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Unsuitable

28 Comments

I received a very funny email from Talbots, the clothing company earlier this week.  I don’t buy new clothes very often.  I need to look somewhat professional (this is western ND, after all, so nothing too fancy)  but I need to be comfortable.  Working with small children makes heels and power suits impractical.  I have settled on sweaters and corduroy pants.  I also really don’t like clothes shopping, and the nearest  fairly nice stores are 300 miles away in Fargo, This means I catalogue shop.

Talbots  has always been a favorite of mine, and their clothes fit me. They also last, so I only have to get new clothes every couple of years.  I bought a few things from Talbots  this fall, and the email this week asked  if I would be on an advisory board to help them stay current with the needs of their customers.  I declined.  I don’t think I am the most suitable person for this, since I have no interest in fashion, and I  don’t  have time, but I was enormously amused.

I imagine there are very few people in my State west of the Missouri River who buy clothes from Talbots. I can imagine  a marketing person desperate to increase sales looking at the data and saying “What’s up with her? Let’s see why she buys our product line. Maybe we have a new market to focus on.”

When have you been unsuitable for a task or out of your league? What is your sense of fashion?

28 thoughts on “Unsuitable”

    1. Oh man. I’m at a total loss as to why anyone would spend the time to think of, let alone, make an outfit like that. My imagination is, once again, failing me.

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  3. I was accidentally fashionable for a few months. I’ve always worn rugged, comfortable clothing built for folks who spend time outdoors. At some moment in the early 1980s my clothing was suddenly desirable because the “LL Bean look is in!” I endured that, knowing that people who care about such things have short attention spans, and now I’m happily out of fashion again.

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  4. You are all in good form today! Talbots email reminded me of something I heard from a Catholic woman who attended Brandeis University in the 1960’s. She said she was encouraged to attend Brandeis because the University was trying to diversify their student body from being mainly Jewish, white, and from the East Coast. She and her friends surmised that a Black Catholic from Montana would be a shoe-in for admission.

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  5. A favorite cousin of mine swore by Talbots – and she always looked great…

    I was a volunteer early on (late 70s) at the Wedge Co-op, and was aware of job openings, signed on to be a produce coordinator. Not only was the work more physically demanding than I’d anticipated (i.e.manipulating 50# bags of potatoes), but after 6 months I was getting poor evaluations, still didn’t recognize the difference between Mexican and Hawaiian pineapples, and my heart just wasn’t in it. Quit before the year was out.

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  6. I’m with you, Steve. I stepped off the fashion bus back in the 80s when I bought my last suit (except for my 21st-century “weddings and funerals” suit which I’ve worn all of about 5 times in 20 years. Give me comfort, durability, and utility every day.

    I’m woefully suited for sales. Hate it, hate it, hate it. Which begs the question from you folks: “So why the hell do you write books???” All I can say is, it’s a little different than peddling chocolates for Little League or being a financial planner and trying to convince people to buy your life insurance policy and mutual funds.

    I’m also not any sort of a leader. Can’t imagine being a politician. We’re binging “Designated Survivor this past week and I soooooo empathize with Tom Kirkman. Talk about a guy who is NOT a born leader. (Although smart people can easily learn on the job and become leaders. I think the writers are showing him coping very well to the avalanche of challenges that are dumped on him every day.)

    The biggest leadership role I ever took on was organizing and leading a seven-person canoe trip with three adults and four teenagers (13 and 14 yrs old!). I’m proud to say we all survived with only a twisted ankle on my best friend (and the old man of the group).

    But I make a pretty good foot soldier. Just ask my wife.

    Chris in Owatonna

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  7. In the winter I wear flannel or brushed cotton shirts (mostly plaid) and khaki pants. In the summer I wear polo-style shirts in tertiary colors and khaki pants. I have lots of plaid flannel and polo-sryle shirts. Like Steve, I’m willing to let fashion come to me. Or not. Either way, when I wander off you’ll know how to describe me.

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  8. The college kids have joked about my “fashion Sense” with the jeans and paint splattered sleeveless shirts.
    And just the other day, in a conversation about support stockings, I mentioned I have patterned ones I was called a secret fashionista. One kid in particular, Ethan, he could have been on the cover of GQ. I would contact him sometimes when I needed specific fashion advice.

    Anyone here watch ‘Queer Eye’? Kelly likes it. I can’t get into it. And I kind of resent the way they change people. I keep arguing maybe that guy was happy with his messy hairdo and T-shirts. Sure, he looks different using “product” and the fancy shirt. To say he looks “Better”? Who’s really got the judgement call on that? And how long will he really keep that up? I wouldn’t. This is me; love me or leave me. 🙂

    I have a suit too for weddings and funerals.

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  10. As the pandemic wears on, the line between sleepwear and regular clothes is beginning to blur. A T-shirt can be sleepwear, but if you wear it when you’re not sleeping, it’s loungewear. Put a cardigan over it and you’re ready for your Zoom call.

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    1. I actually dressed up with a holiday sweater and holiday jewelry for my zoom call tonight. I will admit I was the only one but I enjoyed it. Of course YA laughed at me when I went downstairs because I still had on my sweat pants.

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  11. I’m pretty sure I was never even on the fashion bus in order to step off of it. I have been woefully out of sync with fashion my whole life. And these days it’s getting to be a blur as Linda said. I actually feel really really dressed up if I put on jeans these days.

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