Thursday, June 23, 2011

Throwback Thursday - Wardrobe Woes

I booked a commercial for Maaco and it shoots tomorrow and Tuesday in Philly. This is great news, right? I mean, I was pretty stoked. It pays okay and we could definitely use the cash (even though the agent gets 10% and the babysitter gets a cut, too). There will inevitably be a make-up artist and hairstylist, and that part, I always really look forward to. There will also be a stylist... and this is where my day started to go a tad south.

You see, on every shoot, we actors are expected to bring wardrobe along. Yes, even though the client hires a stylist, we are also supposed to schlep a bag of stuff to the shoot in the event that the things we own are cuter or look nicer than the brand new things the stylist brings. That never happens. At the beginning of my career, I enthusiastically brought a small suitcase full of clothing items, shoes, and jewelry; but now that I'm a bit more seasoned, I know better. Because I'm not a fashionista, I hardly ever go shopping, I wear the clothes I buy for years, and my stuff is never, ever, ever chosen over the stylist's items. I mean, come on! It's her job! I'm supposed to say my lines and smile into the camera, but I should not (for the sake of the commercial) be in charge of my own wardrobe.

I wish I were more fashionable, wish I had more money to spend on clothes or more closet space to store them, but alas, it just isn't so.

So I just got off the phone with the stylist for this Maaco shoot and she's really nice. She even told me not to apologize for my (sorry) wardrobe! But the reason I'm now having a not-as-good-as-before-her-phone-call day is because she needed me to bring along tailored slacks, skirts, and dresses. When I told her I wasn't quite back into all of my clothes yet due to the squealing baby she could hear in the background, she told me that was fine. She just needed to know what items fit, in what size, from what store so that she could shop for me. That's when we got off the phone and I had to try on most of the contents of my closet before calling her back to say, "I'm a 4 in Old Navy and Gap, but a 6 or 8 in H&M, and stretchy fabrics are my friends, etc."

And hey! Those are respectable sizes! I'm not complaining. For a girl who just had a baby, does not exercise, and eats chocolate and drinks Coca Cola every day, I look pretty good and have zero right to complain. But I still feel a little bummed. 

And it's not entirely about not fitting back into the huge pile of clothes on my bed. It's also about being in a new chapter of life. It's about looking at the state of my wardrobe and realizing that it's no longer divided into: casual, bar/club, school, work-out, business, wedding/church, etc. Now it's: audition, maternity, and a bunch of clothes that don't fit my body or my lifestyle.

It's like I grew up. And it's time that my wardrobe grows up, too. Do I really want to be that Real Housewife that drops her kids off at school in mini skirts and slogan tees? And the worse part is that even though I know that my wardrobe needs an update, I know it won't happen overnight. So until then, friends, you'll have to continue to see me in the same clothes all the time... and stylists on shoots will continue to have to work harder when given talent like me.

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