Remember when you were young, reasonably fashion conscious, and always tried to dress appropriately?
Me too.
Socks with open sandals should never be seen, right?
Sleeveless vests (singlets) do not flatter the older man with a large belly.
No debate about that.
Brown shoes with a blue or grey suit?
In my day that was unacceptable.
There was a time when I laughed at people who did those things.
Last week, during endless rain, and before it got that cold, I had to take Ollie out in a downpour.
I was wearing a red T-shirt, and put on a baggy zip-up black fleece top over that.
Next came knee-length cargo shorts in blue. Military style, and loose-fitting.
Because of the rain and mud, I wore navy blue wellington boots, with some black and yellow long socks just visible over the top of them.
Umbrella up, I set off.
Not long after, I encountered a local lady who I know well. She was walking her three small dogs, and stopped to make a fuss of Ollie.
She is forty-something, and usually smart and well turned out. As she walked off with her dogs, she turned and smiled as she called out to me.
“Love the look. What kind of outfit is that?”
As I struggled to come up with a reasonable reply, I watched her from behind, her shoulders rocking as she giggled uncontrollably.
Yes, she was laughing at me.
I used to get quite dressed up for work. Now I go to the supermarket, for a run or to Little O’s school for drop off. I now prioritise comfort over all things. I don’t think I have worn a non-trainer shoe more than 3 times since March.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Once you get to my age, you will care even less. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLike
Giggling here… don’t feel bad Pete…
LikeLiked by 1 person
I won’t. It was meant to make everyone laugh. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You succeed!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wear whatever you wish, it’s no one’s business 💙
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have been doing that ever since I started walking a dog in bad weather. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLike
That’s totally the best thing to do. Rock it on🙌
LikeLiked by 1 person
oh well!! I am as guilty as can be of that some stuff!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Once I got a dog, I stopped caring! 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have the mental image in my head😂😂. Just wait for a movie star to dress similarly, suddenly everyone will do the same.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Perhaps I could persuade Johnny Depp to join me on a dog walk! 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, I do wish you had a photo of that put-together outfit. That is funny!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, actually seeing it would have been even funnier.
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I bet it would! Best to you, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Tipp: You can wear camouflage, like most people here. :-))
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have not stooped to camouflage just yet, Michael. But the Fallschirmjäger had an excellent uniform!
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh yes, Pete! :-))
LikeLike
Funny at the same time just a thought on why people always have opinions on others. Your style your life.. You go girl..!! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well I am not a girl, but I will ‘go’. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Lol.. 😀 I realized it but couldn’t get that edited. Sorry about it..
LikeLiked by 1 person
No problem. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dont worry about, Pete! One can wear what one wants to do. Now we will officially the “second hand century”. We should save the nature, the environment, our money (we nevermore will have. ;-), and the property of our officials too. Lol Take Ollie as an role model. He has to be clothed always the same way. Michael
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, Ollie is never remotely concerned about how he looks. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLike
That would have been so me, I love dressing comfortably during the cold weather, acceptable or not, I don’t really care
LikeLike
Thanks, I obviously agree. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLike
I think as we grow older, we wouldn’t mind even the color combination of our outfits as long as we feel comfortable, right?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Exactly right, Arlene. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Age = no F**** given (as funnily enough the young folks say!)
I put comfort over fashion a LONG time ago. Although socks with sandals is a bridge too far!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
If i ever do socks with sandals, I give permission for anyone to have me put down! 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I say give the town something to talk about! You may have instigated a new fashion trend! Thanks for the lovely bout of laughter, C
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad to make you smile. That was the intention, Cheryl. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I bet it was the socks! Everything else in your ensemble sounds normal. Or maybe it was the combination of shorts + Wellingtons + colourful socks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Shorts with wellingtons don’t seem to be the ‘thing’ in Beetley. I appear to be the only person who trundles around in that combination of attire, Audrey.
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your dress was practical, her response natural! 😁Ollie brings colour to your grey-shade life! 🤣🤣🤣
LikeLiked by 1 person
Summed up nicely, dear Shaily.
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLike
that is so funny, Pete! under the rain i’d forget fashion. practicality is the key! 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
I do, Wilma. I forget it even when it’s dry. 🙂
Best ishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, my Pete. And you once a great follower of fashion! 🤣
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t mind giving people a laugh. At least I haven’t got a funny hat, and walk around carrying lots of bags full of rubbish. Mind you, that could be next! 🙂
Best wishes, Pete. x
LikeLike
It took me years of ‘maintaining’ accepted dress code operations at school, then work, before I got better at either running my own side biz, my own biz and/or choosing better who I chose to work for – yes, ‘they say’ the following: “dress for success’, ‘dress like you are taking it seriously’ but the older I get, and the more I change my actions on who I serve/give my energy to, the less I care about dress mode other than for comfort and ‘public decency’ (conservative) takes on the matter – And, I tend to show up in ‘boots on the ground’ attire – which customer wants to invite me or trusts me to say yes to walking their warehouse, their pasture, or taking my place at the information table with one chair for the elderly volunteer’s use or the food service line, if I’m dressed in biz suit with hose & heels? LOL -that said, anyone comments on my attire, or giggles to my face, I just say, “Well, for today, this is what I’m working on – and this is what it looks like – ” and let it go – For longer than I can remember, the words “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover’ personally meant more to me than ‘the latest style’ trucked out on marketing levels – but that’s just me – You’re retired, you’re comfy, you’re caring for those in ‘your pack’ and you’re not flouting general laws or damaging ‘tender eyes’ – so, in the end, I would have thought, “umm…yep, KUDOS to ME for making someone else get a healthy laugh today – – not as much laughter as we need, anymore!” – and felt GOOD about my attire!!! :D.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I wasn’t upset by that, TamrahJo. In fact I used this post so that others might enjoy a chuckle at my expense. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
:D. I do the same – funny, but when I read other’s doing it, I realize (especially since reading your reply) that I tend to err on the side of ‘that’s okay, I do that too!” just in case…. We could even form a club and we don’t even need to buy t-shirts! I have a hand-me down red t-shirt and well….blue sweatpants….alas, I still yearn for someone to gift me pink bunny slippers or Chewbaca slippers to go with the outfit – – – :). The International Club of Dress for Comfort” or some such stuff….LOL
LikeLiked by 1 person
She was laughing at her ‘cleverness’. Next time say it’s an ‘eclectic’ outfit.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was certainly that, Peggy. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙈☺️🕊
LikeLiked by 1 person
Amuse the locals….is my motto….LOL chuq
LikeLiked by 1 person
Compared to some aroud here, I am quite tame, chuq.
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love that Pete. You painted a delightful picture!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks. I’m glad you could picture it.
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLike
I rather suspect her mirth was due to your delay in answering her. She most have loved stumping you. 🙂 Warmest regards, Theo
LikeLiked by 1 person
She is quite an outspoken lady normally, Theo. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLike
That’s funny, Pete. And I’m sure she was laughing in a friendly way 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have known her well for 8 years, Mary. She wasn’t being horrible.
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
i vote for laughing “WITH” you, Pete. There’s a perennial pass for taking the dog in the pouring rain, and. I’ve been known to walk the dog in my PJs (with a wrap thrown over them). I don’t advocate fellows going back to coat and tie, or women making dinner in a dress, stockings, heels, and a single strand of pearls, but I do think we all have become much too casual not only in dress, but also in manners.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree, Angela. In my teens, I would put on a jacket before answering the door. Now I have gone too far the other way, and happily greet guests wearing only a dressing gown and slippers!
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Laughing at you or laughing with you, Pete. Hurray for casual Fridays and the casual six other days of the week. The only clothing I draw the line at here in the US is trump tee shirts and caps, plus of course all the various hate regalia.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I have nothing like that, Don. But I do have a ‘No Pasaran’ T-shirt, and one with a drawing of Lenin on it! 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Um….aren’t you a fashion Correspondent now? You were just setting the “look” for the rest of us!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Yes, I am the fashion columnist for Mythaxis Magazine. This might be part of my new ‘Fall Collection’! 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 2 people
She was laughing with you.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I probably did look ridiculous. (Probably? Definitely)
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLike
Lol you should see what I wear! You’d run a mile 😀
LikeLiked by 2 people
I am sure I wouldn’t Lorraine. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete. x
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lol Pete 😆
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lol..this was too funny. Honestly though Pete, I think I’ve said this before, but I don’t care about fashion in any way. Never have, and never will😂😂
LikeLiked by 2 people
I gave up when I got a dog! 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hashtag beetleyfashion! 😊 I’m giggling just thinking about it.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I couldn’t blame her, in all honesty. But I really didn’t care! 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 2 people
It sounds like a pretty reasonable outfit to me! You’d covered all bases! 😉
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes, dog-walking requires suspension of fashion consciousness, Olga. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLike
Fashion does not seem to have limitations (except for modesty — for the most part) so in today’s society (especially where social standards are not dictated by some stuffy old expectations) anything is alright if it is comfortable and it is nobody’s business what a person wears in situations that do not impose such standards. (Such as in certain stodgy old gentlemen’s clubs, etc.). If it is comfortable and affordable then wear it! If it were me, I would not waste a reply to some insensitive dolt as that woman was in her snide giggling.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I know her well enough to not be offended, John. And I did look rather ridiculous, thinking about it. 🙂
Best wishes, pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a rude lady. You carry on wearing what you like
LikeLiked by 1 person
I didn’t mind. When I was her age, i would have laughed at me too. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLike
Bless!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It took 68 years, but I got there. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 2 people
😄😄
LikeLiked by 1 person
Huh. Nowadays comfort takes priority over style for me.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I cal it ‘Practicality’, kim. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Photo…or it didn’t happen!
LikeLiked by 3 people
I never take selfies, but believe me it did!
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hilarious!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m sure I would have laughed at me too, even ten years ago. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 2 people