Poor Man's Velvet

Today, I did something, that I swore I would never do again.

I wore corduroy.

Well it gets worse. I bought corduroy and then I wore corduroy.

I assume most of you right now are contemplating how to tell me that I have gone off the deep end. "What the heck is this girl writing a blog on corduroy for?" "Has she completely lost it?"

Well, let me explain.

Growing up in south Florida, corduroy was considered something that the kids without a lot of money wore. JB and I attended a private school where we did not wear uniforms, and let me just tell you that those rich kids I went to school with wouldn't be caught dead wearing . . . corduroy.

Years later, when we moved to Kentucky, JB and I were walking through the mall, and we saw some people wearing this ungodly fabric on PURPOSE! We both looked at each other and nearly gasped! What were they doing? I asked JB if he held as much animosity toward corduroy as I did. Of course he did! We both realized that the reason the "not-rich" kids wore these pants was because they held up for a long-time and were therefore infamous for serving as hand-me-downs.

So I did some research on corduroy online and came to find out that our animosity toward it was actually founded on some actual concrete facts. One definition reads "At one time the ribs were cut by hand, one at a time. They were then brushed to raise the pile. It was in effect a kind of poor man's velvet because its pile is made of cotton rather than more expensive materials like silk or satin." Another description read: "Corduroy was generally looked down on by fashion writers in the 19th Century. One writer, Sydney Webb, declared that corduroy had been regulated to the use of navies and tramps."

However, over the past few years, I have realized that the teasing I took as a child for my corduroy was because I went to school with spoiled-rich-snobs, and that, quite honestly, corduroy could be fairly stylish.

I have mentioned my "new friend" Kelsey Spoon a few times on my blog. Kelsey recently married one of JB's classmates and also took a job at RLS. Kelsey and I have a lot in common. For one, we both played Division I basketball. Check out Kelsey in uniform! Kelsey also lives five floors up from us in our buildling. And, we also wear the same size pants! Kelsey is a little shorter and a little thinner, however, we both share the neverending quest to find stylish pants with good length. So we decided to go in together at Alloy and sharing the free shipping.

And that brings me to how I started this blog. Without any prodding from Kelsey, and with the full agreement of my husband, I bought, not one, but TWO pairs of corduroy pants from Alloy.

Forget being the poor man's velvet. I have since learned that rich snobs aren't necessarily the only people who know how to dress. So the picture above, now hangs in my closet, in not one, but two colors, and I thought it was time I hide my embarrassment and let the world know!

I am okay with poor man's velvet.

I am okay with corduroy.