Forward to the Past

If I lay awake in the middle of the night, that a friend calls ' the witching hour', I think of so many things to write about. Faced with the white paper of a blank screen I am myself blank. So I'll just let the thoughts pour out.
On occasion other artists may ask for my opinion of their work. I consider their apparent capabilities and temper my judgment based on that assessment. However, in the case of my grand daughter who is definitely good at drawing, as a preteen, she surpasses a lot of mature artists in her ability to see and remember. I feel my obligation is to be frank with her.   She might draw a girl that is currently in fashion but which represents to me a trashy example of a girl or woman. I tell her I personally don't care for that look. I don't care for the messy up-swept ponytails with hair hanging down in  haphazard ways. The long gone movie star Veronica Lake made the one eye -covered- by -hair look, famous. Good for the come hither allure but a hazard for daily activity and just brainless for working. You can take that further...waitresses, nurses and doctors, auto mechanics, any machinist ad infinitum. Women who should know better on TV, pundits, the actresses have this habit of having to sweep the hair out of their eyes and run their fingers through their hair to fluff it up or grab it with both hands and twist it over to one side all the while talking. Nobody seems to teach their children not to perform their toilette in public. Nobody seems to teach their children much about behavior in public. Just observe the trash talk at the protests, the trash attitude and the trash being thrown. They want respect but they haven't any for themselves.
I don't like 'yoga pants' except at yoga or the gym. Even if the woman has a lovely figure I find there is too much information for me outside of the artists studio. They reveal the shape of the crotch front and back. Really? In the old days, Oh, here we go,sigh, ladies wore slips or half slips so the skirt wouldn't tuck under the buttocks. Now it is desired. Show whacha got. Look at the old movies of the 50's and older, how smooth the dress or skirt lay over the hips and bum. Sleek as a Siamese cat. Now its a bag of potatoes.
Everything has gotten sloppier. People hate to bother to get properly dressed to go shopping, to go to church, to appear in court. Working at home in front of the computer-who cares if you have pj's on. But wearing them shopping? Takes lazy to a new level. That's probably what this whole attitude is about, the who cares attitude. Love me warts and all, yesterdays dirt and sweat and all. Todays dirt and sweat is legitimate.
If you see a smart, put together woman, why is she elegant? Because she is not bunched up and floppy and shaggy. I bet she has a long mirror and can see her back side too.
I predict this fashion statement is going to get tired and it will return to more conservative fashions. All of this diatribe goes for men too. It's time for the pendulum to....