Category Archives: Fashion

Spring on the brain

Ahh yes….we’re coming upon that time of year…..that time where the birds start chirping, the flowers start poking their buds out of the ground, the sun is still out when you leave work, and everything feels right in the world again. You can walk outside and breathe in the air without freezing. You can even take your little tyke out for a walk after work. Even if it’s still snowing like hell where you live, we all have spring on the brain.

Weather-wise, March didn’t start like a lion here in DC. But by now, we all know that it started like a lion chez moi. And yet, as true fans of KT know, yours truly bounces back and moves on relatively quickly. So, instead of focusing on nannies and celebrity postpartum depression today, we will instead focus on ourselves.

Your favorite subject, my favorite subject, ourselves. Moi, moi et moi. Let’s talk about me.

Now kittens, we all know that with the blossoming flowers, sunny skies, green grass, and horny teens on spring break, there is still a dark side of spring.

It’s that moment when you look down at your legs and gasp in horror over just how hairy they really are, and then reach for your shades because that pale, wan lifeless looking skin is just a little bit blinding. And then you look further down your leg to your feet. And you feel a little faint. Your toenail polish just might be chipped a bit from your last pedicure in the fall, your heels are all dry and cracked.

C’est vrai, kittens. With the spring comes the need to derobe the beast. The real reason they say March comes in like a lion is because that’s partly what we look like when we don’t have to cover up from head-to-toe to stay warm.

And so my little lambs, let’s think about shopping for spring clothes. Oh yes, we’ve all been thinking about how to freshen up our springtime wardrobe for 2007. We’ve imagined ourselves looking mighty fine in that itsy bitsy polka dot bikini, yachting in the Caribbean, and those adorable capris and ballet flats as we browse the French markets in Provence.

But I caution you. Do not get ahead of yourselves. Before you fall victim to the “it” color of the season, YELLOW, take a good hard look at yourself in the mirror. Be truthful. Don’t imagine what you’d look like in that yellow top with your fabulous Mediterranean tan. Mais non, kittens. Realize how that yellow top will look on you with your current pale, dry, winter-traumatized skin.

And instead of heading for the cashier, instead consider heading to the spa.

The same goes for the nautical theme. I swear, doesn’t this trend come back every year? C’est vrai. There is nothing new or original about blue and white stripes with red espadrilles. And while it is adorable on some, horizontal stripes are not always adorable on all of us.

So, I leave you with: Be true when you embark upon your spring infusion shopping adventures. And follow a motto of a dear kitty time friend, “If I don’t love it, I hate it.”

It is sheer brilliance. And it is a guiding principle that will help you build up a spring wardrobe of fabulous must-haves and show stopper outfits.

So repeat after me, “If I don’t love it, I hate it.” And if you truly don’t love it, then retreat, kittens. The hunt will continue and you will find that fabulous piece.

Finally, for all my DC fans, don’t forget, the new Cusp opened in Georgetown this week:

http://www.blogonthecusp.com/

Hipper Than Thou

In today’s NYT, David Brooks includes a hilarious and spot-on oped on “hipster parents”:

http://select.nytimes.com/2007/02/25/opinion/25brooks.html

Even before having a baby, we all know these people, they are cooler than you, they have better clothes than you, they don’t work for “the man,” they upload alternative music on their iPod before you, and they’ve been to the newest, coolest bar before you even knew it broke ground.

That’s right, we all know these people, whether you have a baby or not.

But I agree with Brooks, it is particularly egregious when parents take that attitude and shove it on their kid. You know the parent: they have their baby wear alternative rocker shirts, gasp in horror over Kraft mac-n-cheese (guarantee they ate it as a kid) and would NEVER set foot in a Gymboree store to buy clothes. Their baby is too deep to wear pink, if it’s not a dark and brooding color, it’s not in their baby’s nursery. Anyone thinking of poor Shiloh Jolie-Pitt right about now?

I mean, seriously, people. The hipster baby poops, pukes and drools just like the Elmo-branded Gymboree baby. Babies are equal-opportunity bodily function offenders.

What bothers Kitty-Time about these hipper-than-thou parents is this: they are so painfully insecure, one wonders how they don’t seem to notice it?

But along the way, are they forgetting their baby? What are they going to do when their kid’s first word is “French Fry” and “Wiggles?”

They gonna take their kid to see Elmo Live, along with all the other pastel-wearing Sesame Street branded twerps whose parents all work for the man and love it?

Truth be told, when I come across the kinds of parents who are too cool for Goldfish, I secretly hope they have a JCrew, madras pants wearing, Wall Street Journal reading, Republican on their hands in 20 years.

What’s Wrong with Moms Rising

Yesterday’s NYT ran a story about the newly formed and loosely organized women’s/mother’s group, Moms Rising (for some reason I can’t post the link to the story so just log onto nytimes.com, the story was in the fashion section, and is currently the third most popular story on the web site).

Moms Rising is a coalition of women’s groups online organized around fighting the inequities that working mothers face, fighting for universal health-care, and other important issues. I’ve blogged about this group before and if you haven’t signed up to receive their petitions, I urge you to do so: www.MomsRising.org

So what’s my beef with yesterday’s story, you might be wondering?

Two things.

First. Why the hell is it in the Fashion and Style section? There is nothing fashionable or stylish about workplace discrimination against working mothers. Or single mothers facing poverty and having no health-care for their children. So, my first question is to the NYT – a supposedly liberal and progressive news outlet. What, pray tell, motivated you to place a story along these lines in your Fashion and Style section? Why is this not legitimate news for the A section?

My second beef with the article is with Moms Rising. I realize this is a newly formed group and they are doing their best to get working mom’s organized and raise the attention of important issue amongst a new Congress and Presidential candidates.

But the group is making one fatal flaw from the onset and it’s right there in the Fashion section for you all to read with your pretty eyes.

They are not including men, for now.

Aren’t working fathers our best advocates? Surely you all have spoken with your husbands about the importance of supporting and advocating for the working mom’s in their respective offices? Surely you have berated them while relaying a story to you about their days and pointed out the flaws in which they handled that personnel issue regarding that working mom? Surely you have challenged them to become a voice for the need for flexibility and paid maternity and paternity leave, as your beloved husbands continue to climb the corporate ladder?

This, my pretties, is what I view as the great weakness of any women’s movement going forward. Unless we motivate the husbands and fathers and male managers to advocate our issues as well, we will not achieve as much as we’d like. We will not break new ground. Sadly, the marble ceiling is still pretty well in tact and women are not taking the most senior positions of the Fortune 500 and government offices, by storm.

That, of course, is another subject for another day, but we all know that much of the reason is because the most qualified women aren’t duking it out for those positions because they’ve made compromises for their families along the way.

So we can all get our claws out and fight the issues of workplace inequities, flex-time, federally mandated maternity leave and health-care, until our claws need sharpening. But until we include and motivate the men in our lives from the get-go, I just don’t think we’re going to be as effective.

And so, dear readers, I ask you to make sure that you keep your husband in check, you challenge him to be a progressive voice in the workplace, to watch for discrimination against working mothers, and do his best to chart a new path. Every little bit helps, and well, if you’re a Kitty Time reader, I’m quite sure your husband feels the same about these issues as you do. Sometimes, they just need a little reminder.