Oh, I hope my consignors don't read Mary Alice Powell's column today.

Did you see her column in today's paper? I don't usually read it, but the headline was about what to wear on Easter to church. Today IS Easter Sunday, so that advice is a little late. So I thought 'this'll be good.'

OHMIGOD! She is advocating holding onto old clothes and decried that now is the time to get them out and wear them. Mary Alice, what were you thinking????

Her main point of the article is how nice it would be if women were to wear more skirts and dresses instead of pants. I have no problem with that. But then . . . So what goes around comes around in fashion . . . There's a reason we hung on tight to our favorites even when the slacks craze overcame us . (Mary Alice, the slacks craze began over 30 years ago!)

And then the worst: For Easter Sunday church, she decided to wear a suit she had stored in her attic. The suits were culled from the attic and are estimated to be at least 15 years old. (editorial note: !!!!!!!!) They were classics when new and I believe I will feel OK wearing them all these years later. I am glad that I saved them. (The word "classic" is almost a joke among us resalers. It's a word others use for "out of style, but I hope you don't notice.")

Okay, I'll give my fashion-savvy readers a few minutes to recover. ____________________________________________________________________________
Those of you who know me well know that I'm a pack rat. Guess I feel if I throw anything away, I'll need it some day. And it just happened - last night while cleaning out a bookcase, I found a handful of magazines from 1997. Of course, I don't throw out magazines without going through them. I laughed at the styles. One picture in particular showed 7 or 8 women in suits - the sort of one piece dress/suit that was popular then. They were butt-ugly and shouted "I'm out of style!" And that was only 11 years ago. (And don't confuse 'vintage' with 'out of style.')

I threw the magazines out and of course, wanted to photograph them this morning to put in this post (by then, my neatnik husband had thrown them in with the nasty, smelly garbage).

It is true that in the fashion world, styles do come back. But as my friend and image consultant Louise Kahle knows(see her blog at take-the-time.blogspot.com) , when a style re-emerges, it's always a little different - different enough to be noticed and clearly differentiated from its predecessor.

So if any of my consignors read this, please don't let Mary Alice's opinion influence what you bring in to me. And if Mary Alice reads this, I understand if you don't like what I've said. But you haven't been in my store in 10-1/2 years (as far as I know), so I've got nothing to lose.

If you read Mary Alice's column today, was your reaction similar to mine?

P.S. My husband suggested she might still be in Florida for the winter. Don't Florida church-going women care how they look?)