{"id":14100,"date":"2015-10-21T05:00:16","date_gmt":"2015-10-21T12:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/?p=14100"},"modified":"2015-10-24T17:00:56","modified_gmt":"2015-10-25T00:00:56","slug":"madame-frump-no-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/?p=14100","title":{"rendered":"Madame Frump No More"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"madame-frump\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When I was a young lass toiling over catalog page layouts amid the design-y and stylish citizens of Williams-Sonoma \/ Pottery Barn HQ, I used to spend a lot of time and effort on my appearance because everyone around me sashayed about in beautiful attire. One of my good friends and co-workers — he of the vintage couture\u00a0connoisseurship and wearer of thrifted Ferragamo loafers — would appraise my daily outfits and give me a thumbs up or down.\u00a0We had the sort of honest and hilarious relationship that was blatantly modeled after Sex and the City, except I wasn’t as cool as Carrie and he was way cooler than Stanford (though technically, we both wanted to be Carrie). One day, when I was developing what seemed suspiciously like pink eye and generally felt\u00a0unsexy and un-urban, I showed up to work in a pilled, shapeless sweater and baggy pants.<\/p>\n

My friend’s hands flew to his cheeks and he uttered in horror,\u00a0“Ay Mamacita<\/em>*,\u00a0what happened?\u00a0You look like… Madame Frump!!”<\/p>\n

*He was from the Dominican Republic<\/p>\n

Fast forward many, many, many<\/em> years, and I am Madame Frumpin’ it hardcore<\/em>. I look like that illustration above on a good day. At least that has a sporty vibe and is acceptably like the ubiquitous “momiform”. I did rustle up deeply hidden energy to wear normal clothes on the few occasions I was meeting people for the first time or for special events — it’s always a good idea not to be mistaken for a homeless person. For most of the last six months in particular, though, I’ve been reaching for\u00a0pretty much the same three t-shirts\u00a0and stretch pants. The other issue is that in my enthusiastic embracing of the KonMari<\/a> method before I got caught up in deadlines, I’d vigorously emptied out my closet.\u00a0You’d think that if I kept only what sparked\u00a0joy, I would look presentable, but no, apparently dumpy clothes light me up. Perhaps in the chaos of this last year, I yearned for comfortable and forgiving garments with elastic waists.<\/p>\n

BUT. No more, I say, no more!<\/p>\n

Now that I’ve cleared away most of the bookishness haze and\u00a0I actually have a manageable to-do list, I’m eager\u00a0to revamp my handmade wardrobe. Would this be considered\u00a0completely non-essential? Yes. But I am a staunch believer in the power of clothes and have had a perennial love affair with them. I’ve experienced how differently people treat me depending on how I’m dressed (let me tell you, the dirty tee and leggings combo\u00a0doesn’t garner a lot of respect), but more to the point, I’m acutely aware of how I feel<\/em> in clothes. Beautifully-made, well-fitting clothes are inherently uplifting and confidence boosting. And who doesn’t want a more positive and self-assured person around?<\/p>\n

Of course, it’s going to take me a bit or maybe a lot to get to the revamped, lovely me-made wardrobe of my dreams, but I’m\u00a0prepping my fabrics, sorting through my patterns, firing up my sewing machine and iron.<\/p>\n

Goodbye Madame Frump, hellooooooo….well, something better, I hope.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was a young lass toiling over catalog page layouts amid the design-y and stylish citizens of Williams-Sonoma \/ Pottery Barn HQ, I used to spend a lot of time and effort on my appearance because everyone around me sashayed about in beautiful attire. One of my good friends and co-workers — he of the vintage couture\u00a0connoisseurship and wearer of thrifted Ferragamo loafers — would appraise my daily outfits and give me a thumbs up or down.\u00a0We had the sort of honest and hilarious relationship that was blatantly modeled after Sex and the City, except I wasn’t as cool as Carrie and he was way cooler than Stanford (though technically, we both wanted to be Carrie). One day, when I was developing what seemed suspiciously like pink eye and generally felt\u00a0unsexy and un-urban, I showed up to work in a pilled, shapeless sweater and baggy pants. My friend’s hands flew to his cheeks and he uttered in horror,\u00a0“Ay Mamacita*,\u00a0what happened?\u00a0You look like… Madame Frump!!” *He was from the Dominican Republic Fast forward many, many, many years, and I am Madame Frumpin’ it hardcore. I look like that illustration above on a good day. At least that has a sporty vibe and is acceptably like the ubiquitous “momiform”. I did rustle up deeply hidden energy to wear normal clothes on the few occasions I was meeting people for the first time or for special events — it’s always a good idea not to be mistaken for a homeless person. For most of the last six months in particular, though, I’ve been reaching for\u00a0pretty much the same three t-shirts\u00a0and stretch pants. The other issue is that in my enthusiastic embracing of the KonMari method before I got caught up in deadlines, I’d vigorously emptied out my closet.\u00a0You’d think that if I kept only what sparked\u00a0joy, I would look presentable, but no, apparently dumpy clothes light me up. Perhaps in the chaos of this last year, I yearned for comfortable and forgiving garments with elastic waists. BUT. No more, I say, no more! Now that I’ve cleared away most of the bookishness haze and\u00a0I actually have a manageable to-do list, I’m eager\u00a0to revamp my handmade wardrobe. Would this be considered\u00a0completely non-essential? Yes. But I am a staunch believer in the power of clothes and have had a perennial love affair with them. I’ve experienced how differently people treat me depending on how I’m dressed (let me tell you, the dirty tee and leggings combo\u00a0doesn’t garner a lot of respect), but more to the point, I’m acutely aware of how I feel in clothes. Beautifully-made, well-fitting clothes are inherently uplifting and confidence boosting. And who doesn’t want a more positive and self-assured person around? Of course, it’s going to take me a bit or maybe a lot to get to the revamped, lovely me-made wardrobe of my dreams, but I’m\u00a0prepping my fabrics, sorting through my patterns, firing up my sewing machine and iron. Goodbye Madame Frump, hellooooooo….well, something better, I hope. Stay tuned.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,12,9,13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14100","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-gouache","7":"category-illustration","8":"category-life","9":"category-watercolor","10":"entry","11":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14100"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14124,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14100\/revisions\/14124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}