A New Beginning

It's back to school week. Even now, I can still feel the thrill of it. Each September was a new beginning. I went to school with a few new pieces of clothing carefully selected from the Montgomery Ward catalog (that's "Monkey Ward" to those of us in the know) and some fresh pencils and notebooks. I saw my friends again and had a new teacher. The year was a blank slate. My hope wrote all sorts of stories on it.

The chunky September issues of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar bear witness to how meaningful fall is to so many of us.  Somehow a new fall wardrobe makes us feel that we have the potential to be something even better this year. Maybe with that cunning scarlet velvet cocktail dress we'll hold a party that they'll talk about for years. Or maybe with a thick 1950s mohair sweater and 1970s Frye boots we'll end up on a stone bench next to a roaring fire at a ski lodge. Or, wearing a nip-waisted coat with dolman sleeves, a fluffy hat from the 1960s, and fake fur trimmed galoshes, we'll walk to a café one snowy morning and meet someone tall, dark, and handsome.

It's the perfect time of year to become more like yourself. Clothing reflects who you really are and what you're capable of. Chances are good that you're more glamorous, open, insightful, and, well, beautiful than you've been letting yourself be. 

Come down to the store and try on a few things you've admired but never thought you could pull off. Maybe it will be just a pair of hot pink 1960s earrings or a structured 1950s handbag. Or maybe you'll shoot the moon with a maribou-trimmed hostess gown. If you have the courage to wear that beautifully tailored 1940s suit you've admired to work, you'll see how easy it is and how fabulous you are. After all, a fresh new year of adventure awaits.