Monday, August 11, 2008

The Return of Glamour Mama

#1 Out With The Girls Mama: Cotton [pleated] Yoke Dress with Self Tie/[add: Green T-Strap Heels/Floral Cloth Hand Bag w Wooden Handles/Wooden Bangles/Green Multi-Strand Beaded Necklace.
#2 Solo in the Village Mama: Vintage Inspired Cropped [Asymmetrical Boucle] Swing Jacket w 3/4 Sleeve/Ruched Knit Tunic/Tweed Knickers/Calf Boots/Army-Navy Inspired Purse w Wood Handle.
#3 Playground Mama: Fitted Leather Jacket, Empire Tunic, Skinny Jeans, Calf Boots

The prompt for this week's Inspire Me Thursday is Wardrobe.


Bah! I thought, at first, as my mind rifled through my actual wardrobe, looking for inspiration. I have been a pregnant, nursing or the mother of messy and demanding toddlers for much of the last four years. My wardrobe is a mess. What I wear now is for rolling around on the floors and getting covered in peanut butter. When I was a bartender, my clothes were entirely to tight, too low cut and too short for today's needs. And before that, my decent clothes that I wore when I was a teacher... well they are either worn to death, or they were put away and got discovered by moths. I need to get a whole new wardrobe. However, I am not in a buying phase. In fact, I am rather non-materialistic, both out of need and, conveniently, out of conviction.

But that doesn't mean Mama can't dream.

I decided I would design my dream wardrobe. My superhero, rockstar, brave, warriormama wardrobe. It seems to be a Fall wardrobe, because in Summer, you think about the new school year and putting on sweaters.

It makes me happy. I like the way they came out. I love the outfits, especially the middle one. And the dress was totally on the wing and came out better than expected. I even like the color. I did not have the colors that I saw in my head, so I went with the markers I had, which didn't work out the way I thought, but when I messed with them, they came out even better. I look at these drawings and think, damn, I should have done something with my fashion jones.... I coulda been a contenda.

So here is my dream wardrobe, thanks to my year of High School fashion design, (at the High School of Music and Art, I might add.) I would have done more outfits, like "Home with the Kids Mama," and "Writing All Day Mama," and "Papa Watch Out for Sexy Mama," and "Hosting A Party Mama," but the kids woke up from their nap, and Mama also lives in cheerio land and has to get dinner together.

19 comments:

Umā said...

i am so incredibly impressed by your illustration and these awesome outfits! bravo! i would wear that third ensemble in a heartbeat.

jena strong said...

I love these! You are so talented. How about "Stretchy all-purpose hip and forgiving yoga clothes Mama can go to work in"?

Anonymous said...

You are a great artist!

I also love your blog on a whole...inspiring and really interesting.
I'll be back to visit.
Go Mama!

Christy Amular said...

Fabulousity! I love your sketches!

Rowena said...

thank you, m. heart. I *almost* have the third outfit... it's definitely the closest to my reality.

jena: I am already thinking of the hip and forgiving yoga/work outfit. I like layers, because they cover the jiggly places, if you know what I mean, and you can move around in them, and if done right, still have a dash of polish.

boho single mom gal, I like your blog too. Very cool. And I love your office area. I want one like that.

Christy I am so glad you like.

I am a bit behind on responding, but I am checking out everyone's blogs... I am trying to stay in the game.

Unknown said...

damn girlfriend!!!


sign me up for your designs will ya!

I love them all, but that sweater and knickers for the Village, with the boots, I can see you owning Bleeker so clearly.

I am so proud of you for creating today!!

Kate Lord Brown said...

Ooooh! We like!! So inspired. Makes such a great change from black stretchy and goes in the tumble dryer (which constitutes 99.9% of my wardrobe)

Bonnie / Graybonnie said...

What fun! Really enjoy your drawings and narrative.

Anonymous said...

Hey kiddo...I LOVE these designs..my favorite is the third one. I want to wear it right now...you're a talented Warrior!

Anonymous said...

What do you mean "return"? Looks like she never left!

Rowena said...

Oh, Karen, she left. All morning I was in holey, stretched out yoga pants, an old maternity tank top (self bra, you know) and flip flops. Don't forget the ubiquitous ponytail.

And Kate, yes black stretchy. How I know black stretchy. It's an improvement for me when I buy tank tops from Target.

Thank you Darcy. I miss the Village. But I'm sure it's too hot there to dress like that now, anyway.

Natasha, I think you could get a similar tunic top from Target (my big shopping splurge lately) tuck the jeans into any boots or if no skinny jeans, even leggings will do. Dig out an old blazer, and voila. My thing is to mix and match colors. Keep in the same intensity, like all gem tones, toss in a neutral to tone it down. I like these blue/gray/greens here, w a touch of cognac. Or how about raspberry, pumpkin, and hunter green or brown. I like off colors.

Thanks bonnie for visiting. I'm glad you enjoyed this post. I sure enjoyed making it.

Anonymous said...

You remind me that I have no friends here who will talk to me about clothes. I don't rally like shopping and am no fashion maven by any means, but...

is it so bad to want a nice wardrobe?

Karen Salva said...

Wow, these are great...could be straight out of any high class fashion magazine..

...mom here too and am jealous my child's wardrobe...it replaced mine and glad for the days home to live in painty yoga pants!

Deb G said...

What fun! I feel your pain.... I work with toddlers, they are so hard on your wardrobe choices.

kazumiwannabe said...

Oh, these clothes are great - I love the dress! Dreaming can be nice, too :)!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful sketches. I love the last one! I love your work!

Anonymous said...

Your designs are so chic! I like the middle best, too! What lovely work you do :)

Laura said...

your illustartions are amazing, and your dream wardrobe is indead very chic :)

s.l.greek said...

hey rowena-
i was really touched by the words in this post
"contenda" yes i know it well... but life takes us to the paths that we need to be/learn on and so be it.
...follow the yellow brick road. it's all GOOD!

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