Mom Style

Hee hee. That title alone makes me laugh. Is there a less sexualized word than “mom”? Mom jeans. Mom hair. It conjures up an image that is not exactly…attractive. There are “yummy mummies” and “hot mamas”, but “moms”? Not sexy. “Soccer moms” might get the worst of it in terms of image, and I am actually becoming one this year! I guess I will have to find myself a neon windbreaker tracksuit, since I already have a minivan.

Sometimes it’s hard for a stay at home mom to have some good fashion mojo, if you know what I mean. It’s a slippery slope in the fashion department, and this is coming from a woman whose style, nine months out of the year, is characterized by jeans (but low-rise, NEVER mom jeans) and a t-shirt layered underneath a v-neck sweater, in a veritable rainbow of blacks, grays, and browns. Yesterday I received a “fashion magazine” which is put out by The Bay (I don’t know why or how I receive these magazines, but I have for years). Since my wardrobe is as described above, I generally peruse these magazines for style ideas, which remain largely theoretical as I dislike shopping (which is a good prerequisite to being a mother of boys), and whenever I do shop I end up picking up something black, gray, or brown.

Nonetheless, I opened the magazine, and I quote, “Mindful of our mandate to identify the looks that will work effortlessly into your life, we interpret and communicate the major trends”. The magazine then goes on list such lovely ideas as “sensuous…kaftan tunics” and “graphic big-cat animalia prints”. Seriously? Big-cat animalia prints? My grandma looks awesome in those, as well as kaftan tunics; she is a beautiful woman but she is also in her eighties. So I think I’ll pass. There is also a spread on floral-print dresses and cardigans, and while they look sort of cute on the nineteen year old model, I kind of think that I would look frumpy and idiotic in them (again, this is theoretical since I haven’t worn a dress or skirt in several years). Then there is the pair of go-anywhere ubiquitous white pants. With two boys and a dog? Unless I want to cultivate the slovenly, Pigpen-from-Charlie-Brown look, I think I’ll forgo the white pants.

It’s really hard to find clothes that are appropriate and comfortable, but are not from Tan Jay or similar. It seems like once you hit your thirties, unless you are going to a job where you wear nice clothes every day, you are left out of the market. Is anyone else having these struggles? Or is it just me and my monochromatic wardrobe?