Why Fashion?

I am not now, nor have I ever been a fashionista. In fact, I grew up on farm in rural Wyoming during the early 70s through the early 90s. It's safe to say that my youth was pretty much one fashion disaster after another, starting with paisley corduroy pants and ending with a purple rat-tail. My mom wasn't interested in fashion, nor were any of the other adult women I grew up around. A cousin who was a few years older than me taught me how to apply make-up, but then I rarely did it because women in Wyoming just don't wear make-up for the most, and I still rarely do.
I went to university and studied humanities. I became a college instructor. Women in higher ed quickly learn to dress in the female version of what their male counterparts are wearing for fear of being mistaken for a secretary. Neutral pant suits are the name of the game. And, of course, college instructors are not supposed to concern themselves with something so shallow or frivolous as fashion. We are supposed to be too busy thinking about the meaning of life, I guess.
Wearing this "uniform" to work made life easy. Then I quit teaching on campus. For the first time in my life, I was faced with the challenge of learning how to dress myself. Like any good academic, when faced with something new and troubling, I turned to research. I found a lot of blogs about fashion. Some of them contained some good advice. Many of them focus on keeping up with the latest trends. I still haven't found one that offers good practical advice for me, the average American housewife who doesn't want to spend her days in yoga pants and t-shirts, so I decided to write my own blog.
But why? Why write about fashion? Because all women care about how they look. Even if vanity is not a part of who we are, we know that we are taken more seriously if we are well dressed. We know that we feel better about ourselves, yet many of us deal with the emotional aspects of just getting dressed every day. I thought it would be nice to have a place where the real issues are dealt with honestly and with a little common sense.
This blog is for women with imperfect figures, women with tight budgets, and women who clean litter boxes and change diapers. Real Woman: this blog's for you.