Yet, those of us here in North Texas know that Fall is a very long time away. In fact, we wait until after the State Fair in October to think about pulling out the Fall things from the closet, much less actually going to a store and trying on something for Fall. It is simply too hot. When the temperature is over 100 degrees every day, it is really quite difficult to think about anything heavier than a nice cotton tee, soft jeans, and sandals. That's enough.
Once, a very long time ago... as in the early fifties, a friend went off to Baylor to begin her freshman year. Now, she had read Seventeen magazine (that was the fashion bible for college women in those very unsophisticated days) and she dressed for her arrival at the dorm as she had been told was the correct way for a very prim and proper young woman to make that important first impression. She wore a well tailored camel colored suit with pencil skirt at mid-calf, three inch brown leather pumps, short leather gloves, and a golden felt hat with veil.
And moved into the dorm. By the time she had taken all of her suitcases up the stairs, loaded the trunk onto the freight elevator to get it to her floor, she was what we would call these days "a hot mess." Fashion dictated that she be dressed in Fall fashion and she was.
Five years later when I moved into the dorm at Mary Hardin Baylor, at least, I knew to skip the dictates of Seventeen and I wore a simple cotton skirt and blouse. But because it was 1955, that skirt was a big, full gathered skirt with multiple petticoats. It was perfect for riding down to Belton and for moving into the dorm.
I was cool in every way, but those petticoats proved to be too much of a good thing. I flounced up the stairs to the dorm and that very wide skirt hit the shrub near the steps and sent yellow jackets into the air. Five steps and six yellow jackets later I was on the floor, covered in whelps and more or less unconscious. Welcome to college life.
Eight Septembers later when I married, I changed from my wedding dress to a suit... even though we were only going to go out to eat and then drive one hundred miles to "get away." But fashion dictated that the bride put on a going away suit and so I did. Even though it was still summer, it was September; and so I wore a suit I made from silk noil. Although it was lovely, it wasn't the best thing for wearing to ride for a hundred miles in a Texas summer.
Texas women have better sense these days. And so when the magazines proclaim that it is Fall and begin to show everyone wearing boots and tights and jackets, we sit back and smirk and continue to wear those things that feel best in the summer heat. You all up North may call it Fall all that you want; we know it is still summer. Even the calendar knows it will be summer for three more weeks. We follow fashion, but we know these days how to temper it with good sense.
And so, QVC and Vogue and InStyle, you just keep telling me it is Fall; just keep trying to sell me those tights and those high boots. I am not ready for all that, not yet. Today, the temperature will go over 100 degrees and that will be the way it is for another week or three yet. When the weather cools somewhat, maybe then I will head out to the mall and see what fashion has in store for me this year.
Until then, please understand just why I have far more summer clothes than winter things and I always will. That is what I wear. If I wear a coat 4 or 5 times this winter or pull on the high boots more than a couple of times... just to look sharp.... then it will be a typical winter for me. Until cooler weather, please know that I do enjoy fashion, but I am so glad that I finally learned what to wear when, what colors to wear, what styles I need to avoid, and how to put it all together. And Regina, thank you for teaching me.
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