Thursday, June 26, 2008

Purple

For many years I had a bright red winter coat. A knee-length swing coat, kinda posh. People loved it. I bought it Before Children, when I had money to spend on myself. I wore that coat nearly every day for 8 winters, because we'd run out of money for spending on anything that wasn't necessary. It meant that I got very sick of that coat. (If you've ever read Rilla of Ingleside, think of how Rilla ended up feeling about her frivolous hat and you'll have an idea how I felt.) Because winter always started with What a fabulous coat! but ended with Couldn't miss you in your red coat!! or suchlike. In the last 3 years I just wanted to scream at anyone who mentioned anything about the sodding red coat. And mention it they did. Here's my advice to coat buyers. A bright coat should only be purchased if you have more than one to choose from. Take it from me. They should tell you that in coat shops.

This winter, purple is very much in fashion. And the tap business is doing quite nicely. So this was the year I retired the red coat (hur-RAH!!!) and bought myself a funky little purple parka from K-mart; for under $50 I might add. It's warm, it's my colour and it's not bright red. I'm a happy coat-wearer once more. Meantime, what with my extra dollars and the profusion of purple everywhere, I can, if I wish, step out every day adorned in my favourite colour. And generally I do wish. If you've got it, flaunt it, I say. Also, given that my handbag, wallet, gloves and coat are all purple these days, even if I don't dress in purple I am still predominantly ... purple. What this currently means for me is that every day someone makes a comment about my purpleness. I'm not exaggerating. E-v-e-r-y day. Not that I really mind, I don't dress the way I do so that I'll fade into the background. It's just that I now understand parents of twins who roll their eyes when they get the inevitable "double trouble" type comment. I wonder if it would happen if I wore brown all the time.

Anyway as if to prove I really do have a problem with my current levels of lavender, look what I bought:

Yep. Purple tap shoes. Unsurprisingly, I have been lusting after these for ages but it was a want-not-a-need. Eventually, however, I realised I wasn't quite happy with my oh-so-comfortable Capezio Oxfords - I used to swear by Capezio tap-shoes but this particular model was just not as good as they used to be. Then the last pair of shoes I bought were the ladyshoes which I needed for doing girly-tap performances. I justified this latest purchase to Fixit (What do you need more tap shoes for? How many pairs do you have now?) by telling him but these ones are PURPLE; furthermore, they were on sale!! (reduced by 20%). This is always a good thing to say, I've found. And in this case it was true, but it was just a happy accident that I rocked up to buy them at sale time.

When I wore them on Tuesday night I was shocked by how heavy they were. They weigh 150grams more than my old shoes, the difference felt enormous. But it didn't seem to make much difference once I got used to them. They're absolutely great. I loved tapping in them. And I think the extra weight in them means less work for me in terms of belting out the sound - very important for teaching because it helps keep the students on the beat. And the purpleness I think just adds to the sound. All right I made that up. But chances are I'll look very colour co-ordinated when I wear them, always a bonus.

So.. umm.. yeah. My name is Stomper Girl and I am a purple-holic.

26 comments:

  1. I have a red coat that I bought from Target 2 winters ago. Red is still my favourite colour. Lucky it was a cheap coat to allow for a change in preference. :D

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  2. Awesome tap shoes ...so much better than the standard black or beige. truly scrumptious!
    I'm jodie and I think I'm a blog...aholic

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  3. Those shoes are truly too cool for (tap) school. I love them!

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  4. I have a bright red coat. THe beauty of North Queensland is that I only have to wear it three times per year and only hear three comments per year.

    I love the purple tap shoes. They have a gangster look. That is a good thing for tap shoes!

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  5. You HAD to buy those tap shoes . They are fantastic -

    I have to be very careful with the colour orange. VERY careful.

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  6. Love love love the tap shoes. You will love those forever, I can just tell.

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  7. auwell, at least you're out of the closet.

    Which is meant, vaguely, as a clothes pun, but didn't quite come off.

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  8. I saw that purple parka! I took Son #2 into Kmart yesterday for new jeans (he begged me for new jeans, not from Savers this time) and I passed a rack of puffy parkas, fondled the purple one and thought of you.

    God, that didn't come out right.

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  9. Oh yes, I know the coat thing well.
    I bought a pink coat last winter - the only pink item in my wardrobe.
    If I get another "here comes the lady in pink" type comment I'll scream.
    Next coat will be beige or charcoal.
    Love the tap shoes. I'm sure purple taps better. I do love that tap shoe sound.

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  10. Those shoes are great. And there is purple everywhere. I have bought quite a bit of it myself.

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  11. So you're saying you like purple? I'm not sure it's clear.

    Mary has a good point. Be grateful purple is your favorite color and not burnt orange. Or pepto pink. That could get ugly in a hurry.

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  12. Gorgeous shoes...but...I was waiting for a picture of your coat!! Yes?

    Heidi

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  13. Yep, I also want to see the new coat.

    I'm glad the post ended the way it did, with the happy purchase of tap shoes. I was convinced that it was going to lead to your having to disguise the red coat in various bizarre ways, such as having antimacassars hanging off your shoulders.

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  14. I've always wanted a red coat. I never considered what it'd be like to wear it over and over and over again.

    I loved reading Rilla when I was a kid. Easily the best of the 'Ingleside' books.

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  15. I love your purpleness SG! I am very partial to purple myself, so it gave me pause when my lovely Bulgarian friend, Julia, told me one day, when we were exploring Brussels on foot and came near the district where ladies flaunt themselves in windows, that in Bulgaria purple is the colour of "ladies of the evening!" I am certainly not one of them, but I still wear purple, but not if I'm with a friend from Bulgaria!

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  16. Hands up for Rilla of Ingleside.. and Anne of Everything. Go purple! There should be more of it.

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  17. I love your red coat.
    I envied you your red coat.
    I covet your red coat.
    RIP your red coat

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  18. I don't think that red coat would bother me for some reason .. but then, nearly all my clothes are from 'when I worked', so I get used to wearing the same thing over & over again.

    I have a lot of choc brown and baby pink and white. I've only noticed this fairly recently ( well, I knew about the white :p ).

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  19. Hurrah for you, & your new Purple taps!!
    I would rather purple any day, than r.e.d.

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  20. Me, too, on the purpleness. In fact, my next post will be my Love of the Purple.
    It's a Power Color, you know. I think it's why only royalty was allowed to wear it at some point. Or am I making that Up?

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  21. OMG I hate red!
    But I love purple. I love your new shoes! Go tap well!!

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  22. I remember once a man said to me, "You, you don't look like a red kinda wearing girl. Nope, you couldn't wear red." It made me really angry. I wore so much red for the next 10 years I am now officially sick of red. Now I wear a whole lotta black. Not because I'm morose but because my butt seems to be growing...
    Thanks for coming over via daysgoby.

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  23. Well, I do wear brown, about as obsessively as you wear purple, and no people don't comment on it, much. Not as much as every day.
    My brown parka, which is puffy like yours, is also from Kmart.

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  24. I have been trying to find purple tap shoes for ages!! Can I ask where you bought them?

    Please email deanna1986@gmail.com with an answer if you can, thanks!!

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