Remember that song? Tower of Power? That was the jam. Catchy beat, straight-up righteous lyrics.It was in the language of my older cousins...solid. And my favorite verse...
So ya wanna dump out yo' trick bag.
Ease on in a hip thang,
But you ain't exactly sure what is hip.
So you started to let your hair grow.
Spent big bucks on your wardrobe.
Somehow, ya know there's much more to the trip.
That's me. Big bucks on a wardrobe. Well, probably not Paris Hilton bucks but middle income, house note, car note, still paying the last remnants of my student loan but never hesitates to reward herself for her hard work on pay day, bucks. But since I've been on my shopping hiatus, I've been perpetually looking through my full-length rear view mirror and watching re-runs of my pursuit of present day "hip-ness".
I was at a "night club" recently, getting my line-dance on with my girl friends and as 40-something (maybe even 30-something's too) are want to do, I watched what the younger women were wearing. I particularly watched them for their confidence and their utter contempt and disregard for concerns over body type. But then I wondered, when did the world abandon boot cut, for booty-poppin' skinny jeans?
Is that the new "hip thang"? From every direction, there was a different interpretation of the skinny jeans, stuffed in boots from the north, scrunched against 4-1/2 inch platform heels to the south, from east they were stretched to over plus-sized derriers and from west "end" they were stretched and cuffed over peep toe suede boots. I was reminded of.....LEGGINGS! Yes, that throw back, the skin-tightening, all-purpose staple made from every material from nylon to cotton to suede. Back again in denim.
I waxed nostagic. Back to the turn of the twentieth century. There I was, some twenty some odd years ago sitting in a place, not much different from where I was, listenening to music that was not much different than what it was then, too, loud, monotonous and full of words I couldn't understand and cared not to repeat. I remembered whispering to one of my fellow ultra cool, skinny, too sophisticated for this place but without much better to do, law school girlfriends, "Girl, look at that, just cuz they make it in your size, don't mean you have to buy it". I didn't like leggings then and I like their new millineum skinny jeans cousin, even less.
Now decades later, I am not that skinny girl anymore. Suffice it to say, like many of my 40-something sisters, I am on a diet and my "badonkadonk" is losing a donk every so often. So I wondered. Would I have bought a pair of those at 40 something now? Come to think of it, though nobody really seems to look particularly unflattering in those jeans. Nowadays, women are embracing their full-figures, their flaws, their muffin-tops, their age. They're pulling on belts and making waistlines where they can and whenever they want to and dropping it like it's hot, size 6 to 16...and beyond.
I like to think I wouldn't, because I gave up shopping but more to the point, "ya know there's much more to the trip". I have plenty in my closet to make me look good. I even came across a pair of the straightest, almost (but proudly not) leggings I've ever had in my closet. Way in the back, they are grey and kinda stretchy I think, but not nylon and I wore them out with my husband a few weeks ago and some lady said I looked HOT...giggle.
I admire all of these young women celebrating their groove-thangs.They can buy into whatever trend they want. There's time enough. I know. Some trends come back and others, like the shoulder pads stay away. That's the beauty of being young. I'm just happy to still be putting the word "groove" in something.
These days, I'm okay with just watching and remembering. Fashions back in the day were great, even leggings, bell-bottoms, platforms and granny dresses... and they all came back. New fashions that age, will always come back. By the way, the big butt is the new bustle, ya know.
I made it this far and I'm having a great time here, playing in the closet of my memory and the overstuffed closet in my bedroom. Yeah, I'm hip. Still am, always was. And I know for sure, there's way more to the trip.
