O.K. so this week’s poll is a wrap. The winner goes to the casual top–62% of you said it’s what you own the most of in your closet. I don’t know about you but the casual top category has been the death of my debit card over the years. Whenever I have a jonesin’ for a polyester pick-me-up what better to feed that urge than a cheap casual top. It’s like a Kit-Kat bar at the checkout counter at the grocery store just screamin’ “take me home, I’m lonely.” It’s a spontaneous decision–the People magazine or the Kit-Kat bar? The Kit-Kat always wins. Don’t get me wrong, I like my People Magazine I just prefer it free at the gym or in the gynocologists office. The casual top for me is often spontaneous because it’s usually cheaper than a sweater or a blouse and it promises so much. It can be playful, outrageous or just plain trashy and it doesn’t take a big chunk out of the budget. This behavior, this spontaneous feel good item for which I imbue so much expectation is exactly what I am aiming to get away from once I’m shopping again. I look at it this way. The casual top is like a gateway drug… it leads to more shopping, more consumption and confusion–expecially if it comes in a print. My motto–just say no to the casual top impulse. Say no to buying without trying, say no to made in China, say no to trendy and say no to anything that looks ten years younger than your age. If it’s not something you are sure you’ll wear at least once a week walk away, take a breath and ask yourself—do I need this? That’s my two cents, or call it five.
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This is so true. I went through a phase a couple of years ago of buying those “Sweet Pea” nylon mesh tops all the time whenever I saw a cute one cheap on EBay. They had such pretty prints and they are easy and the two-layer construction is forgiving and flattering. They are also rarely work-appropriate and hard to match. Now I have a little pile of them in my armoire and I’m like “crap, what do I even do with these” and I had to buy more traditional, plain blouses to actually wear daily.
Yea, Cynthia, Sweet Pea. God. No more mesh, ever! They feel horrible. No mesh. We should do a group pledge on that one.
I agree about the tops–for one thing, if you’re pear-shaped, and borderline plus-size, they fit and flatter better, and people see your top over a table at lunch or a meeting more than your bottom half–so at first it seems like a nice easy pick-me-up–until i realize that I have taken 25 items every month or so for years to the consignment store, and filled up several contractor bags to give away, and I still have enough to wear for a month.
but the mesh is really cool (temp-wise) for those of us who live in humidity land, and you don’t get showthrough of what’s underneath (’cause sometimes it’s too cold, if you know what I mean)–and they’re great for travel–easy to wash out and hide stains! I have an Austin Reed dress on right now that is so perfect for everything–a navy and storm blue on white “tribal” sort of print….
Funny, I am this way with tank tops! I don’t wear casual tops, but I wear lots of cardigans and blazers at work, and I’m always thinking, “What’s one more tank top? Surely I can use this in another color!”, etc. etc. It’s still an impulse purchase that isn’t really necessary, and that’s what I want to get away from.