Accessorizing

I'm a little bit of a fashion minimalist. In my high school years I was perfectly comfortable in jeans, a t-shirt, my Vans, and a ponytail, but I've had a long string of friends and roommates who have convinced me that it's okay to admit that I like looking nice and being a little girly, and that not all trendy is to be avoided. My current roommate, Ashley, is the latest in that string of friends - she was the one who finally got be to break down and begin wearing mascara, and a couple days ago she made sure I knew that I could always borrow any of her jewelry, even without asking. Ashley's a good fashion enabler because she never makes me feel like a project. She just gets genuinely excited by jewelry, new hair products, dresses with flouncy skirts, and shoes, and her enthusiasm rubs off on me. 

So yesterday as I was getting ready to go see my first Gilbert and Sullivan show, Ashley recalled our recent jewelry conversation, and asked what I was wearing. I had already matched a necklace to my sweater, foregoing the earrings because I didn't want to be too flashy, but this was not what Ashley had in mind for me, and she took it upon herself to accessorize me for the evening.

I actually like jewelry. A couple years ago I tried wearing dangly earrings, and was surprised to find that I really liked them. Nowadays I rarely leave this house without either a pair of earrings or a necklace, but I still tend to stick to the familiar. So when Ashley held up the necklace she had picked out for me I felt a bit of that mixture of thrill and unease that comes from stepping outside of my comfort zone - a milder dose of the same feelings that have inspired me to do other scary things in my life like brave Cedar Point, run a marathon, move to Michigan, take an Improv class, or adopt a dog. 

This is the necklace she chose out for me.


Okay, I know. It's not all that daring. A lot of girls wear necklaces like this these days. But the point is that I have never worn one of these necklaces, and so when I first put it on, just as Ashley had warned me, it felt big and dangly and not entirely comfortable. "You'll get used to it," she told me. "But you have to promise that you'll leave it on the whole evening." This was wise. The first time I tried wearing lipstick in public, I wiped it off as soon as I got to my social destination, and I have never really been fully converted, even to lip gloss. So I promised.

Within a few minutes of wearing the necklace, though, I discovered that getting a really long necklace to hang properly is a lot more of a challenge than I'd anticipated. I like to not have to worry about my fashion choices after I've donned them, to fuss at my hair or adjust my shirt or straighten my necklace, so it took me a little while to stop being overly-conscious of how the new necklace was hanging. I was reminded of the opening credits of Thoroughly Modern Millie, so I had to have Ashley take a couple Julie Andrews-inspired pictures, in the hopes that my family, at least, would appreciate them.


And for those who haven't seen the movie, the clip I'm referring to is about two minutes in:


For the record, I did manage to get my necklace to hang properly, and I kept my promise and didn't take it off for the entire evening. I'm not sure yet if I'd buy a necklace like that, but I wouldn't be averse to borrowing Ashley's again.