Talking Chic
A Change of Season – A Change of View
When does fashion fade from our wardrobe? Should it ever? Are there points in our lives when being stylish is supposed to take a backseat to the big picture? Lately, I can’t help but wonder if my attraction to designer handbags, ornate clutches, and vintage denim will always be an intricate part of my personality….if my bulletin board will always be posted with Nordstrom’s latest eyewear must-have’s…or if my nightlife pleasure will always be about who’s wearing what and who definitely shouldn’t be wearing what.
Whereas “fashion” may be considered a learned concept – a sort of aspiration one can succeed or struggle in, I’m convinced that “style” exists deep in a person’s soul. And when one expresses his or her style through colorful cloth, textured fabrics, and decorative accessories, this sort of big-bang collision creates a beautiful statement about who a person is.
But what happens when old age kicks in and peep-hole pumps are replaced with Easy Spirits, and one’s 2-seater BMW is overridden with Sunday morning white-van pick-ups? When seasons change and aging has gone full force, it seems like the luxurious feeling of fashion will turn into practicality. Simple, boring, and nothing worth discussing.
However, the lingering questions that have drilled themselves into my brain since visiting my grandfather in an Illinois nursing home about two months ago are this: When does the importance of expressing one’s style fade? When an elderly person’s behavior rewinds to the child-like innocence of years passed, where does one’s creativity hide?
Amidst watching a 99-year-old woman barely able to hold her head up while sitting in a wheelchair but sporting long purple acrylic nails, and witnessing my granddad’s shaky hands browse through my portfolio, yet still wearing the cherished bling on his pinky finger I ever-so-fondly know him to flaunt – it hit me!
Just because a person is not adamant in proving his or herself through fashion at 80 years old like he or she may have at 20, doesn’t mean that the respect and admiration for looking good doesn’t exist. I’m learning that while style may stay with us as we age, the excessive materialism and all the stuff that accrues in our closets over the years really do become, well, “stuff.”
And (gasp!) more important things will at some point in our lives take precedent over those favorite jeans and fabulous handbags. Matters like health, happiness, and unfortunately, sadness will hold reign.
But with sorrow there’s joy, and I know that new happiness will develop with being able to pass down my own favorites one day, such as the jewelry – the tiny artifacts – that a grandmother must save for her granddaughters. As the clouds cried those days in Chicago and my thoughts cleared during our runs from hotel room to nursing home and back to hotel room, the few trips to my grandparents’ house in Park Forest gave me more of a positive outlook in growing older. As I peered at my grandmother excitedly watching my sister and I open our envelopes with gold-chained memories inside (whether her thoughts were really on that very moment or the fact that something special lifted her spirits in the midst of waiting for my grandfather to return home), her chunky turquoise necklace on top of a beautiful cream sweater gave me a rush of excitement!
I bet it’s been forever since my grandma browsed through a fashion magazine, but when style runs deep, it runs true. And I can’t wait for my own granddaughters to be patient, sit beside me, and adore their cool G-ma.
Written by Elana Pruitt
