what are you?

 Who remembers when we would say someone was a clothes horse? It's a saying I haven't heard in quite some time. I was reminded of that after writing yesterdays story about shopping. Now I didn't do a lot of shopping as a kid simply because I didn't have a lot of money to go shopping with. The largest shopping sprees that I recall happened in the fall, school clothes. That usually took place at the kitchen table with Mom and the Sear catalogue. That is where those clothes came from. I remember looking at the pictures and choosing this shirt and those pants. Underwear came from sears too, and handkerchiefs, although I never understood the need for them. I thought that was about the most disgusting thing ever. You really expect me to blow my nose in that thing and then stick it in my pocket? No, that's not happening. We didn't get a lot of clothes, several pair of pants, a few shirts, socks and maybe a coat and sweater. As I said, school clothes. At least through October I had to change out of them after school. Past that, it didn't matter as much. I would always get a few more school clothes for Christmas and at Easter too. I didn't have a closet full of clothes. Now I'm not saying I didn't have plenty of clothes, I had all I needed. Clothes and fashion were never of much importance to me. That was the provenance of the clothes horse. Those folks were made fun of at my house. The implication being it was a waste of money and vain. 

 It is funny how things change over the years. Clothing is no different. In the past most people only had the basic necessities. They usually did have there Sunday go to Meetings for all those special occasions. But for the most part the wardrobe was modest. Well their entire wardrobe would fit inside a wardrobe! Now there's something you don't see a lot of anymore, except in museums or as statement pieces. They were replaced by closets, today the closets are the walk in type to accommodate the wardrobe. Some peoples' wardrobe are more like a costume department. But my point is simply the amount of clothing we typically buy these days. It is far more than in years past. 

 As I said the majority of my school clothes came from Sears or another mail order house. Now there were a few shops uptown that served to fill in when something was needed right away. Our go to store for immediate clothing needs was Brills'. Brills' was a reasonable priced store that carried a wide variety of items. I remember that store well. What I didn't know was that often the clothing were factory seconds. There would be a slight flaw in them somewhere. Maybe the stitching wasn't just right or one sleeve was a bit shorter. Whatever the case was, Inspector #38 had checked it out, at least that is the number I remember seeing. There were others Lacarrubas (sp ) was one. Some of those shops uptown were expensive, that's were the upstreeters bought their stuff, and those folks were the clothes horses in town. Buying tailored suits and dresses, stuff like that. 

 I do remember going to the shoe store, uptown on main street. They had pro Keds with the split leather uppers! I picked out a pair in gold because I figured it I was going to pay 35 dollars for a pair of sneakers they should look like gold! My father told me then, a fool and his money soon part company! I could have bought two pair at Brills for what I paid for them. I tried to explain to him that those sneakers from Brills' weren't the same thing. They all had green soles on them and if you wore them everyone knew that. Look at Benny, he's wearing the Brills' specials. This was at the time Converse, Keds, and PF Flyers were the thing. None of them cheap, but they were cool. Later on some of you reading this may recall me wearing red satin pants to school. Yes, I did. Bought them at a place called, Slacks by Uncle Charlie. Had to travel chock to Riverhead to get those beauties, almost 25 miles from home. But they weren't pre-hemmed, no sir. Those slacks would be hemmed to fit your inseam when you purchased them. I was a little skittish about that fella measuring my inseam. Those upstreeters might be used to that but I sure wasn't. After high school and for a few years early on in my Navy career I did buy some pretty fancy clothes. I did feel like a regular clothes horse. After a few years, when I settled down some and had responsibilities that stopped. Had other bills to pay, no money to waste on extravagance. Today my closet remains pretty much the same as when I was younger. I don't have a great deal of what you would call wardrobe. Fact is even my Sunday go to meetings have attended a few too many meetings and need replacing. Well I'll worry about that when the need arises. As far as Sunday go to meetings these days shorts and a tee shirt would be acceptable. People would barely bat an eye at that. Funerals the same way. I'm thinking weddings are the last bastion of formal wear. But then I don't go out to the theater or places like that either so I wouldn't know. 

 Where did your clothes come from as a child? Did you get to pick them out? I did, in a limited way, I got to pick from what Mom thought was acceptable. If I was paying I could buy what I wanted but not when they were footing that bill. I was also instructed when to get a haircut, no hippies in this house. And yes you had to be dressed appropriate to the occasion. Not only that you had to act appropriately to the occasion. When you were in your " good " clothes your activities were limited. Wearing your good clothes when it wasn't required? What are you, some kind of a clothes horse?