Stone Soup by Jan Eliot for August 30, 2014

Maybe we need a “Unisex” section for pre-adolescents?

Re: boys’ clothes being better made…a “have-to” because boys are “supposed” to be more athletically inclined and get into everything and everywhere…while girls are “supposed” to be lady-like and certainly Not boisterous! Didn’t Alix have this same conversation at another point in time? (BTW, I never Did fit the “lady-like” adjective…it was more fun to be boisterous! LOL). ;)

I feel Holly singing “West Side Story” song “I Feel Pretty” coming on.

When my daughter needed adult size shoes in the 7th grade, I was going insane trying to find a pair that she would wear until I got fed up with her fussiness and the prices of the women’s shoes. I bought her a pair of boy’s shoes, they fit, and we were both happy.

I was the ‘falling out of the apple tree’ child: dress me up in pinafores, petticoats, lacy socks, Mary Jane shoes, bows in my curled hair (from having to sleep in rollers overnight – pre-curling irons for all you young whippersnappers out there), and I’d come back from school a train wreck. Nothing torn or dirtied, mind you, but recess and gym class did not go well with ‘being a demure lady’ as my grandmothers put it. T-shirt and dungarees (my grandparents’ term for jeans), a magnifying glass, a bucket, and the swamp next to the house…let’s say I was happy as a lark. Loved the book learning in school, since I could then go into the swamp and check for what I learned about that day. Still miffed I never discovered a dinosaur in our front yard. Mom was not happy about all of the ‘damage’ (as she put it) I could do with a trowel.

My favorite outfit when I was about 7 was a pair of red overalls.

I also understand “Dry Cleaners” charge more for woman’s items.

One of these three has their priorities in order… and I’m not entirely sure which.

I make most of my ‘work’ clothes and still wear my now-25-year-old’s outgrown pants from when he was 12. And they still look good.

Holly better hope that her clothes are already payed for.

I loved wearing dresses as a little girl and changed them many times a day. It’s so much easier to climb trees in a dress.

I was also a boy’s clothes type of girl. However, I lived down the street from the convent and the church. If the nuns saw a girl wearing pants, they marched over to the house and scolded the parents and made us go to confession and ask for a severe penance.

I wear men’s hiking boots all the time. wide foot and almost impossible to find wide widths in women’s boots

Well, duh.

At least Val and Alix are happy!! :)

Now with Holly that’s going to be tougher than peace in the Middle East! :/

Wait until the peer pressure at school kicks in. Does she buckle or fight?

Why can’t girls have pretty trains on their shirts? Why can’t boys have Bambi who will grow up into big masculine deer?

(People kept asking me why are my sons wearing girl t-shirts – blue with a baby deer! Boys must have monsters or trucks, obviously – animals are for girls.)

Yes, Night,Girls clothes are made of more delicate fabrics (so not as durable) and of more colors with more trim (so more expensive). After 3 boys, though, I still wanted my only daughter to dress like a girl.

BTW, I posted late last night and realized I missed your B-Day. I picked an image that (to me matched your avatar). I hope you had a good birthday.

The only time I get stuck with new clothes is when my older brother refused to give up his even if he did not fit into them; he expected me to pay for them. I say stuck with new clothes because the fashion sense my parents had was the On Sale fashion.

I remember those days when girls wore dresses in mid 60’s. when my mom bought some slacks I begged for them. Felt great with legs covered for outside with cold temps. I rather wear shorts even climbing trees. I would never think of wearing a dress for tree climbing. Having shorts better for riding a bike meant skirt material would billow up.

Alix your not helping Holly out and mom is impressed with lower prices.

I’ve lost weight over the years because of long-undiagnosed gluten intolerance. Every holiday season I wear a long red outfit that people compliment. Recently saw a picture of myself in it – the picture was forty years old!Also, recently noticed that my favorite tee shirts, Cherokee Ultimate Tee, was Size XL! Found out that they were for big girls! Bought up a lot of them in different colors (they were very cheap), but @<%$ it, the company stopped making them!

Unfortunately, it’s not just a matter of being “idiots and sheep” – rather, women are damned if we do, damned if we don’t. If you work in an office, you need a professional wardrobe, and it can’t be something like a suit that you wear every day – women are expected to put effort into their appearance with make-up and clothes lest they look “unprofessional” – unlike men, who can get away with just a suit or two, or button-downs and khakis.

Plus, if you’re curvy (as most women are) you can’t wear men’s clothing without substantial alteration, so you’re sort of stuck with what’s in the stores, even if it’s crap.

Just try buying jeans if you’re a woman, for example – every manufacturer has a bazillion different sizes, several different cuts, and all inconsistent. I once literally went to every single store in a mall and tried on every single style of jeans – I was desperate and had a lot of time to kill – and NONE of them fit my body properly.

My husband, on the other hand, looks for length, waist, and relaxed/fitted, and he’s done. The only time I ever had that happen was when buying a high-end suit.

Give it up, Holly, you’ll never turn Alix into you.

Whatever makes you happy Alix.

Men’s clothes are cheaper because there are not as many designers out there for men whose clothing line get residuals. Men tend to stick to their favorite styles and don’t change over time. They could be categorized as 1. Meterosexual – the type who follows fashion trends. 2. The tee-shirt/blue jeans – cargo shorts type. 3. The Athlete 4. The Nigga. That’s it. The vast majority is #2 so there is not much demand for men clothing designers out there thus why clothes are cheaper.

We have to try to look nice because guys don’t WANT women who look like hell :~)

@RWJAMES

You are an idiot. Men don’t get straight numbers in place of sizes because they’re so smart and powerful that they “won’t put up with it.” They get them because there is not a ginormous cultural apparatus telling men that the size of their pants is the most important thing about them.

And your economic theory is bullshit too. Everyone is indoctrinated from infancy that women must look at certain way, and in order to be successful, women need to buy things. Women have more clothing stores because of that pressure. Don’t sit there smugly lecturing half the population that we should just ignore the entirely of culture (which you uphold just as much as we do, btw) like somehow it’s our fault.

This idea that women have to look a certain way comes from our society. A society run almost entirely by men. You run the government, the businesses, the media. Don’t you dare try to tell me that women buying clothing so we can keep our jobs and protect ourselves are somehow at fault for the way the culture exploits us every damn day of our lives.

Where is it written that she bought jeans anyway. She never said that. The fact that you jumped to that conclusion just shows how much you misunderstand the situation. She didn’t buy, we don’t always buy, but nothing changes. You should have daughters, that would be the best punishment the universe could give you.

I was the kind that liked to play with the boys, dig in the dirt—and yet wear pretty dresses sometimes. My mother was not amused when I came home from school one day covered in dirt (it was even under my clothes, she tells me) from digging with the boys at recess the day I chose to wear a favorite dress. That would have been early 80s, I think..Please note: she had no objections to me digging; she just preferred me to wear more appropriate clothing and not get so dirty at school!

More power to the tomboys. They have their own unique type of pretty, one that needs not be enhanced with clothes.

This isn’t a gender/orientation thing. It’s about comfort, convenience and practical purpose.

As a boy, I was forced to wear clothes that made my skin crawl. Fancy-schmancy crap.

Holly,you don’t have to wear the clothes,so quit sweating Alix’s choice!

Back when I was between 16-19 and in the 1980s the preppy wear was popular. Izod polo shirts, Sperry topsides, and Levis jeans. I shopped at the boys youth size because 1) I liked the colors more and 2) all items were cheaper. I actually got a bank teller tell me that not only I was pretty but smart!

Yea Alix!

When I was young, my Mom would scold me if I got “dirty”. Mind you, that wasn’t ripped or torn. My younger brother would come home—-ripped, torn, filthy…Mom said NOTHING!

Hail to the boys!! (mom to a boy).

If this is at all reflective of reality, then it’s sad 1) that durable girls’ clothing isn’t available and 2) that Alix’ mother is (or possibly has to be) more concerned about cost of clothing than dressing her children appropriately. Poor Holly. Hopefully she will be able to better articulate her concerns in the future.