This is Jennifer’s third entry in the series “Grist dared me to make a change.” Read her first and second here. And support her dare with a gift to Grist!
Fancier than the Grist dress code calls for, but who cares? I’m wearing vintage Dior!Photo: Jennifer Mac DonaldWhat a difference a Dior makes!
We had a beautiful weekend in Seattle when I first raided my mom’s closet, so I plucked all the warm-weather pieces I could find and brought them back to my place. No need to even open the toxic mothball sweater drawer! But then the weather gods thwarted my plan to wear an airy wrap dress today. It’s 62 degrees outside and drizzling. Thanks a big one, Pacific Northwest! I’m sure that the rest of the country is willing to share some heat with us!
My parents live 30 minutes away, so I had to make do with what I had. Luckily, I found a black wool tulip skirt that my fiance’s mom gave me from the annals of her wardrobe the last time we visited. That falls within the philosophical parameters of this dare, right?
As I learned in my last post, tops require bottoms and it turns out the inverse is also true. Fancy that. So I started digging through the blouse goddess’ collection and found a smallprint top in cornflower blue (if I remember those Crayola names correctly) that looked like a match. Plus it had a sash like yesterday’s blouse, so I figured I couldn’t go wrong. When I went to put the blouse on, I noticed the tag. Christian Dior? Jackpot! How did I not notice that the print on the blouse was, in fact, a bunch of tiny Dior logos? Vintage Dior is quite a find, but I’m even more impressed that my mom didn’t notice me taking it. She’s pretty protective of her stuff and even requested that I give it all back when my dare was over. I’m hoping that this week will convince her that her clothes will be happier on me than in her closet for another 30 years.
Teeny tiny Dior logosPhoto: Jennifer Mac DonaldSifting through these clothes has made me notice what materials have longevity. I love cotton, but I read it takes something like 250 gallons of water to grow enough for just one cotton T-shirt. And I haven’t yet found a cotton T-shirt in my mom’s closet that makes me cry out “thank you, O goddess of T-shirts!” So far, wool and silk are the kings of her closet and perhaps should become a larger part of mine as well.
What materials reign in your closet? Help Grist stay on top of green living tricks and tips by making a donation. Or you can bid on my Dior blouse in the comments below. SYKE! Mom would kill me.
