Fashion

We have all been so very, very busy these past weeks, helping our new friend Tootsie get used to her new surroundings. Remember, she’s spent the last few decades trapped in an attic with very little social interaction beyond a Barbie and Ken (whom she tells us were really rather snooty), and a couple of very friendly Care Bears, so she doesn’t know much about what’s been going on in the outside world all this time. We have a plan to introduce her to everything slowly, so as not to overwhelm her.

But in the meantime, we’ve been showing her all around Whimsieville, and getting her used to so many new things. And I have to say, it was no surprise to any of us when she showed an extreme interest in contents of our extensive Wardrobe. After all, Tootise is a Whimsie, and like all Whimsies, she has an instinctive interest in Fashion! Of course, it’s been so very long since poor little Tootsie has seen very much in the way of Fashion. Back in the day, when she used to visit often with Tillie and her human, Jennifer, what she mostly considered Fashion would be a comfortable pair of dunagarees and maybe a soft tee shirt, and a sweater that didn’t bind around the neck or wrists. So! Imagine her surprise when we showed her so many dresses and hats and soft pants and jammies and every kind of accessory for the hair! It was just so overwhelming for little Tootsie that she practically broke down crying tears of joy!

But after those tears of joy, there came much trying on of all kinds of clothing. So that’s where we felt like we should start, with a simply Fashion Show of simply yet comfortable clothing. Here’s how it all went:

First of all, as has been mentioned, Tootsie is a BIG FAN of dungarees (though we are trying to teach her to refer to them as “blue jeans.”) So naturally when she first looked into the wardrobe, her eyes gravitated towards denim, and to start off, she choose this simple pair of blue jeans with this lovely blue and white long sleeved shirt. We all still have to wear long sleeved shirts most of the time, because it’s still the middle of Winter, and sometimes very, very cold. Why, last week, we even had a little bit of snow here in Whimsieville!

Tillie chose a soft pair of baby blue pants and a bright red shirt to compliment Tootsie's choice of a mostly blue outfit, but then Tillie took it all one step further by adding a comical red cap. It seems Tootsie, though completely aware of the concept of "hats," has never really had a chance to wear one, and she was overwhelmed by the large selection of hats in the Wardrobe. In keeping with her blue theme, here she has chosen a simple blue beret, making her look rather French…no?

Next, Tootsie teamed up with Trixie to explore a whole ‘nother side of Fashion…and that would be…PINK! Trixie very graciously held back on her love for pink, and let her new friend Tootsie wear most of the pink here. Tootsie abandoned her love of “dungarees” momentarily to try a pair of soft pink pants in a hot pink color! With something so bold as these pants, a plain white shirt is not at all amiss! But notice what else is going on here: both Trixie and Tootsie are working the magic of simple PINK caps! Oh, don’t they both look simply adorable!

Trixie thought our pink glittery sneakers would look fabulous with Tootsie’s pink and white outfit, but our gal Toots is so much a fan of running around barefoot that though she was intrigued by our collection of shoes, she did not yet feel ready to try them on. As a concession to the cold weather, though, she was willing to wear socks. Socks are sort of a nice compromise between running around barefoot and having your tootsies contained in the lace-up or buckled or velcroes confines of shoes.

Finally, I get my chance to pose with Tootsie, and my Fashion lesson for our new friend is the Joy of Polka-Dots! As you can see, I’m wearing a pair of pink polka-dotted footie pants, but Tootsie, inspired by Trixie’s choice of brown as a Fashion Statement, has chosen brown polka-dot pants. Again, she wears the comfy socks, and also is working another hat, this one a crocheted beanie, in a pinky-peachy color, with a huge pom pom on top. I’ve put some simple colorful bands in my hair, hoping to persuade Tootsie that she might try the same, but the whole idea of hats has been just so fascinating for her, I wonder when we might see her pretty little ponytails again!

One thing I do have to say about Tootsie: she is a quick learner! And she is willing to experiment, and embrace new experiences. Ah, it’s very clear to all of us that Tootsie has the true heart of a Whimsie! it won’t be long now before we’ll be able to explain the internet to her, and show her this website we’ve been keeping, and no doubt before very long, Miss Tootsie will be adding in her own two-cents on all these topics that are of most interest and importance to us Whimsies.

So, it’s been cold these last several weeks, and mostly we’ve been sitting around the house in our jammies. As enjoyable as that can be, eventually the time comes to get out of the jammies and into some real clothes. We Whims were sitting around, thinking about this, feeling a little guilty about being so lazy, but at the same time, not really completely convinced we felt ready yet for real clothes. So we came to a sort of compromise.

Yes, we got out of the jammies, but decided that at this point, we were only willing to go one step beyond that, maintaining a very large margin of Comfort. In a word: Footie Pants! (Well, actually, I think that’s two words, isn’t it?) We knew we had a few pairs of footie pants in our Wardrobe, so we decided to challenge each other with the task of creating the most comfortable and stylish outfit involving footie pants. Because sometimes it’s not enough to simply wear clothes, you want to make it a fun game, a challenge! So that’s what we did.

The criteria: the outfit had to have Footie Pants. And then we decided since it’s still the middle of Winter, another criteria should be long sleeves. Okay, got it? Arms and feet…covered! That’s it! We each hurried off to a different part of the Wardrobe, looking for the elements that would win the Challenge.

It wasn’t until we were all done that we stopped to compare notes, and when we finally did…we all just took one look at each other and burst out laughing! You know how they say “Great minds think alike”? Well, they must have been talking about us Whimsies, because we all ended up with a multitude of similar elements in our outfits that were never even required by the Challenge.

Let’s start by taking a closer look first at Miss Tillie. It’s worth noting that Tillie is dressed mainly in pink. Yes, I know, we usually see Trixie in her traditional favorite color, but for this Challenge, Trixie was willing to step outside her comfort zone (more on that in just a moment…), and when she left the pink items behind, Tillie jumped right on them! Here she wears pink polka dot footie pants, whtih a plain pink top. All that pink is definitely the right way to go to brighten up a dreary Winter day when you’d rather be sitting around in your jammies all day watching old movies on TV.

Tillie takes her outfit one step further by topping it off with an oversized stretchy woolen hat. As if all of Trixie’s long beautiful hair was not enough to keep her head warm! But this hat keeps her even warmer, while at the same time being quite stylish.

Now, let’s look at Trixie, who is clothed almost completely in warm Winter colors of browns, blacks and some orange. Trixie later revealed that she went against the pink when she found these adorable footie pants with little frog faces on the feet. At least she thinks they must be frogs. Of course, I have to wonder why in the world anyone would want frogs on their feet. It’s not really for me, but then our Trixie is nothing if not a Free Spirit, always seeking out the most outrageous “against the grain” looks. Her woolen cap, with stripes of orange, black and gray, make her look like a skateboarding chick! Of course, the frogs totally destroy any thought that those feet might engage in any kind of sport, but there you have it. Trixie, our original mismatched rebel.

And how about me? I’m going for a different look entirely. You’ll notice first of all that I too am wearing stripes, not only in my woolen cap, but also up and down the whole length of my stretchy footie pants! My colors are light and bright, almost Spring-like. So totally different that what Trixie has chosen, and also different than Tillie’s outfit.

That’s the wonderful thing about our Wardrobe: it’s so extensive and varied, that even when all three of us go in there at the same time looking for outfits, we can put together so many different combinations. In a way, you might even say that we are only limited by our imaginations.

And yet, even having said all this, at the same time, isn’t it ironic how our great Whimsie minds landed on many similar elements? How many? Well, let’s count them:

• Footie Pants (required by the Fashion Challenge)
• Long Sleeves (also required, or at least strongly suggested)
• Hat. Nobody said we had to wear hats, yet we each chose one.
• Stripes. And each of our hats is striped!
• Solid colored, snap-front tops. We could have chosen other tops, but somehow we each chose solid colored tops with snaps up the front.

Now, to be fair, I guess I should mention that Tillie and Trixie’s tops have a small decorative front pocket, and my top does not. But other than that…Oh, my goodness! We are SO alike!

So who won the Footie Pants Fashion Challenge? Well, I’d have to say, we ALL won. Because you’ll notice one more similar element to all our looks: all three of us are wearing the most important Fashion accessory of all…great big smiles on our faces! Because we know that even though we have finally gotten out of our jammies, we are in no way sacrificing the all-important element of comfort!