Layering Sex in the City style

I was just watching an episode of Sex and the City that opened with a scene of Carrie playing around on a trapeze in the name of writing a new article.

I was bummed that I couldn't find the outfit she wore in the opening scene. But - her other workout outfit is equally as stylish.

What I think is really neat is how the idea of layering continues with her workout gear. The photo on the left really highlights this dynamic with the pink striped piece matched with the blue tie-dyed piece below.

I think that the idea of dressing in layers for a workout - throwing a strappy tank over a tight under top - is so unique. If not in the name of style, it's a way to use those strappy tops that are collecting dust in my closet.

Where the "bad" fairy comes from

When I started gardening and landscaping in the fall of 2009, I discovered a very peaceful and meditative world. It was in the midst of this enlightening time that I felt this incredible urge to bring my "pretty dirty girl" line of technical tops to market.

I find such indescribable beauty in plants and in designing with nature. It's been just over a year and I'm completely blown away by the colours and shapes that nature produces. One of the first blooms in my garden in the spring is my hot pink rhododendron (bottom of photo). The drama of this plant is intensified with the pairing of the soft pink flowers of the Wine & Roses in the background (taller mini tree).

Because I find such beauty in flowers, I wanted to create a design on the tech tops that reflected this. I also wanted to get across the idea that flowers can deliver a certain calm if you immerse yourself in them. What I came up with is the Tattoo shirt (next photo).

I started with a number of flowers I manipulated to create a pattern. I wanted very soft colours but still some contrast so used charcoals and soft pinks.

I used a fairy as a focal point on the back left of the top. The fairy represents me or any person that meanders about the garden and finds the same peace that I often find. For me, it conjures up this idea of having gentle wings on my trunk and buzzing unnoticed in the warm sun of the garden and being an observer of nature's beauty.

When I completely let myself go in running, I can conjure up that same feeling - sunshine, the buzz of insects all around, quiet hidden trails, the atmosphere almost engulfing you as you pedal your legs forward on nature's pathways.

I probably have just as much fun envisioning how I'm going to represent these tops to sell as I do in creating the designs. The funny part of labeling the collection "The Pretty dirty girl" is that we can be immersed in all this beauty, yet we still have to spit, stink and all the other humanly acts that accompany running - or gardening for that matter. It's this dichotomy that I wanted to capture in my photo shoot.

The first shoot never made publication but it was so much fun to do. My idea was to capture me in the Tattoo shirt climbing among trees and acting somewhat like the fairy buzzing about the woods. Here's the outcome:



















































Fun, but it just didn't capture what I was looking for. I came out of this shoot with a tear in my fave pair of pink cheetah sneakers too! I'm not even sure that I had the name of the shirt at this point. But I did with the idea for the shoot that eventually made publication.

In the next photo shoot the "Tattoo" top would feature me with big pouting lips like some "hardcore" biker yet riding an eco-friendly e-bike. A deep hot red e-bike but that's probably it for true harshness. The idea of the top being called Tattoo reinforced the "badness" it meant to represent.

I just love it as I love all things that seem unfathomable for the brain to process - a dichotomy - a sweet "biker" fairy. For me, it captures that perfect "pretty dirty girl" conundrum - the women is essentially beautiful and this is not compromised with all the spitting (well I spit!), sweating and stinking that running brings! Tattoo Top

I rocked like a star for 5k!

5k - No Way!

I did run a 5k once several years ago but the only reason I did was because we got to pick out a funky red dress to run in. I died my hair red to match and actually ran quite well. I was first woman but in all fairness, there was probably only myself and Lisa, also pictured here (left).

Lisa has never forgotten the Red Dress Run and has been bugging me for the past several years about my 5k time. I always run for time - as in, I did 1 hour or 4 hours today, not 10k or 40k.

So in the name of fun and good spirit, I suggested Lisa and I duel it out in a 5k race. Enter our club's Valentine's Day 5k road race.


Yes, yes - we hammed it up before the race start. I decided, after an epic run in snow filled trails yesterday followed by a hardcore twelve hour sleep that this was going to be a hoot.

I first dawned my new Succi, not Pucci Sugoi hat. I then turned to my own collection of funky running tops and decided I felt like a Rock Star this morning so threw that top on. A little running skirt and voila - I was dressed to kill! (A 5k that is)


Well here are Lisa and I at the start line - still hamming it up, or so I thought. Who in all of Southern Ontario didn't enjoy their run today with the temperatures reaching a balmy plus, not minus five degrees! Who cared about the 33 km/hr winds, down at the lake to boot!

This was going to be a jolly good run with us neck and neck all the way. You know - laughing, egging each other on. Lisa is deaf but I imagined us still calling out as best we could to each other on the course.

WAS I WRONG! Although we were standing beside each other right before the start, the little bugger edged her way to the sidelines right before the gun and then shot off into the clearing as the race started. "Damn" was all I thought and then "she's in this for real." So I mushed my touche in my hot little number and mozied pretty quickly on by a number of folks to catch up to Lisa.

I fell right in behind her and decided I needed to get my lungs in a rhythm before I started to compete. For about half of the course I neatly followed her keeping an equi-dstance between us. Then about half way through the race I saw her heading for a wide take on a street corner so took it really tight and voila (again), I got my edge and pulled ahead.

Lisa definitely gave me a run for the remainder of the race. The only significant other passing was by a beautiful Lululemon jacket with a funky cut and design in the back panel. I noticed little else.

At about the last k, Lisa pulled ahead of me. I knew it was do or die in that last bit so made a plan to progressive pick up the pace but leave some for the final run in. And there we were - the final stretch. The way it ended was that I made certain we crossed the finish line together. Although official results paint a different story (I had folded up my bib and hid it in my pocket as this fashionista does not like pinning her clothes!), I know that we crossed that line together.


And so, today I was a Rock Star.

Funny thing, the first thing I felt like when I crossed that finish line was chocolate milk.

Lisa did win a chocolate heart being the Valentine's 5k and all. And you know what? She shared half of it with me. I will tell you that someone told me Lisa is a choco-a-holic and shares her chocolate with NO ONE. How sweet is that!

How I became a Cheetah

I've been working on a piece about proper fit with our running clothes. It started with a visit to a local shop where I tried on a number of running pants and a jacket. Much to my dismay, I looked horrid in most of the pieces. I can attribute this to my unusually large weight gain over the Christmas holidays that's taking awhile to work off. For me, my problem spots are the top of my thighs and tummy.

Some all-too-familiar thoughts came to me as I stood there looking at the spandex disaster staring back at me in the change room mirror. I've heard them so many times before, "it doesn't matter how you look - these pants are for running."

That phrase has been on my mind all week as I've been researching proper fit for my body type. As part of my research, I went through photos of me from the past six years of running, canoeing and climbing mountains. For some outfits I actually thought "geez, I really wish this was never caught on film." But should I really have avoided spaghetti straps with my big shoulders and arms? Should I have not worn a light grey spandex short that showcased every bump in my pear-shaped figure with an equally unflattering top? Why does it matter and why am I way more excited these days to sport a cute running dress, skirt or flowery patterned top with dark pants?

The Confidence Continuum






From one perspective, it doesn't matter because just doing sports is a confidence builder in itself. I'm referring to inner confidence - that "umph" that shines through when someone knows exactly who they are and what they're doing. It's the person we all want to be around because they have a certain buzz about them - their own energy.

Running can definitely help boost our confidence. Think about how wonderful it feels finishing a race or a hill workout. We can feel on top of the world. If we think of confidence as ranging from weak to strong along a continuum, then sports can help move us further along that continuum.

But what if we have a bad run? What if we only run once a week? What if we run only in summers and do nothing all winter long? What if our physical pursuits turn us into a spoil sport when we don't win? What if our diet is atrocious in spite of all the exercise? What if we plain lose motivation to keep running? Or...what if we suffer plain jane with bouts of poor confidence?

Although sport is great for helping us to build real self-confidence, it's not infallible for exactly the reasons I identify above. To complicate matters, we need clothes to run in and clothes also fall on a continuum that affects our self confidence.

The Clothing Continuum






If we look at the clothing continuum from a running perspective, on the very far left we have folks that choose clothes just to cover their bodies while they run. Fit and feeling good in these clothes are irrelevant for the wearer. Fine and dandy, but consider this scenario:

I know that for most of my running life (some thirty years), I would always run at night. Why? Because I never really viewed myself as "a runner." Running was always training for other sports. That said, I preferred to go out at night when I knew there was little chance of being recognized as I huffed and puffed away in a big old t-shirt and un-matching shorts. I'm not alone in the "closet runner" syndrome. Not only was this reported in a recent interview with the owner of the Running Room franchise but it's quite the phenomenon among middle age women that are new to running (or working out in general) and are carrying extra weight, self-conscious about their aging bodies and/or have never done sports before! And it's probably not limited to middle aged women either.

In this scenario, fitting clothing to your body type is important to keep the workout momentum going. No use derailing your workout that is meant to build self confidence with clothes that work against your self confidence.



Let's consider now someone that sits somewhere along the middle of the continuum. This probably represents the bulk of female runners today. Compared to our everyday clothing needs, we probably only buy a few pieces of performance wear for running every year. Coupled with the problem of limited selection in mainstream stores, most wardrobes represent a mish-mash of performance tops and bottoms. We'd most likely find that most women are wearing running wear fitted to their bodies, but lacking in style. The latter is also a problem inherent to women in general. With the growing presence of small companies at expos that offer unique and stylish performance pieces, this is changing. This doesn't mean selection leads to style, but it certainly makes it easier.

This still doesn't mean that we choose pieces that are best for our body types. I'm going back to the questions I posed at the start of this article - should I ever have worn god-awful too-short and too-revealing, light grey spandex shorts? In looking back at photos I see they were definitely a bad choice for my body type. But in the midst of my activity, it mattered little. I was probably sitting somewhere in the middle of that confidence/clothing continuum. Today, I definitely am moving towards the far right of this line. This is an area of complete self-expression.

My choices in running clothing are funkier, hipper and they definitely represent more of my somewhat rebellious personality (for a fourty-something year old!). Part of this is finding funkier options out there (skirts, dresses, patterns). Part of this is learning what suits my body best in everyday wear (pear shape that morphs into something more athletic in the height of summer). But really, it has so much to do with moving along the continuum of confidence in life and the artist in me bursting out. As I've chatted about in earlier posts, when I run, I feel incredibly free. When I run trails - especially gnarly, hilly, even mountainous trails, I'm in my element. I feel my inner cheetah taking over and feel like I'm making my stamp on my territory. As running ultra distances has reinforced in my mind, it's not about the win, it's about the second to second experience that running delivers for me. It's about feeling alive and loving running. And dammit, there are companies that make running clothes that represent my cheetah nature so I'm going to dawn my cheetah-esque skin when I'm out there!

My permanent cheetah attire: