The little girl line ahead of me is adorable. She's walking in circles around a pole and during each rotation she peeks up at me through her white sunglasses. She can't be more than eighteen months old, but she looks more put together than I ever have in my almost four decades. Her jet black hair is cut in a bob with fashionable bangs. Her dress is pink and brown, feminine, without being too precious. She's wearing matching brown tights and when she bends over I can see there's a bear's face on her diapered back side. Her perfectly coordinated shoes are pink with little brown flowers. And, wait for it, she's wearing fuzzy brown legwarmers.
That's right legwarmers. And she's rocking them! This cutie looks like she just stepped out of a baby fashion magazine.
At home I Google legwarmers and learn that the fad I thought died before I entered junior high school has been reborn as the latest in baby fashion. Images of babies in onsies wearing every conceivable color of legwarmers flood my computer screen. The light blue legwarmers worn by a giggling baby boy remind me of the legwarmers I wore in the 1980's over a royal blue full body leotard. I'll wait a moment while that image sinks in.
Here's the best part, my Barbie had a matching outfit. Well almost. Her legwarmers were Barbie striped, you know, baby blue, yellow, and pink. She had a matching blue headband. I had to borrow my dad's sweaty headband to complete my ensemble which I wore when I worked out in my bedroom to my Mousercise cassette tape or did Jane Fonda with my grandmother at her house.
As cool as I thought I was in my legwarmers, I've never found fashion all that understandable. I've always felt like I was a day late and a dollar short when it came to clothing choices, but even I knew the eighties were a bad decade for fashion. When legwarmers went the way of the dinosaurs, I firmly believed it was for the best. So, I'm surprised that I find these infant legwarmers cute. Thankfully, my kids are old enough to make their own fashion choices or I might be out looking for legwarmers to match all their outfits. Or then again, maybe not.
I actually considered writing about legwarmers for my blog post! I think they are quite pointless, but I really like how you tie in this adorable little girl making a fashion statement. Very cute. Good details from past, but I would have liked to know a little more about when legwarmers were popular when you were in junior high.
ReplyDeleteI love your voice and perspective here. It's lighthearted and the literary equivalent of a lollipop - short and sweet. Admitting to your own misuse of legwarmers is a great way to make your reader crack a grin and lead into other subject material. Plus, it's relatable in the fact that we've all made questionable fashion choices at one point. I myself used to have a pair of Pepto-Bismol-pink overalls that were just awful.
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