Steve: Hi Jill.
Jill: Hi Steve.
Steve: Jill, fashion. You're a very fashionable lady and I like the outfit that you have on today. I'm just wondering at what age did you start getting interested in fashion? Jill: I think that I was interested from an early age. In elementary school I always wanted to wear whatever was in style, whatever trend was fashionable and always wanted pretty dresses and pretty bows and clips for my hair and shoes and always wanted things to be matching. I never wanted just to throw on a pair of grungy jeans and a T-shirt and even if I was just going outside to play I kind of always liked to wear pretty things.
Steve: Well, you know I had two boys and so we didn't have any girls in the family, but now I have three granddaughters and my oldest granddaughter is going to be 10, in fact, tomorrow. And, she doesn't talk a lot about fashion, but she's interested in her Barbie dolls, but she's naturally very fashionable. I think she dresses very well. To me she looks very elegant for a little 10 year old.
But, fashions come and go. Now how do you, how do you decide, like for men it's quite simple. There's, you know, the lapel gets wider; it gets narrower. End of story. That's right, every ten years you throw your suits away. But, and people don't even wear jackets any more, but the fashions for men is pretty basic. How does a woman, I mean there's so many different styles and there's older styles. Do you always try to have the latest thing or how do you sort through all this stuff?
Jill: Well I think it gets really expensive for women, because there are so many different shoes. There's flat shoes, you've got shoes for all different purposes and occasions and colors and so I think that a lot of women have at least 20, 40, 50 pairs of shoes. Very common, which is expensive and clothes.
Certain things seem to stay in style for two or three years and then sort of fade for a while and then come back. For me personally, I'm sort of a fairly conservative, traditional type dresser. I like to buy things that are not really faddy, that are not, as in f-a-d, that are not really trendy necessarily, that I think are going to last a long time. Like more of a classic look;, you know, jackets that I think I'll still be able to wear five years or ten years down the road, because I like nice things. I like the quality to be nice, but I don't want to pay a lot of money for something I'm only going to like for a year. So, if something is, right now we've got this big 80s trend in Vancouver at least. I think probably in North America and the big wide belts and the big belts over the shirts and tight little leggings and long kind of shirts almost as a dress and all of these sorts of things that were in style when I was in elementary school in the 80s.
And I have to say it hasn't really grown on me. I don't really like most of it, but I see people dressed like that all the time. And, the odd thing I do like, I will buy, I'll find something that's inexpensive, because I don't want to spend a lot on something that's going to be out of style very quickly. So, if its something that I think is going to last I don't mind paying for it, but if it's just a passing fancy, a passing trend I will either not buy a lot or buy stuff that's quite inexpensive. Steve: So, do you read fashion magazines? Do you read all these magazines that I see when I'm in the drug store or at the supermarket? Jill: The odd time I buy one if I'm going to be on a ferry or on a plane or something, but in general, no I don't. I don't buy them. Steve: So, how do you make up your mind? You just spend some time in stores and what kind of stores do you go to?
Jill: I think that's the key, is that there are certain stores that I know I like and I have liked for a lot of years and so I kind of return to those stores. And, they are more of the, they reflect my personality. They are fairly, they can be nice clothes, but they're not overly crazy and trendy necessarily. I go for stuff that's sort of classic looking I think. Steve: Now, when you buy something new, does that mean immediately that everything you already own you no longer like or you can't wear anymore? Does that happen to some extent?
Jill: When I buy something new I probably tend to wear it for, quite often for a while, but then I get tired of it as well and I go back to my old stuff and so I definitely don't get rid of my older stuff. Steve: Now, do you think women dress for men or for other women?
Jill: Honestly, I think in my case it's probably more for other women to be honest. My husband doesn't care. I mean, he does actually. He likes to shop with me, because he, he really likes certain things and dislikes certain things and we have pretty similar taste and he has come really nice clothes. He cares also about nice clothes, but I mean, I could wear anything and he wouldn't care really. So, I think, I do think it's actually more for women. Steve: Well, I would say that women are much more observant. They'll notice that so and so had this color. Like my wife will come home and say did you see the shoes she was wearing? Are you kidding me? , you know, the shoes and the handbag and the this and the that, but if we see someone whose clothes make her look nice, whatever it is, oh that looks nice. But, I think men would not notice whether her shoes matched her handbag, would not notice.
But, they might notice if she looked very elegant or whatever. And, as far as men looking at men, if somebody had a very, you know rumpled old suit or a very, you know ugly tie; they'd notice otherwise I don't think they pay much attention. I think though that men, he's probably, is quite conscious of what you're wearing. Men, you know, because men want their wives to be dressed the way they like. So, you could have a situation, I mean you say that you and Chris have similar tastes. If you had very different tastes, let's say you like to dress in wild colors and he didn't like that he wouldn't like it and you'd find out about it. Jill: Oh yeah.
Steve: I think and you wouldn't be very happy to hear from him. Jill: That's right and there's already things that I'll bring home that maybe I've bought sort of on a whim or didn't really love it, but just thought it'll do and it wasn't that expensive and every time I bring home something like that, that I wasn't sure about he never likes it. I don't tell him I wasn't sure about it, but it just goes to show that he kind of has the same feeling and then he tells me no, I really don't like that or it doesn't do this for you or whatever. Then that's all I need to hear and I take it back. Steve: Does it ever happen that you're going out and he says are you going to wear that? Jill: You know it has happened before. Or, actually he'll say, he'll be a little more diplomatic and say something like oh what about wearing this or I really like this and I think that's his way of saying I prefer something else. Steve: So, what you're telling me is that he does care what you wear. He cares.
Jill: He does, but I mean, day to day if I just wore jeans and a T-shirt every, it really wouldn't matter. If we're going out somewhere. Steve: So, that's the thing you see. I think that's the way men are. What you wear around the house doesn't matter. You can walk around din your pajamas all day, it wouldn't matter. But when you're going out and you're going to be in front of other people he feels that he has the right to influence what you wear. Do you feel the same way about him?
Jill: Oh for sure. Oh yeah.
I mean fortunately I really like his taste and I think he has a lot of nice clothes so most of the time I like what he puts together. I certainly don't pick outfits out for him, at all. I know some women do that and tie their husband's ties and whatever. Absolutely not. He definitely does all that.
But, I have things that I like better than others and so sometimes I'll say, he'll wear something, I don't dislike it, but I like something else better. So I'll say well actually I really like this shirt. He'll say oh yeah? Better than this one? I'll say yeah and he'll probably change. Steve: Very good. So, what is fashion? Is it just vanity? Is it a spice in life, you know something that, I mean everything that we can get interested in and, which brings us pleasure whether it be food or books or movies or languages or anything else, why not fashion? If we all walked around in what is it? Sack cloth and ashes or in potato bags that would make things a lot less interesting so fashion is not such a bad thing.
I guess it can be overdone. But, it's probably a positive thing. Let me ask you this. If you, does it ever happen that you're feeling a little bit glum and you buy a nice outfit and you just, it really picks you up? Does that?
Jill: Oh for sure. I shop definitely, I think shopping is my drug and when I'm, if I'm down or I don't even know. Not even necessarily down, but just needing something different I will go shopping. That's the thing I do, is I shop and I shop way too much actually. And, then I buy something and it's like, I feel like a different person, but what I do, which is bad, is I often know that I don't really need that thing, that item. So, maybe it's good actually. I will very often keep that for a while and within a week I realize, you know the excitement's gone. I haven't even worn it and I'll take it back to the store and then I get my money back. Steve: Bad girl. Alright. Well maybe we'll end our discussion on fashion there. Next time you can ask me about my taste in fashion.
Jill: Great.
Steve: Thank you Jill.
Jill: Thank you. Bye.
Steve: Bye.
