Trendsetting

Comfortable or trendy? Comfy and quick usually takes precedence, but I finally tried tucking in only the front of my blouse. With a jacket, I looked tucked in all around. That’s not the point, though. It’s not supposed to look that way, and jackets come off. Front tucks are a bit of visual trickery with an acceptable effect. However, my Marine fella - obviously oblivious to trendy styles. wondered aloud if I knew I was untucked.

A Marine-worthy effect used to be the goal. Tops were tugged in smoothly all the way around. To avoid lumps and bumps that would emphasize my own, it wasn’t a quick maneuver. I could never stay neatly tucked for very long.

Maybe that was a universal problem, because it became trendy to tuck shirts in then pull them up a bit to loosen the effect enough to cover the waistband. That look for me lasted easily throughout a workday.

Another look, the just-so-so messy bun, is not working so well. Back in my adolescence, wearing a bun meant getting up early. The ponytail had to be in just the right spot, with no loose ends yet no sticky hairspray look. Master bun-ists could achieve the proper effect with no hint of a bobby pin anywhere. Let’s just say by the end of the walk to school, I had a start on a trend-setting messy bun.

These days, though, it’s not a time saver. The ponytail still has to be just-so, one or two scrunchies handy, no bobby pins needed. Loose strands need to be arranged, apparently, and I don’t have an eye for that. Were I to get one that looked appropriately tousled, I certainly wouldn’t risk imperfect disarray by loosening hair at my temples to dangle in front of my ears, only to be yanking them behind all day long, ruining the whole look. And those strands should be curled just-so. I spent decades going for the straight look, and now I have to use a curling iron to complete a messy look? Nope.

I’m a busy boomer. There are flower seeds to sow, yards to mow, books to read, cats to feed, places to go and things to know. Maybe I should buck all the trends, sport leggings and tunics, get a GI Jane cut and not care if the bowling-pin look never catches on. Comfy and quick still rules.