Amanda Rose

Title: Amanda Rose Address: http://blog.myspace.com/amanda_3_rose Author: Amanda Rose from: North Park Blogging since: January 2005 Post Date: November 1, 2006 Post Title: Ugg-lies

Current mood: ranty and shallow. (This is a shallow, pointless rant. If you read this and think I'm being shallow, ranty, and pointless, consider yourself warned. Something enlightening and intellectual might follow in a week or so, in case you don't give up on me just yet.) My sense of fashion has always operated outside of what other people deem in style or cool. I seem to either deviate so far off the path that I can't be classified, or I just stick to the same jeans and T-shirts with an Amanda-style twist, like Princess Leia buns or a colorful scarf or huge silly sunglasses. My time in Buenos Aires and a subsequent (almost) week in San Francisco caused me to really look at the fashions around me and learn to appreciate the artistry, creativity, and individualism that went into the putting-together of people's attire. I can't say I like it when people buy expensive name brands and expect to impress. I'm inclined to find the thrift-store crazy ensemble more interesting to mentally dissect than a $50 T-shirt with some designer's name on it. (My brother actually had a physical reaction to Louis Vuitton bags. When he was on the El and someone with a LV bag sat down by him, he had to move. They totally freak him out. It's one of the things I love best about him.)

Nevertheless, I have grown in a fashion sense. Maybe a little bit with my own choice of clothes and accessories, but more so in not judging others' choices so much -- trying to appreciate the statement rather than pick apart the person. I know we all like to think we're nonjudgmental, but c'mon, let's be honest. "People-watching" is a favorite pastime, and it could just as well be called "people-bashing" or "let's make fun of everyone who walks by." It's not malicious, really. It's just something us evil, evil people do.

There are very clear exceptions to this rule of "all fashion choices of others are now okay with me," one of which is visible thongs. Another is intentionally exposed, dirty, nude-colored bra straps. Yuck. My latest complaint is running rampant all over SDSU campus, and I am simply enamored with how very ugg-ly the situation has become.

It's "winter" now in San Diego, which means that the weather feels like a nice Indian summer in the Midwest. It's a little cooler, and the days are shorter. It's perfectly reasonable to walk around in a tank top or T-shirt while the sun is out, so long as you have a sweater to cover up with when the wind blows. It actually does get "cold" here (though nowhere near as cold as back home).

Anyways, it is the habit of some of the more...sensitive local ladies to take winter as a signal for a complete wardrobe makeover, including buying and wearing full-on winter coats, hats, and gloves. I get the excitement of a total wardrobe change, it just seems a bit on the extreme end here -- the lows are in the high 50s, after all. I remember the days when I would take out my big trunk of pants and sweaters and get to wear clothes that had been hiding for months -- create new color schemes, try new combos. Even more fun is when summer comes back into town, and the skirts and sandals and skin-baring sundresses find their way back into the closet.

Here, the latest "in" winter accessory are Uggs. For the uninitiated out there, Uggs are huge boots that look as though they fit over other shoes. They are made of leather or suede and sometimes covered in real or very-real-looking faux fur. Now, don't get me wrong, I like Uggs, at least the plain ones. I think in wintry, cold places such as, I don't know, Wisconsin, these ginormous boots are stylish and even practical. But not here. Even though it gets cold, it never really gets cold. So be it. Hooray for fashion. Wear what you want when you want. My complaint is that these boots cost anywhere from $150 to $500, depending on the style you want. Most of the ones I've seen on campus are in the upper end of the price spectrum. (I did my research. I was curious -- I looked for prices online.) And the lucky young ladies on campus whose parents or boyfriends bought them Uggs have so much taste as to pair them, consistently, with saggy pajama pants.

I kid you not. It is a regular sight on campus to see some little-miss-thang strutting her stuff all just-rolled-out-of-bed style with her $400 Sasquatch feet completing her look impeccably. Now, I know this is shallow, and it doesn't matter, and who knows, you probably think that dirty, saggy pajama pants look great with furry Uggs. Especially when paired with a stretched-out thong peeking over the top of those saggy pants and a dirty bra-strap hanging out on the left shoulder. What do I know? Maybe they look incredible and I'm the crazy one. But this is my blog, so I say what I want.

I just have to change the lyrics of the song: "U-g-g-l-y, you ain't got no alibi, you ugg-ly."