February 5, 2020 - 145 - "Change and Alteration"

Try It!  You Might Like It!    

There was a box sitting in my office for about a month and a half.  It loomed larger and larger every time I noticed it.  It contained my new uniform pieces.  We have to be ready to wear them to work starting March 2.  

     There was a major uproar about our last uniforms.  Lots of people had reactions to them.  I was lucky not to have that to deal with.  It led to a lot of issues for a lot of people, and also a work force wearing all sorts of random uniform pieces.  Our older blue ones, items kinda-sorta matching the current charcoal gray uniforms...and an array of items that really didn't resemble either one.  

     The new uniforms have been tested and retested, so hopefully that problem will be a thing of the past.  But the problem that's always been there is the question of how they fit.  The blue uniforms we wore for the first 20-ish years of my career, for the most part, didn't look great no matter what you did.  The jacket was boxy, the fabric looked like the polyester that it was.  Most of the pieces you could spend your whole paycheck altering and they'd still look terrible.  The only people who really looked good in them had taken them on trips to Asia and had tailors completely take them apart and put them back together.

    The charcoal uniforms did have the advantage of being more fitted to begin with, so you could have them tailored to fit pretty well. 

Love Me Some Uniform-ity

     Personally, I just love having a uniform.  I began my career in corporate life, where outfits were not provided...but were necessary for success.  I resented every penny I spent on all those 'I'd really rather not wear this' clothes.

     Now I just  love not spending my money on work clothes.  I love not thinking 'what am I going to wear today?'

Turn and Face the Strange Ch-Ch-Changes

    Still, I was dreading trying on the new ones because time is closing in and I was afraid I'd have to exchange half of the items, and have a huge job for the tailors for all of the pieces 

    We get reimbursed for tailoring...but nowhere near how much the market value actually costs.  A hemming allowance is something like $4, jacket fitting is $10...or something about like that.  Every single item I had changed cost more than double the allowances.  But, I figured, they do provide our uniforms to us, and it's worth it to feel good in them.

     I learned from an online fashion group I'm in that 'selfies don't lie'.  So I take pictures of most things I wear.   These pictures are without makeup, doing my hair, or panty hose...and I notice my face does weird things when I'm not thinking I'm taking a photo of me, but just focusing on he clothes.   Anyway...here's a sneak peak...



     I wasn't relishing having to mess with it all.  Waiting to get the pieces back, finding time to try them on at the tailors...wait for them to get fixed, and go pick them up.  About a week ago I sat down at my desk, saw the box, and thought:  'Oh, hey, I actually have time to try those on!'

     I'd seen the uniforms on mannequins when I went to the learning center to do my yearly re-qualification classes.  

    My reaction:  meh/Ho hum.  From across a room you couldn't tell the difference between them and any other uniform I'd ever been issued to wear.   

Slightly big, slightly too
long in the sleeves...
but overall:  I like.

     But when I actually tried them on I was pleasantly surprised.  a) everything looked nicer up close, b) the quality was great, c) almost every single piece actually fit me!  (Miracle of miracles!)

     I need to exchange the blazer for a smaller size and in petite.  (I am not petite, in general, but am a little short-waisted.)  The jacket looked a bit long, and the sleeves looked waaaaay too long.  I looked at the specs. for the petite size and that should be perfect.

    I tried on the pants, though I've never felt very comfortable working in them.  These fit particularly terribly so I'm returning those.  Other than that I loved all of the items.  They have kind of a 40's vibe to them; a fitted blazer over a pencil skirt. 

Trying to make it look
like it fits better.

Love this cardigan.
Soft, fitted, quality zipper.

Loooove this dress!  

     The only piece I really loved from our navy 'back-in-the-day' uniforms was the dress.   (btw Saying navy made me think of this tidbit" . We used to have an employee uniform swap store we called 'Old Navy'.  You could buy pieces others didn't end up wearing for a small charge and the money went to the Wings foundation, a charity for flight attendants effected by lay offs or natural disasters where they live.) Anyway, the charcoal uniforms dress would have cost hundreds to try to make right to fit me so I wore other pieces.

    But this one actually fits...without changes.  It's cute!

    I'm psyched that the dress is an option again.  It's the 'one and done' angle that I like as far as dressing for work.  Plus:  no ironing of shirts every night before a trip (at home) and then in hotel rooms...wiping the goo off the iron (did a flight attendant heat a pizza with it...yeah:  that's a thing) before using...wishing for steam that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't!  Hooooraayyy!  Zero ironing!

Got mostly white blouses...only one of the print. 
The jury's still out on this one.   Seems like a lot
going on.  Michael suggested that
I'd like it better when I get bored of white
every day.  ...I can see that.  

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"Love is not love which alters it when alteration finds."*

-William Shakespeare

*Except with a uniform.  It's hard to love a uniform you have to completely rebuild to make presentable.

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"You don't feel as self-conscious if your clothes fit."

-Rachel Ray“