Token fashionista blog.

So... I just had a shower. Probably slightly more than you needed to know but I need to lead up to my point and that's where it started. I was in the shower. And then I wasn't. And then I got dressed. And then I went back to the bathroom to brush my hair. And the bath (the shower is over the tub) was still draining. STILL draining. 15 minutes after I had shut off the water and fallen over the side of the bath in an attempt to exit elegantly, and it was still draining. Luckily I was prepared for such an event. I went over to the other side of the bathroom, retrieved my trusty plunger (99p from tesco) from down the side of the toilet and I took to the bath like a professional plumber. (by which I mean I hit the plug hole with the sucky end a few times and giggled at the noise it made) after a few minutes it was draining quicker and satisfied with a job well done, I returned the plunger to its home under the toilet cystern. As I stood upright and grabbed my hair brush I caught sight of my reflection in the mirror and realisation suddenly hit me. It was almost epiphany-like. For years and years I have been struggling through life not quite knowing WHAT I am. I know WHO I am and I'm fairly happy with that, there could be improvements but on the whole I'm not too shabby. I'm funny (apparently) I'm attractive (and vain) and I'm friendly. It could be a whole lot worse. But I've never completely known WHAT I am. Ask anyone who's known me over the last ten years and you'll get a broad spectrum of answers from goth to punk, from rockabilly to chav (my lovely mother) I've been categorized by others according to what I look like on any given day and never really had a say in it. I've never really been comfortable with my body shape and as such I have always had the tendency to dress in all black. Black is a slimming shade (it's not a colour) and so it's one that covers most of my wardrobe. However I am also influenced a lot by the music that I listen to. So for a few years at college I was in baggy jeans and band hoodies. Then when I was working in a care home I was in short skirts, fishnets and DM boots with lots of safety pins everywhere. Then when I was working in an office my civvy clothes were quiffed hair, leopard print shoes and swing skirts. I have been many different things, always influenced by whatever musical genre I am into at the time. Always on the alternative side of the spectrum though. However when you have as ecclectic musical tastes as I do, it's difficult to keep consistency. What do you wear when you're jumping around to the greatest hits of Del Shannon? How about Blondie? Gogol Bordello? How about if you listen to all three of those in one morning?

Yesterday was Sunday and I was doing the housework. I have a routine - on sundays I change the beds and tidy the bedrooms. I decided to have some music on as I did so and I decided to choose some music that I haven't listened to in rather a long time. (Warning: this is a PMM. Proud Mama Moment.) the kids decided to help me and at 2.5 years and very nearly 4 years, they are perfectly capable of helping me do some light dusting, put away toys and do some hoovering. The firstborn even stripped my bed for me and he did it very well. Anyway, we're jumping around my room (it's the one with the cd player in it) to the music I have chosen and firstborn pipes up "I really like this Mama, who is it?" tears well up in my eyes as I crouch down to his level and proudly announce "It's Adam and The Ants darling, I used to love these guys when I was your age too." we embrace and then we carry on jumping around like loons with firstborn teaching secondborn how to shout "Stand And Deliver" at the top of his lungs. It's the middle of summer, the windows are wide open and I'm sure people outside can hear us but I don't care. I've just had a moment where I have looked at my children and seen myself in them. Completely and utterly from my genes. And I am so proud. Why? Because they like something I liked at that age that isn't food or television related. Anyway, later in the day I decided to get on the computer with firstborn on my lap while secondborn is off playing or eating foreign objects or something and I decide to bring up Adam And The Ants to show firstborn what they looked like. And within seconds firstborn has raised a very good point. "You have a coat like that Mama." "You have those boots Mama." and finally... "You look like that Mama."

In the words of a 3 - nearly 4 year old. I dress like Adam And the Ants.

I'm fairly happy with this comment. I've always considered myself to be dashing. Hell it was even my facebook name for a while: Dashing Luna Kendell. Til facebook decided that it wasn't a real name and changed it back to my original one. I could even, if pressed, say that I was dandy. I've even had an affinity with highway men before so put all that together and you've got a description of me hidden in a verse of Stand And Deliver.

But. What would one call this style?
I once went out on a night out with friends in fancy dress. It was meant to be Heroes and Villains night, but due to unforseen circumstances I ended up with literally half an hour to get a costume together. I ended up in a long military style coat, skinny jeans with knee high boots, a white shirt and underbust corset and for the entire night I was referred to as The Hero From Fable 2. Fable 2 being one of my favourite xbox games I didn't mind and for the halloween a few weeks later, that's what I went for. I had more time so I made the weapons and port keys from the game to fully finish off my costume.

And it was the most comfortable costume I've ever worn, so comfortable that since then, my standard daily dress is boots over jeans. Even on the hottest days I've worn that, teemed with a 17th century style thin shirt. I generally quiff my fringe to get it out of my face and often wear a ribbon in my hair so I do look a bit like Adam Ant has been physically thrown into the magical world of Fable 2.

Ok. So we now know what I am. But what is it called? Adam And The Ants were classed as New Romantic. The highway men that the look is based on were from the 16th and 17th century. And if you type "dandy highwayman" into google... Well, you get this...

I am none of those. For starters I am not a man. I am very much a woman.

So until I can think up a decent name for my style and get it used in every day descriptions, I am going unnamed. Hey, maybe I should take suggestions and draw one out of a hat? The winner gets a worthers original. Possibly pre-sucked.