May 27, 2002
DOWN HOME:
Fashion hangs on by a shirttail
___Fashion is a merciless tyrant.
___If you don't believe me, open your closet. Imagine that for just one brief, shining moment, you actually owned an article of clothing a style magnate had smiled upon. You knew this was true because you saw that same item in a magazine. But you turned the page, and then, before you could turn back, it was gone.
___From time to time, I've tried to take up style. In fact, a memorial to the foibles of faded fashion hangs in the Siberian far reaches of my closet. It's a collection of neckties I once thought dashingly sophisticated that now seem decidedly stupid. What was I thinking?
MARV KNOX
Editor
___If you've been around, you remember skirts of every length in colors that leave you breathless trying to describe. You recall double-knit and the paragon of double-knit chic, pastel leisure suits. You conjure images of neckties so thick and wide they made knots as big as a fist, mural-painted polyester shirts and tie-dyed garments of every form imaginable.
___Sometimes, our daughters, Lindsay and Molly, make fun of old styles, as children are prone to do. When Joanna and I point out they're wearing the kinds of clothes that were in style in the '70s--when we were their age--they subtly change the subject.
___"Well, the '80s (the decade of their births) were so gross," they protest. "We'll never wear anything that looks like that."
___My reply is simple: "Just you wait." In fashion, what goes around comes around.
___Fortunately, one of the great freedoms of adulthood arrives when you realize fashion doesn't really matter. You know you've been released from sartorial servitude when you can say, "I don't care what they say in New York or Paris; I'm going to dress to suit myself."
___However, with teens in the house, fashion can be tricky. That's because parents generally want to please their children. And kids generally want their parents to look fashionably decent, not dowdy, but they also don't want their parents to dress like teenagers.
___Mostly, dowdiness is the greater danger.
___Take shirttails--please.
___Apparently, the acceptable style for knit shirttails is untucked. But I'm a tucker-inner who hails from a long line of tucker-inners. So, I frequently hear from our fashionistas, who complain my knit shirts should be left out, especially when worn with shorts.
___Well, I conducted a little experiment. The other night, I met with a group of dads, all wearing knit shirts. The only untucked dad was not untucked by choice; he just couldn't keep his shirt tucked in. So, it came to this: The only "cool" dad was "cool" in spite of himself.
___I'm so glad that, in contrast to the world of fashion, the Lord knows and understands us from the inside out. Whether or not I ever wear another leisure suit or tie-dyed T-shirt, God will love me anyway.
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