Recently, for example, a lovely blogger-friend sent me nail-polish in a color I'd never choose for myself. I didn't think it suited me. But, bored with my normal hues, I tried it on -- and every day since then, I've been beeming with a huge smile. I love it! So pretty and so energizing. My friend opened the door to a sunny emotional landscape.
A similar thing happened yesterday. My friend Jessica is not only a lover of vintage lingerie, she's a collector and connoisseur of such finery. After chatting with me for days about my enthusiasm for stockings, Jessica generously decided to share some of her vintage pieces with me. They just arrived. You can see them in the pictures below.
My first memory of wanting to be female is about stockings. I was three years old and I saw a pair of my mother's pantyhose lying on a bed. I touched them and felt instant joy. I wanted to put them on and be a girl. Later, when I was 8 years old, I acquired my own pair of pantyhose and kept them buried in a coffee-can in our backyard; I retrieved them when I was left alone and played with them in secret. I wrote a paean to pantyhose on my blog a year ago.
My new interest in vintage fashion merges nicely with my old passion for stockings. Jessica sent me a pair of authentic "Fully Fashioned Stockings" which, as I've noted before, were the first type made. Their material doesn't stretch, so sizing is important. The seams running down the back are not decorative; they function as a place to join the material in their manufacture.
Do vintage clothing and lingerie interest you?
Have your friends turned you on to anything else fun lately?
Your description of the merits of having friends is so touching and true. I feel as though I've been getting an especially large dose of love and thoughtfulness from my friends this month, and am so very grateful for that.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful that you received your first pair of vintage stockings. Don't you just love the seams in fully fashioned stockings? They're so ironically lovely and redolent of a time gone by.
♥ Jessica
Exactly. They possess a poignance that's deeply fulfilling.
DeleteHow awesome are those stockings! I'm highly grateful to my friends for pushing my boundaries with gifts. Many of my favorite pieces are things that I got as a gift.
ReplyDeleteI find your story and relationship with pantyhose a fascinating one. Thank you for always sharing.
My relationship with pantyhose (I shudder when I even say the word) is so intimate, so longstanding, so profound in my life. I never thought anyone would want to hear about it or care. Let this be a lesson to you kids -- live long enough and you'll see the impossible happen. :-)
DeleteMy friends share new blogs and Pinterest boards to follow. I like seeing what things interest them. It's like an inside look into their lives.
ReplyDeleteI realized hours after I wrote this post that today, friends probably share online/computer things like websites and apps. That possibility isn't in my mind 'cause I'm old and still living in the analog world. :-)
DeleteYou know, I have yet to try on a vintage pair of stockings! I need to remedy that soon! I'm glad you had such a nice friend to send you a pair. ;-)
ReplyDeleteJamie
http://chatterblossom.blogspot.com/
Do it! Touch the past and bring it into the present. You'll relish the experience.
DeleteWhat a lovely gift! I still haven't tried vintage stockings, but I have loved other vintage items I have tried - things were made of a higher quality back in the day it seems!
ReplyDeleteHow very dear!
ReplyDeleteI recently enjoyed a gifted hat, and have the most stupendous gifted vest yet to style. I too am so lucky to have friends!
Pretty, pretty stockings. I really love stockings with seams, although you don't see 'em as much in law firms :P
ReplyDeleteGracey has turned me onto vintage dresses and scarves, and I've been thinking more about vintage since you started mentioning it more often :)
love the details in vintage stockings, love that color on your toes! Xo Megan, www.TfDiaries.com
ReplyDeleteVintage lingerie is so much more detailed and beautiful than lingerie now. I found the most gorgeous Lily of France pegnior robe at the goodwill for 3 bucks. Its incredible, the lace is very fine. I did some research and found pieces like mine selling in the 100 to 200 range.
ReplyDeleteMy mom used to have stockings similar to those - so feminine and elegant! Vintage -anything- is cool! :)
ReplyDeleteEnjoy them!!!
Vintage stockings are really nice, but about pantyhose we have a very different opinion. I hate pantyhose >< B´Very uncomfy and most often too short ><
ReplyDeleteIs that the nail polish I sent you? Hehe :)
ReplyDeleteI find it funny that you have this thing with stockings. I personally hate wearing hose. It never fits right and is always slightly itchy. Then again, I wear the cheapo brands from the drug store and Target...vintage silk stockings might be a bit more enjoyable!
Yes, it's yours! You have been a constant source of fun for me. Thank you, buddy.
DeleteI totally understand the discomfort of stockings, having experienced it myself. I just thought that was something all gals had to put up with. I see now that several rebel against it and go brazenly bare-legged!
Haha, I go bare-legged whenever humanly possible, and tend to avoid skirts/dresses in the winter...though I am wearing a skirt/tights today :) Glad you enjoyed the color, and that it's opened a fun new door for you!!
Deleteawesome! I love your new passion to vintage)
ReplyDeletehow cute are those stockings?! you have great memories...i think it's wonderful that you have that memory at 3yrs old and actually remember what you were feeling at that moment. for some odd reason i can't remember much before grade school...and i think that's sad!!
ReplyDeleterockoomph.blogspot.com
mobilemorsels.blogspot.com
Oh, God! Ally, not the stockings story! You know what that does to me! *sniff sniff* But the important thing is that you are living your dreams now and saying to hell with others' expectations, and I am your biggest cheerleader!!
ReplyDeleteNice polish, hear what you're saying about in being energizing, that's why it's one of my favourite colour polishes.
ReplyDelete