Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Lizz -- A Study in Style



I’ve been thinking about my beautiful daughter, Lizz, all day.
She’s starting her sophomore year at GSU (Georgia Southern University) in a few weeks. She is so grown-up now.
She has developed an amazing sense of style and individuality.
Then again... she’s always been that way.

When Lizz was a just a wee toddler, we had to lay out three shirts, three pairs of pants, socks, and shoes so that SHE could pick and choose her daily outfits!
“That’s not cool, Mama”. (I can still hear her little voice.) “I’m not wearing that!”
Nothing pink for my Lizz. *sigh* Too "frilly" for her. Blues and purples. Every day!
I just wasn’t going to waste my time arguing with a headstrong 3-year old whose sense of fashion was seemingly better than my own.

At four, we began the "bun head" phase. Ballet Moms will recognize that phase well.

Lizz wore her shrug and her leg warmers everywhere. She wore her camisole and tights. She'd have worn her Pointe Shoes to class if we'd let her! Sadly, that all ended when she left Ballet at 16. (It was the ONLY time she's wear pink!)

We went through the All-Black Goth stage during Middle-School.
We admonished her not to delve too far into the dark-side of the closet, for what lies beneath is Barbie-pink!
Thankfully, she did move on from that phase albeit not without a few raised eyebrows and a few raised voices.

We moved on to the jeans and t-shirt stage in high school.
Ever the creative one, Lizz set about with permanent markers, in every colour available, to decorate her t-shirts and make them uniquely her own.
And her shoes! Her Vans were decorated, literally, from heel to toe!
What that kid can't do with a magic marker!
I really wish I’d kept them all, too. It would be a marvelous chronicle of her moods and her interests as she grew into the lovely, independent young woman that she is today.





I think Lizz really came into her adult sense of fashion in her Senior year of high school. There was more thought, more conscious decision making when choosing clothing at the store. She made her money count and she bought wisely.

That’s a big help for parents who don’t always have a lot of extra money for clothes.

Now that she’s out on her own and I’m not shopping with her (or funding her purchases), she’s making good choices. Her style now is what I’d call University Chic. It's casual, comfortable, yet graceful and slightly sexy, too. (Not too much, though, my heart can’t take too much!)

She's developed a bit of a fetish for shoes and handbags (I'll take the credit for the handbag fetish as I have one of my own). She personalizes her clothes still with pins and bits of bling.

I’m proud of her and the way she carries herself and the personal sense of style she’s worked so hard to develop.

That’s my girl.

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DISCLAIMER:
I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and JCPenney blogging program, for a gift card worth $50. For more information on how you can participate, click here

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