Tartan Tradition

Dress (Bernie Dexter); Cardigan (Modcloth.com); Shoes (Isabel Toledo); Bag (Wilson's Leathergoods); Bangle (Tory Burch for Fitbit)

This weekend we celebrated Christmas with extended family on my Dad's side. It was fun to catch up with aunts, uncles and cousins I rarely see, many of whom drove several hours to join the festivities. We were a large and boisterous group of nearly 40, and the din of animated conversation filled the house throughout the traditional Hoosier holiday feast. My Great Uncle David knew how to get our attention after dinner, though, with a DVD slide show of photos from family holiday gatherings going back more than 50 years. It must have taken him a solid week to organize, digitize, and set all of those captured family memories to music. It took only moments for the room to devolve into peals of laughter as we watched younger versions of ourselves and our loved ones dance across the screen in the height of fashions (and hair styles) from decades past. There was also more than one embarrassed "oh my gosh, Daddy, is that you?" from some of the younger crowd.

Ruby and white sapphire pendant and earrings from India (Grace Boutique)

What I noticed, beyond appreciating yet again how beautiful my Mom has always been (and the undeniability of how big my hair was in the 80s), was plaid. Lots and lots of plaid. The iconic pattern of interlocking woven stripes was present in every form; in every generation; on men and women alike. My great-grandfather sported flannel workshirts in some of the earliest black and white photos. my Mom and Aunt Janet were stylish in head to toe plaid bell-bottom suits in the 70s. Even some of the tablecloths in my Grandma Norma's basement were plaid. The pattern was, quite literally, a common thread between the decades.

Glasses (Revolution Eyes)

I was personally wearing plaid of some sort in several photos, my favorite being the rust and brown plaid pants in the photo below (I actually have similar pants in my closet today!) It was only fitting, then, that I was wearing this black Stewart Tartan dress from Bernie Dexter for this year's fete. The tartan tradition continues...

With my cousin, Jay, in the late 70s. See my present day version of these pants here.

Fashion is what you buy; Style is what you do with it!

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