Whoop and Holler, sing and dance, stomp those feet and let it ring. I'm sick of wearing black. Sick of simple, expensive, conservative, elegant clothes. I want color, lots of singing bright color and pattern upon pattern, a riot of over the top designs. These women from Tanzania know how to dress for fun. They may have picked their costumes from a heap of hand me down rags, piled high by missionaries or UN workers. These ladies are not worried about being dressed for success, they are having fun.
So inspired off I go shopping for the rags of thrift stores. Hours go by and there is little to inspire as I hunt for bright color, flowers, stripes, layers. Visiting a second thrift store and nothing, I circle and circle my cart through the aisles of short and long sleeved shirts, plus sizes, pants, dresses, skirts, even lingerie but nothing. It is only when wandering to the back of the store to browse through linens that zap, and zap, and zap it happens. Without moving my feet there comes together the grandest of cottons, another, and another, and another. I scoop them up, a hat, a scarf, sarongs...
A straw hat,coco colored from Eddie Bauer, a silk scarf of muted browns, pinks, turquoise, and a cotton bordered cloth printed in geometric floral patterns in shades of coco, lavender, creme, and tangerine.
Then over there I spot a similar pattern just three hangers away in reds and oranges, then another one in muted golds and cobalt. Another and another. I have struck gold. A complete summer wardrobe here among the pillow cases, sheets, huge comforters,placemats and hand towels. The cloth at $1.99, the hat at $2.50' the silk scarf another $1.99. Matilda wheels her cart around to the next aisle and oh my goodness there are more fabulous cotton lengths, they are even seamed once to make a tube that would slide over the amplest hips. Gain, loose, even pregnant these garments work on any figure, fold neatly into small stacks, can be worn as dresses, skirts, shawls, even head wraps. They hide drips and smudges, dust and grease, launder lightly and look fabulous flapping in the breeze from any clothesline. With colorful tee shirts think of how many can be packed into a carry on suitcase! Sandals, beads, bangles, straw hat, here I come BEACH!
