everyone needs a friend like robyn (lyn)

This is how thoughtful Robyn is.  She’s leaving for a week in Las Vegas for a trade show.  She has a million things to do to get ready.  But even with having to remember what to pack, what services to stop, and whom to let know, she thinks to give me her unlimited monthly metro card (for public transportation) that still has a day left on it.  She drops over unannounced to give it to me.  “It’s only good for one day before it expires, but go wild.  Ride all over the city for free.”

Robyn also has an innate fashion sense.  Intuitively, she is one of those people who knows what works with what, what looks good, and how a scarf should be worn to make you look contemporary and not dowdy (wrapped around your neck, not draped over your shoulders).  She’s also one of only two people I know who can actually walk in stilettos (the other is a Horace Mann mom who is over 40 with the hard body of a 20 year old).  Despite Robyn’s small frame (about five feet and 100 pounds), she has a big presence.

The other night when Robyn came over to drop off her metro card, she also helped me decide on some clothes:  which are worth tailoring, which are unsavable, and which to give away. This is a long-term project as I have three closets and several drawers to review, but we did a mini-session and decided on the following: 

• Give my mom two pair of wide-leg D&G pants:  one in beige and one in black;  “”you have enough black pants that really look great on you so you don’t need these, and you should buy a pair of straight leg khaki’s.”  My sister Valerie (my other fashion consultant) later suggests J. Crew.  “Their pants are inexpensive and look great.”

• “Take the grey crinkly nylon skirt from Babettes (a little store in Soho that has great clothes, especially if you want to mask your weight), and have it hemmed and taken in at the waist.” This is an interesting skirt, with an elastic bottom, that is worth keeping.

• “What’s with that top you are wearing?  Get rid of it.”  It’s one of my most comfortable white T’s.  It’s totally worn in.  So much so that the dryer has created tiny little holes along the front hem.  I know Robyn is right, but tossing this shirt will be difficult.  I wish Robyn could do this when I wasn’t home (along with some other favorites-that-don’t-look-good-anymore).

 My next major project will be to tackle my closets.  Sort my clothes into piles of save, give away, and alter.    I’ll call Robyn once they are sorted to help me with the not-sures.  Some decisions are just too difficult to make on my own.