WT Interview

New WT, new interview:

The NEW (if not Improved) Opening Questionnaire

1. Thinking primarily (but not necessarily exclusively) about looks, who's your favorite performer of your own gender and species? Why?
   
   Possibly Susan Sarandon on a good day (though, based on my image search, there are a lot of bad days...)
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. If you could live in any historic era with a really good clothing budget (as well as soap, toothpaste, and delicing as needed), when would you choose?
   
   It seems to be the popular choice, but I'm also going Postwar.  It just suits me all over.  And you don't even need to mess with space-time continuum for basic sanitation.
   
   
3. What's your favorite painting or other form of visual art? Why?
   
   In general, I prefer to look at design and craft than at art - architecture, furniture, textiles, jewelry.  As art proper goes, I run toward expressionism.  In both cases, I guess I'm kind of into the 20th century.  The Art Institute of Chicago opened a new Modern Wing last year, and my favorites the last time I visited were:
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Franz Marc - The Bewitched Mill 1913
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Jackson Pollock - The Key 1946.  
   I mostly like this because the notion of a Pollock landscape is so intriguing.
   
   
   Some of my other favorites from the AIC collection are here.  And though Cookbook beat me to it, I'm also a fan of Charley Harper.  Also the more colorful offerings of Alex Beard.
   
   
4. What is your first memory in which clothes are important?
   
   The first item of clothing I can think of is an awful pale blue floral maternity smock that my mother was wearing (while pregnant) in 1982.  The first item of my own clothing I remember is a teal blue terrycloth shirt with a pink and orange satin applique butterfly, that I wore through most of my early elementary years.  At the time, I also wore a school uniform (a burgundy jumper). 
   
   After I left that school, I remember being embarrassed and annoyed that my mother bought me a pair of thin-whale yellow corduroy pants - apparently, they were totally out of style, but I thought it would be childish of me to tell her that, so I wore them and hated it - a lot off my memories from that period were along those lines.  This didn't turn me into a rebel fashionista - on the contrary, I suffered for ages with the notion that wearing clothes you hate is a necessary part of dignified maturity.  Thankfully, I got over it, but not nearly soon enough.
   
   
5. What is your favorite garment ever? Why?
   
   I don't usually do well with superlatives, so the next few questions will peeve me slightly.  I guess probably the mandarin-collar cocktail dress - black satin with green, gold and pink.  I got it for $12 at a second hand store in Ithaca my senior year of college.
   
   
6. What is your favorite garment in your wardrobe right now?
   
   I still have the dress above, but as far as things that see more regular rotation, a brown lace over teal sheath dress I got about 5 years ago for about $10 on clearance.
   
   
7. What is the worst clothing purchase you can remember making?
   
   I've gotten good at getting rid of misguided purchases pretty quickly. I'm having a very hard time thinking of any that are particularly picturesque. 
   
   
8. What's your most embarrassing clothing-related memory other than a bad purchase?
   
   It would probably involve wearing a pair of pants with a safety-pinned hem for their entire useful life.  Because no, that hasn't happened more than once.
   
   
9. What body part (no more than three!) are you proud of and expect compliments on?
   
   Hair, eyes, shoulders (they're very straight).  Though I don't suppose I expect compliments on the last, at least not from the general public, because that would be weird.
   
   
10. What body part (again, no more than three!) seems to require management, if not coaxing, cajoling, and sometimes outright begging if it's to please you?
    
    Gah, I don't like talking about that sort of thing.  There are issues, but I basically like what I've got.  One safe sample - I naturally carry more weight in my face and hands than I'd like, but there's not a great deal of cajoling to be done with either of those.
    
    
11. If you could dress however you wanted all the time, what might you include?
    
    Skirts and sweaters, which isn't far off how I dress anyhow.
    
12. If you could shop at any store (or from any designer), which would you choose?
    
    I don't have aspirational targets that I can identify.  I suppose if money were no object, I'd just buy the highest available quality versions of the same styles I choose anyway.
    
    
13. Where do you ordinarily shop now?
    
    Over the past year, almost exclusively Kohl's, Carson's, Target, and the thrift store in Wood Dale.
    
    
14. What clothing, accessory, or prettifying need (if any) do you enjoy shopping for?
    
    Dresses. I'm one of the fortunate few for whom dresses minimize the fit issues.  Also jewelery.
    
    
15. Which one do you most loathe shopping for?
    
    Trousers of all types, and usually shoes.
    
    
16. Do you consider yourself low-, medium-, or high-maintenance?
    
    Medium.  I don't dry my hair, but I do brush it. I use multiple skin care products, but I buy them all at Target.  I wear makeup most days, but if pressed could make it from bed to door in 20 minutes without skipping anything.
    
    
17. What are the two most frequent occasions that you dress for and how would you describe them?
    
    Work - assorted business casual; for me, usually the skirt-and-sweater thing.  I'm glad it's getting warm enough that skirts are regularly doable again.
    
    Non-work casual - either the same as work, dressed down, or jeans with shirt/blouse/sweater-knit hoodie.
    
    
18. What was your favorite Hallowe'en costume ever?
    
    I don't care for Halloween and never did, even as a child (not for reasons of religious or dental fervor, for the record - it's just a matter of preference).  I remember being a clown at 3, probably because there are pictures, but not much else.
    
    
19. What do you see as the current problem(s) with your wardrobe and/or look?
    
    
    
    • My template is shifting, and I'm missing some building blocks.
      
    • I never get around to fixing things.  As usual.
      
      
20. At the end of WT, what lovely compliments do you want onlookers to give you?
    
    
"You always look very nice."  I'm pretty straightforward.