Clockwise from top left: Ray-Ban aviator sunglasses, Dewit steel hoe, Eric Javits straw hat, Muck Daily gardening shoes, shrub roses, Atlas 370 gloves.
I see women so painfully contrived that they show up for toddler birthday parties in high-heeled mules and large hats à la Greta Garbo. Hello, we're inside and these are small people who tend to move in rapid and unpredictable ways. I'm all about dressing up but knowing when it's appropriate to don a sheer beach dress and wedges and when to keep on the gardening clogs is probably more important to personal style than fit or even taste.
And so it goes that we're in the throes of a season when being indoors is simply foolish. It's not not the chill of early April nor the brutal humidity of August. We're on the cusp of summer and you have no excuse for being overly dressed up with an unwillingness to have real sunlight touching your skin. Oh, the horror of a tan—the barbaric savagery of having garden dirt under your nails. Is that the woman you want to be? Not me. I don't want to be the woman who hires a gardener. I want to be the gardener. Okay, I want to be the stylish gardener.
I also don't want to be the woman who can't take a package from the UPS guy at the door because six pounds is too heavy for her dainty wrists. I don't want to be the woman who can't rake her own yard but will pay a trainer to exercise her, in a gym, then go home and Facebook about what a great workout she had while her kids are with a nanny. Two birds, one stone, girls. I can easily wear gardening shoes with a Comme des Garcons skirt and Complex Geometries tank without looking like a complete idiot.
Oh, and lucky me got to buy myself a new pair of Muck Dailies because my 20-year Saraizienne clogs finally cracked while digging in the new hedges. This is the way I want to be remembered. In my rolled up Levi's and Atlas gloves, laughing with my son over getting soaked with the hose and walking past the fruit of my labors, not because I had the most expensive sunglasses and perfect manicure. Go dig. Do it now. There is no down side to being a part of your own life, even if it means you get a little messy. You can always wash the clothes.
Madeline Meyerowitz is the owner of enokiworld.com, a website specializing in vintage designer clothing.
