STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Thanks for the props, Minkiki. I needed them.

I guess for me, certainly my female boss and other role models, and most friends around my age (late 30s and up), the "weekend blasé" attitude comes from having put a great deal of focus on career and future earnings - and how looking one's best enables those goals. My career has always represented freedom and power to me, and that's 100% worth the focus. (As a kid my family was so broke I usually had one pair of shoes to last the school year, suffering much humiliation, may I add, so I definitely don't take this 'having money' thing for granted. It's hella cool.)

Having channeled that energy toward maintaining an appropriate career look, there's little left over to put towards the weekend. I don't know about the rest of you with Monday-to-Friday sit-down jobs, but I'm totally wiped out physically and emotionally by Friday night. We're ordering Indian or Thai for delivery and watching gardening shows on TiVo or whatever we're holding from Netflix, not bar-hopping or going to the ballet. I also travel and party somewhat for my job (public relations), so I don't really dig vacation travel or weekend getaways in yet another hotel in yet another cosmopolitan town. Instead, I look forward to a blissful weekend at home with little to do except hit the farmer's market, the artisan cheese store (shout-out!), some laundry and yardwork and a lot of wine. I always think most fashion choices ideally come down to lifestyle issues more than age/stage, budget or other factors. I'll look the best I can muster on a Sunday morning, but nobody's judging my appearance at the cheese store, as long as I can afford $40 a pound for Etorki.

That's not to say that I don't have other things to focus on, like my home and marriage, and to that end I appreciate what people say about their kids and family being the highlights of their day. That's a much healthier perspective than most people in today's world have. We've chosen not to have kids, but the tots I know seem to be fairly uncritical about what mommy wears...until the tween age! (I guess that's another thread waiting to happen.)

I should mention that my office is really pretty relaxed so it's not like I don't have casual clothes - it's just that I make sure when I'm spending money on clothes, I'm getting maximum value, meaning things I could wear to work the five days out of seven I have to be there. If I've got 100 bucks to spend on clothes, at least 80 is going toward stuff I can wear to the office.

I could spend more on things that aren't work-appropriate, a LOT more, but I rein it in because it serves me less and I place less value on it. Everyone knows the feeling of being drawn to the perfect dress for the Carribbean Cruise you're not likely to be going on any time soon...and that's how I am about investing a lot in weekend wear.

And guilty! on threadjacking. I never intend to write a manifesto, it just happens.