Fashion publication piece ... (b)

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I was not a late developer or an early engenoue, that was what my friends were, I was me, a young girl, my mum still bathed me, helped me to dress, she chose my clothes, I was a grown up child for many years in my mum's eyes, and I lived a life that did nothing to dispel my mum's integrity towards me as a child on the cusp of young adulthood. When a Laura Ashley store opened in our town, Southport, in the North West of England, with the nice well mannered assistants who looked Laura Ashley as much as they were there to work in the store, it was a momentous occasion, mum and I decided what we had to spend and we spent the entire amount, me on a pair of tweed trousers checked in brown and black, there were metal rings that would pull in the waist with attachments in the same fabric, which would pull in the waist as far as was possible, my tiny waist shown to it's most elegant, a black lambs-wool polo-neck jumper, a leather belt with heavy metal tips, I still have it, thirty years later, it pulls just short of my fuller waist, but I love it, and I'm keeping it, and it's there in my drawer alongside my more recent purchases from other stores. My mum chose a definitive Laura Ashley dress with lots of tiny pleats to gather in the waist, and long skirt to the dress, there were so many design features to the dress, the price really was just a token of the work represented, when actually, in reality it should have cost a little bit more, but that was Laura Ashley, affordable and accessible to appreciative loyal to become customers. There are not many things I have kept, mostly because I have given them away, being from Madeira, when going on holiday there I used to take clothes I could no longer fit and as they were of good quality I would ask my friends there if they would like and treasure them, and they would be happy and delighted to take them, at least that's how it all came across to me, who knows, maybe they gave them away again, however, a good recycling procedure was established. It seemed a shame to have such nice things in my wardrobe that I no longer wore, so I was happy to give them away. My mum also would take some of my things for herself or for her friends. My wardrobe, today, consists of what I purchase year on year, that I can afford, I have some things I have had occasion to wear which have been in my wardrobe for some years, cashmere pieces I love, gifts from my family and friends, and so long as they fit me that's fine, although I have pieces I have not worn for many years, they are still new, otherwise, like many of us I have occasionally given away some very nice things to charity, anything which is slightly worn I tend to put in the recycling box, I don't really know what happens to those things from there. I am grown up now of course, but I still take the same delight as when growing up, my teens represented some of my time reading fashion publications, such as Elle, Vogue, too, I have to admit, Cosmopolitan I would search for amidst other similar publications, when I read an article in those faultless tomes it made a little impression, i would think about what i had read, considered it, and moved on with my life. I am still excited by fashion, I always look for the way a collection comes together whether on the cat-walk or really just in my town, when someone looks nice it's an appreciative moment, and I've come to realise that putting what becomes a costume together takes an artistic eye, you don't just arrive at a concluding theme, it has to be worked for before you can be chic, it takes patience and effort, and fashion for me is still as important as when I first discovered it. It's exciting and relevant, and yes, very important, as important as grooming, and wearing a nice scent, your body shape too, clothes have to look right, being comfortable is key, sometimes, for me, fashion can be surprising, I recently saw some photographs of Meryl Streep, and her clothes and the way she has put them together is fascinating, at first some of her pieces look as though they could be a little uncomfortable because of the fit, but actually you come to realise that is her fashion, her style, she has seemed to wear clothes, especially ball gowns with a little twist to them, literally, she seems to wear wraparound clothes, and they suit her, her personality, she is a truly beautiful person, and her clothes represent who she is. We all look for a little bit of the unusual in ourselves, represented by the clothes we wear, it's important. My mum has a really beautiful style, she buys clothes that sometimes I sort of say, do you really like that and she says she loves it, and when she has put together her look, it all falls into place, and she is my mum again, and not the person I sometimes see in her every-day casual home wear. She dons her sunglasses, when its sunny, of course, and there she is, when her whole ensemble is put together like the mum I knew when she was thirty-five, and me, my younger self looking at a warm very well dressed person, but my mum has always dressed with style, clothes were important to my mum even when bringing up three children on her own after the loss of my father. We were okay, there were lots of things to do, for me, when growing up, at thirteen/ fourteen, I worked for my sophisticated publications, on a Saturday, all day, and that's life. Angela De Freitas