In which I wonder who could be allergic to cashmere and wool
Posted by Isabel on November 5th, 2009. Filed under: Random.I packed up all my shorts, short-sleeved shirts and opened toed shoes last weekend. They’re now sealed up tight and stored under the stairs in my basement. Over the next eight months I’ll forget what’s even in there. My bottom dresser drawer, the one where I store my sweaters, is back into rotation, as are my knee high socks and scarves.
I grew up where winter time meant so much snow that you wouldn’t see grass until spring time. And yet I never owned a scarf, hat or boots before I moved to Seattle ten years ago. At my house we never packed up our summer clothes at the changing of the season and brought out our sweaters and boots. We didn’t have a lot of money in my family so clothes were just that; clothes. If I wanted to wear a pink sleeveless shirt in January, I wore their pink sleeveless shirt. If I wanted to wear flip flops in February, heck, I was wearing flip flops.
When I grew up and moved out of my parent’s house I learned about this whole “wearing warmer clothing during colder months” and vice versa. I am not kidding when I say I had never known about this before. I just figured my sweet little mom was the only person on the earth that didn’t know about this tradition.
We were in Utah a few winters ago to visit my family. Naturally we attended church with my parents on Sunday. I wore a wool skirt, black knee high boots and a sweater. Not to mention the calf length wool coat I had on over my skirt. Babboo and The King were dress similarly (minus the skirt. Obviously.)
As I looked around the congregation I noticed that every single teenage girl in attendance was wearing a knee length skirt without any type of sock or hose. The lack of any type of leg covering made sense since they were also all wearing either open toed shoes or flip flops. IN JANUARAY. IN UTAH. WHERE THERE IS SNOW ON THE GROUND. Most of then also had on short sleeved shirts. I was pretty sure I was the only gal there wearing boots and I know I was the only one in a wool skirt.
Hello. Dead of winter.
I quickly realized that “hey, maybe it wasn’t my mom that didn’t know about wearing appropriate clothing for the weather. Maybe it was all of Utah.” Naturally this was just a working hypothesis. The only test subjects I had were myself, my sister, my mother and the entire youth program at my mom’s church congregation. For all I knew maybe the rest of Utah did know about warm wool socks and cashmere sweaters.
There was that one time my sister in law came to Seattle from Utah to visit in March and only brought flip flops and a light jacket. Duh. But then, I knew my BFF in Utah, Marci, knew how to dress appropriately for the cold weather since I’d seen her rocking some super cute furry boots in the snow. But Marci’s kids weren’t wearing coats*. Nothing really added up.
Nobody I know in Utah ever rocks a scarf.
Note to Utah: wearing a scarf will make you so cozy and warm. Really.
I spent a short two hours in Salt Lake City last Friday afternoon. I had on a hoodie and a scarf. I was pretty darn cold. (Heidikins had a wool coat on! And I’m sure she had on cozy socks.) We passed quite a few teenage girls while walking around Temple Square. None of which were wearing a scarf, coat or hat. And the majority of the girls I saw had on flip flops, with cute light colored skirts with butterflies and other summer type designs.
I don’t get it. Is it just a teenage thing? Is it a Utah thing? Are their bodies maybe more adjusted to the cold weather?
Or maybe, just maybe they are all allergic to wool and cashmere.
So tell me, do you pack you clothes away at the end of each season?
*When I asked Marci about this she simply stated that her kids were just going from the warm car to the warm house and didn’t need coats. She probably has a point there.
November 5th, 2009 at 6:44 am
I don’t really own enough clothes to pack away one season to make room for another in my wardrobe BUT I certainly don’t wear summer clothes in winter as I get far too cold to even think about doing so!! Let’s just say that last winter I wore 2 jumpers at work and this year (thanks to crazy policies about not wearing anything *over* our uniformed shirts) am wearing two thin jumpers under my blouse and freezing my little butt off (of course it doesn’t help they’ve left the air con on). Having said that, I do sometimes wear more wintry clothes in the summer but then British weather can be very unpredictable – on the whole I do prefer to dress according to the weather (so pretty summery things in the warm weather and cozy, snug things in the winter)… I can’t believe you used to wear sleeveless tops and flip flops in the snow, it’s crazy!! When I was in Russia in the winter I wore so many layers you wouldn’t believe… I’m a wuss when it comes to the cold!!
November 5th, 2009 at 9:46 am
I pack my clothes away at the end of each season, and I find it very exciting to “discover” the new season clothes that I had long forgotten about.
But this happened to me last week: while putting my summer shoes away in boxes, I opened a box… with a perfectly nice pair of summer shoes which stayed in the box all summer! Oh well, they’ll still be there next year
November 5th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
It only gets really legitimately cold here for like 2ish months, so there’s no real point to having separate wardrobes and packing one or the other away. I do put my heavy winter coats into a bin when they’re not in use 10 months of the year but such is life in AZ.
November 5th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
I love love LOVE wearing scarves…and my wool coat has been a wardrobe staple for years. (Not)surprisingly, I am usually the only one in coat, scarf and gloves.
That being said, I also wear open toe shoes all winter long. I feel as long as they have a bit of a platform my tootsies will stay out of the snow. ;o)
xox
November 5th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
I agree with it you, that its most Utah girls. I grew up in Utah and wore the same thing you are talking about the girls wearing…. until I moved to England. It has been the first time I’ve owned a scarf, put seasonal clothes away, bought winter boots, and the first time I wore layers and layers of clothes.
November 6th, 2009 at 1:24 am
I used to do this when I was at that school in Provo. Wear completely seasonally and fashionably inappropriate things. Yesterday I thought about wearing gold flip-flops, but decided that 55 was too cold. I like my feet warm now.
November 6th, 2009 at 4:35 am
Wow, I can’t believe people wear flip-flops in the winter! My dad would have a heart attack.
In Kansas City, people are well dressed for the winter wearing boots, coats, hats, scarves and gloves. I love changing my wardrobe for the seasons.
November 9th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
I just finished washing and air-drying all my sweaters, and taking my wool coat to the cleaners. I packed away most of my shorts (but I leave a couple of pairs out in case I win a trip to the beach, you know!) I do wear open toed shoes a lot, but if it’s raining or snowing, I rock the boots.
I do leave Maddy’s short-sleeved shirts out because her classroom is so hot in the winter. But she’s got her coat and gloves and hat ready for winter!
November 14th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
I think we’re just so used to the cold. I, for one, don’t like the cold. You will always see me wearing tights or leggings in the winter, and I have two pairs of boots that are my best friends in the winter. Winter coat, scarfs, and gloves are all also a go for me. But I’m a rarity with my friends. Most don’t have these items… You wouldn’t think I was born and raised here. I don’t really fit in.