Embracing A Fashion Faux Pas

Recently, Mr. Ji and I found ourselves on the upper west side. Such an occurrence does not happen all too often, so we decided to have brunch at Sarabeth's. As popular as Sarabeth's is, neither one of us had ever dined there. Aside from feeling slightly like we were in a college cafeteria due to the other clientele, the meal was enjoyable. However, what was most enjoyable, if not perhaps slightly painful, was listening in on the first and/or blind date scenario that was going on right next to us. Similar to many restaurants in the city, we were practically sitting on top of them, thus there was no need to strain in order to listen in. (Nota bene to my single friends, in my humble opinion Sarabeth's is not a good first/early date place.)

The blind daters were a couple in their early to mid twenties. She was sort of cute and showed a good attempt at being fashionable. He was sort of (ok, very) dorky and registered a negative on the fashionable scale. From the moment we sat down, it was obvious that she was merely focusing on getting to the end of the subject blind date. Poor girl. I give her credit because at least she was nice. Single Ji would have never stayed in such a boring circumstance.

I'm guessing that a common trait with nervous dorks is that they tend to talk too much. Though merely speculation here, such was fact for the dorky blind dater. (Mr. Ji and I both wanted to turn to dorky blind dater and tell him to shut his pie hole for a minute.) One of the many topics that the blind daters covered was a fashion faux pas, that I admit, I have readily embraced: wearing sneakers to work.

Dorky blind dater was confused by it and asked sort of cute blind dater what she thought. She told him that she would never wear sneakers to work. Now friends, there was once a time that Ji said she would never wear sneakers to work as well. And, honestly, this is a faux pas that took time to grow on me. Furthermore, if Ji was still on the market, I probably would not be seen in sneakers. However, with age and commitment comes a sense of practicality that seeps into ones life. No matter how fabulous one once was.

I remember a couple of years ago when my friend "Dante" came to have lunch with me and I wore my sneakers. (Admittedly, I wouldn't normally wear them to lunch with someone but I had been working 90 hours a week at the time and just. didn't. care. You've all been there, I'm sure.)Dante was aghast that I would be wearing sneakers and running sneakers at that!

I've since gotten some cute Pumas. Everytime I'm wearing my Pumas and I see a woman in her stilletos, I give her a silent nod for being cute but I grin to myself for being comfortable.

What truly sealed the deal for me and embracing the sneaker faux pas was 9/11. (Sorry to bring up such a heavy subject but necessity calls here.) After 9/11, the blackout in '03 and the most recent transit strike, I believe every city girl should have a pair of sneakers with her at all times. This doesn't mean you must wear them everyday but keep them in your gym bag. Because in a city as dynamic as ours, one never knows when a fashion faux pas may become a fashion lifesaver.