Accessories are a must for the well-dressed woman. Mom has always had a penchant for jewelry and scarves and beautiful clothes. As pictures would attest, she’s had a flair for clothing and style all her life.
Dad took lots of pictures when they were dating and first married. Although Jane Russell was the ideal of beauty on the national scene back then, Mom was far more beautiful. Wavy, long hair and slender, long legs and a beautiful smile. There’s even a picture of Mom propped on one of his cars where he wrote “My Pin-up” on the back. I’ve teased him about it ever since I found it!
During the 1960’s and 70’s, Mom stayed with the whims of fashion. Even though they lived in lots of different locations because of Dad’s military career, Mom was able to find fabric and did lots of sewing for her wardrobe as well as her kids. There are many pictures of her in beautiful suits and dresses as well as cute, sweet outfits for her children.
Somewhere during the 1980’s, she quit sewing as much. She said it was less expensive to buy off the rack. So Mom embraced of the lots of color, clashing material phase. I believe she kept our local Belk store in business. I thought she wore some outfits just to embarrass me since I was a teenager back then. But after she’d had cataract surgery and looked at her closet, she couldn’t believe the riot of colors she’d been wearing! She toned it down after that.
There were times that her search for the elusive perfect dress or outfit drove me bonkers! Michael and I were engaged for 21 months while he finished school. I found my dress right away but Mom and I shopped for her dress for 20 months. She didn’t find her it until the day before the wedding. The day before! Good thing we waited. It was perfect. Blue to match her eyes. She looked so beautiful.
I had my ears pierced as soon as I was allowed. I tried to talk Mom into getting hers pierced but she wasn’t going through that! She wore clips or screw-backs. I don’t know how she could tolerate her ears being pinched but she was faithful to always have earrings on when she would go out. When she didn’t remember to wear them, we should have known things were about to change.
We went through a phase not too long ago where she didn’t want to get dressed. She was fine staying in her nightgown all day. It was very difficult to keep her warm since she wouldn’t wear pants. Thankfully that was a short phase. Now she has three or four different outfits that she likes to wear. They are bright and colorful, of course. And she piles on the accessories.
Bangles, bracelets, rings, necklaces, scarves. She’ll spend an hour arranging and rearranging them in her jewelry boxes. Although they are only costume jewelry, she’ll wrap and rewrap them in tissues or paper towels and place them carefully in a box as if they were the crown jewels. Then there are the usual pieces she wears every day. A yellow plastic bangle, a white plastic bangle, two purple plastic beaded bracelets, a long gold chain necklace, a purple square beaded necklace, a long pearl necklace, and a black scarf with red, blue, and green flowers in it. And a purse. Almost always a purse.
There is no way to speed up the process of her accessorizing. After getting dressed, there is still 30-40 minutes of finishing touches. It has taken us a while to get used to that but there is no sense in rushing her. Even after she sings out “I’m ready” there’s usually 15 more minutes of her checking and double checking.
I remember watching her as a young girl and being enamored by her process of getting made up. Her lipstick was Revlon’s “Love That Red”. A little bit of it smeared on a tissue was the rouge. A bit of beige powder to set that. Jewelry. And shoes that matched her purse. And always perfume.
Mom still knows the secret of the well-dressed woman. Everywhere she goes, people compliment her on how nice she looks. It takes a little bit more effort but it’s worth it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Donna Bunn James moved to Clarkesville, GA in middle school after her father retired from the Air Force. Years after college, she and her husband Michael returned to Habersham County to raise their three children here.
A professionally trained musician, Donna attended the prestigious North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, NC and holds a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from Furman University in Greenville, SC and a Master of Arts in Teaching from Piedmont College in Demorest, GA.
She is a voice and piano teacher and sought-after accompanist. Donna also directs the Mountain Voices Community Chorus and the choir at First United Methodist Church in Cornelia. Amidst her many jobs she makes the time to care for her aging and ailing mother, Ruth.
If you are a caregiver and have a story to share or know of resources that might help other caregivers, please contact her at [email protected].
