that exact question in my head, shocked that they put whatever atrocity they're wearing on, looked in the mirror and though "yep, I'm ready to go."

case#1
I admit, it's hard to dress in spring. the temperatures vary, you wish it was warm but it usually isn't, etc. The other night I arrived at the dog park around 6pm, and it was approximately 70 degrees outside. Lovely, really. I was a bit warm in a light jacket, but knew the temp would start dropping. However, there were people there in tank tops and I did not htink they had completely lost their minds. But then a lady shows up in a turtleneck and a down parka. Which she had zipped up. Don't get me wrong - I hate being cold. I am never underdressed. But a down parka? It's 70 degrees! The sun is shining! Have you lost your mind? She was very weird (I guess this should not have surprised me). She had this big wintry dog (a Samoyed for any of you dog lovers, which are big, fluffy husky-esque white dogs.) Perhaps she was trying to empathize? See how her dog feels when it's 70 dgrees out? I have no idea. She tried talking to me but I pretended to be deaf.

case #2
People in Madison do not dress nicely. I mean, the students follow trends but the townies generally look like something off of the REI sales rack. It is bascially impossible to go anywhere and feel that you are casually dressed because guaranteed someone there will be in jeans, merrell slides and a fleece jacket. People tend to look rumpled. I can spot the Madison get from half a mile away at the airport because the look is so distinctive. So, when I went to the annual meeting for a community group that I volunteer with last night I did not give one second's thought to my outfit. I could have told you how everyone there would be dressed, and I would have been right. Anyway, there was a grouf of girls from the university there, some sort of "microfinance club". Anyway, they were all dressed a little nicer because a) they're young and still care how they look and b) they probably haven't learned yet how badly your average madisonian dresses. For the most part, they were wearing sensible skirts, etc. But this one girl was wearing a green and white strapless dress and PEARLS. What, did she miss the bus to the Kentucky Derby? Seriously, I cannot tell you how out of place she looked. And because it is very important to sit up straight at all times in a strapless dress, she was perched there on the edge of her chair, back rail straight, turned half to the side with her hands clasped in her lap. She seriously looked like she was posing for her prom queen picture. I could not imagine what made her think that the annual meeting of a Nicaraguan Solidarity community group merited this type of attire. Seriously. I missed about 10 minutes of one of the presentations because I was so utterly distracted by what she could have possibly been thinking.

case #3
I know you don't need to look nice when you go to class. But do you have to dress like a homeless person? Some of the girls on campus really need to get their shit together. I mean, I am tired of the bug eye sunglasses and sweatpants, but when you pair them moccasins or seven layers too many it really gets old. The other day there was a girl who looked suspiciously like Mary Kate Olsen sitting next to me on the bus. She was very thin, clutching a huge cup of coffee which likely was her entire consumption for the day. She was wearing the ugliest terry cloth pants I have ever seen. They were about seven different colored stripes, with the primary color being pink. Then she had on some ratty tank top, a dirty sweater, and tan moccasins with no socks. Oh, and the pants were about three inches too short. I mean, really. Even famous people look bad in these outfits and you are not famous. People look a little less crazy in the warm weather than they do in the cold, but still.

Oh, and as a warning - I have noticed that skinny jeans with small ankles are making a comeback with Nicole, Lindsay, Sienna et al. I must warn you that unless you weigh under 100 lbs this look is not going to look good on you. No, if your hips are wider than your ankles then skinny jeans are a bad idea. So let's save ourselves some agony and stay away from it, what do you think? Can we all agree on that? Please?

One final note on wardrobe. Although no one I work with is a very good dresser (though we have all different kinds of bad dressing going on, coupled with a hefty dose of indifference) they do not let that stop them from commenting on my outfits (or other people's for that matter). My boss is especially bad. Once I was wearing one of those long sweaters that were in for a while, you know more like jackets with a belt? Anyway, my inlaws gave me one and I thought I'd try it. My boss says "You look like a knight! Is that your tunic? It looks like a tunic!" I never wore it again. Then one day I had on a pink sweater. My boss told me it reminded him of Hostess Snowballs, you know those nasty cakes covered in pink coconut. Yep, straight to goodwill. But just when I thought I was the only one being persecuted, the new faculty member who happens to be both my age and my gender ( a real rarity around here) comes in wearing an orange fleece vest. The guy down the hall says to her 'Hey- are you going hunting?' I sat in my office feeling very pleased that at last, I am not the only one. Welcome to my world, sister. Watch what you wear. I will also say that she has stooped perhaps lower than anyone else here (and that is saying something since our standards are basically nonexistent) and actually wears sweatpants to work. She's a university professsor. Sweatpants? Really? And to make it even worse they say the name of a university in big letters down the leg. And not even HER alma mater or this place! No, they say the name of where her sister goes to school! So now that she has been baptized I think I might make a comment to her about her sweatpants. What fun is taking it all the time if you can dish it once in a while, right?

Have a good weekend.