Fashion is back
Ialways like to look on the good side of fashionable. For many years I have worn my hair very short. I think it’s because I heard somewhere that one of the ways to age gracefully is to wear your hair short. It will make you look younger. So I have worn my hair not only short but lop-sided — one side markedly longer than the other. That is my personal choice. I hate symmetry.
The last thing you will see in my house is a sofa flanked by two matching side tables on which sit two matching lamps. On each side of the sofa there are two matching chairs divided by two matching tables and a coffee table in the center. In my life nothing ever matches anything. Except maybe my shoes. So far the left shoe always matches the right one. Maybe I should work on that.
Lately I got married and my husband sometimes implies he would like me with long hair. At first I ignored him. Didn’t argue, just pretended not to hear. But then little memories crept in. When I was in high school I had long hair. I would leave home in Malate with my hair neat in a ponytail. I would ride the school bus at around six in the morning. By the time I got to school in Diliman I looked like a mop. I had to recomb my hair and during the day it kept escaping its rubber band and pins until one of the nuns asked me what it would take to keep my hair tidy. I had to admit I did not know but I certainly tried.
Then one day I learned how. I grew my hair long, pulled it back with rubber bands, found the most massive hairpins, used those and hairspray. There was even a time I would tame my hair with Tancho Tique. That was when I parted it in the middle and pulled it back in a ponytail. Hair would always stand up in front and point skyward. That’s when Tancho Tique came in handy. Then it would lay down, sleek and shiny.
When I think back to those days, I remember how charming my hairstyles were. Either I wore my hair cascading down my back or I wore it in a knot on top of my head and I would stick all sorts of things into it — pencils, ballpens, all sorts of ornaments. It was pretty, I remembered. Maybe I can do it again. And if I pull my hair up and fasten it tightly at the top of my head, maybe that will stretch my wrinkles and make me look just a little younger. Not a bad idea!
So now I have started to grow my hair. It’s still short but it already reaches my chin. One morning I decided to part it in the middle like I used to when I was in my 20s or more than 50 years ago. It looked nice. I decided to stick to that hairstyle and wondered if it was fashionable. Then, as my husband and I sat together looking for a channel to watch, we came across Kris Aquino, hair parted in the middle, and Pinky Webb, hair parted in the middle, too. That did it. I suddenly realized I am old, but still fashionable now.
Fashion is an interesting thing. Sure, we say with contempt, “That’s no longer fashionable. That’s so passé.” Yes, that’s true. Things go out of fashion. But they always come back with a twist.
All the young women now wear very short shorts. Fifty years ago when I was young we wore hot pants. They were like your shorts but they either had matching tops or were one-piece, like very short jumpsuits. We also wore very short skirts called miniskirts and those who took jeepneys to work wore short basketball shorts underneath. They looked downright ridiculous but I guess that made them feel silly but safe. I remember leaving the hospital carrying my newborn baby 47 years ago wearing tangerine hot pants and gladiator sandals. I felt very glamorous.
After years of wearing long leggings, we are now faced with square pants, which are loose and short and are beginning to warn me that the next thing that will be back are palazzo pants, or worse, elephant pants — but with a twist, of course. When I moved houses recently I found an outfit among my old clothes that is in fashion again. I just bought new buttons and will have it laundered. Then I will wear it again.
“Again and again” is one way of describing fashion trends, though some may take 50 years to return. The French, who in my day invented fashion, have a saying: Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. Loosely translated it means, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” I think that applies very well to fashion.
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