A Jill Story: The Betseys

I went Christmas shopping with my sister on Saturday afternoon.

Let's review that statement in a bit more detail for a moment.

I went Christmas shopping on the last Saturday before the big holiday--crazy? No, the mall was surprisingly navigable.

I went shopping with my sister--asking for an argument? No, we got along very well and accomplished our tasks without any eye rolling or huffing. It was a very enjoyable afternoon, all told.

As I was saying, I went shopping with my sister. We were in the Bay and we were supposed to be looking for gifts but found ourselves in the tights and hosiery section. She needed black tights. I was just browsing, but then I spotted a pair of shimmery, opaque gold tights.

"These look fun!" I said and showed them to my fashion consultant.

"You should get them. They're 30% plus save the tax," she said.

"But what would I wear them with?"

"Anything!" She said. "Black skirt or dress."

I mentally flipped through my closet and tried to imagine an outfit. Would I just end up looking like Glitter and Gold Jem? Or a wrestler with an office job by day?

"Okay, but can I wear these, or are they just for girls with the spindly little stick legs?"

"Yeah, you can totally wear them. It's patterns that are hard to pull off." See? She knows what she's talking about.

Even though I was trying to behave and not spend money on me because I was supposed to be buying gifts, the tights were just impossible to pass up. Later, my sister mused that she wished she could have a pair. When I grabbed a pair in her size, she said to me (seriously, this is what she said), "I don't know what I would wear with them though. And I shouldn't be spending money on myself right now. I'm trying to be good." I eventually convinced her to buy them too.

I issued a challenge to myself that day to find a fabulous outfit to wear the tights with on Monday. On Monday morning I thought better of it and decided I would save the outfit for Wednesday so I could continue wearing it to Christmas Eve dinner. Then I rethought the whole brand strategy again, called the New York office, consulted with another fashion advisor (Amara) and decided the tights would come out on Tuesday (essentially since Amara was not going to be at work on Wednesday and she needed to see these fabulous things).

So this morning I put together the outfit and proceeded to pick out the shoes. I decided a black peep toe would be perfect, but for some reason I could only find one half of the pair. With only minutes to spare, I searched my house for the missing shoe and came up empty--footed? Then I looked over at the Betseys, sitting pretty under my tree. Could they? Would they? Yes. Oh baby yes.

I carefully placed them in a bag and toted them to work. I also brought an alternate pair of much less stellar shoes to wear in case I had to leave my carpeted office area (for fear that the tile floors plus bits of gravel and dirt would scratch up the soles of the Betseys.)

I took pictures and got friends to take pictures. I was totally enamored with my gold self today.

The Betseys