two bright patterns and a middle finger, because sometimes the public is rude

In my freshman year of high school, I tucked my boot leg jeans (because skinny jeans were not a thing, which makes me sound old) into a pair of leg warmers and wore them with a pair of pink converse shoes on my 15th birthday. People literally pointed, rolled their eyes and laughed with their friends. The same year, when leggings were only seen in magazines and not on the streets of good 'ol Pocatello, Idaho, I liked the look and decided to find a way to mimic it with what was in my closet. I came up with a black layered mini skirt over my jeans with a slouchy tee. My sister refused to walk into school next to me. Later in high school I wore knee high, multicolored striped socks with a pair of cowboy boots and a jean skirt and was called a rodeo clown, by the same person who called my first peasant blouse "frumpy", before peasant blouses were a thing. Blue polka dot rain boots, purple skinny jeans, a color streak in my hair and an oversized aztec print cardigan - I have similar stories about those, too.

Now, I'm not suggesting that I know fashion - that I was or am a trendsetter. I studied the business side of apparel design in college and worked on the business end of Nordstrom, but I have always loved fashion. Or I guess I should say, style. Because what can be found in my closet is most likely not found walking down the runway in New York City, it wouldn't be considered fashionable by those standards, but it is my personal style. Simple, plain, boring, weird, cheap, frumpy, call it what you will, it's my style. And I've loved changing it and expanding it over the years. With some successes and many failures, I'm sure.

I thought of this outfit while I was getting ready for church, and was hesitant as to what it would look like on, a success or a failure? I love mixing patterns, but was it too bold, too much? Was someone going to point and laugh, call me a name? (Oh, wait. I'm not in high school anymore!) I feel like had I worn this in high school, though, it would have been added to the list above as "not approved by public". Well, public, today I give you the middle finger! I mean, no offense, but sometimes you can be pretty rude. So I wore my two bright patterns with no coat and no apologies. And you know what, it felt pretty damn good!