Long before Julia Roberts slipped one on with thigh-high boots in the movie Pretty Woman, I was wearing mine. My high-waisted, exceptionally short black leather skirt was the staple of my 1980s wardrobe, along with a multitude of off-the-shoulder sweatshirts, bustiers, and stirrup pants.
Recently, I found that tiny leather skirt buried in a trunk of clothes and the mere sight of it brought back memories of a time when my knees weren’t wrinkled, my breasts were six inches higher, and I thought a muffin top was just the top layer of a muffin. As I held the skirt in front of me and wondered how I ever managed to fit one thigh inside the skirt—let alone zip it up without breaking a blood vessel—the sweet smell of leather wafted up to my nose and the memories of a simpler time came flooding back.
When I pulled on that leather skirt many years ago, I was able to transform my innocent, good girl image to a rock ‘n roll bad girl image in five seconds flat. I’d always been the student who never got in trouble in school with the exception of sixth grade when I stuck my pencil up my nose and left it hanging there while the teacher lectured just two feet in front of me. At work, I had perfect attendance, a meticulously clean desk, and always met my deadlines. While driving, I courteously waved others in front of me, consistently drove the speed limit, and never screamed out the window, “Move it, Grandma!”
But when I put on that leather skirt, I became someone else. It was like magic. Suddenly, I loved Metallica instead of Michael Jackson, bad boys instead of good boys, and red lipstick instead of lip gloss. Miss Goody-Two-Shoes, the nickname that stuck to me from grade school through high school, no longer applied. My leather skirt clung tightly to my legs as I swirled around the dance floor at local clubs and for just a night here and there, I got to be that girl I’d always secretly admired from a distance. She lived her life with just an element of danger, a bit of calculated risk, and a whole lot of fun. She was no better or worse than me—just a different kind of Spirited Woman.
On the floor in front of the trunk that day, I had made two piles of clothes—one to give away and one to keep. I smiled as I gently laid the leather skirt on the pile to keep. Even though I don’t wear the skirt anymore, it serves as a reminder of a time when I was still learning exactly what my spirit needed to thrive, dance, and spread joy to others. Every time I think my life is becoming just a little too uneventful, I mentally slip on that skirt and remember the inspiring quote by Leo Buscaglia that says, “The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live.”
It turns out that skirt did have magic powers after all.
- Vicky De Coster - www.wackywomanhood.com
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She's
baaaack ... and badder than ever! A former member of the original
Spirited Woman Blogger Team, Vicky DeCoster is an award-winning humor
writer and the author of Husbands, Hot Flashes, and All That
Hullabaloo! and The Wacky World of Womanhood. She has been published in
over 60 magazines, books, and on several web sites. Vicky lives in
Nebraska with her husband and two children where she is working on her
third book of humorous essays.
Mine is black satin. I wore it on my 21st birthday. My boyfriend (now husband) took me to dinner. I'm not sure when else I wore it, but that photo is on our fridge, and the skirt is in my closet.
Posted by: Raffi | January 04, 2010 at 07:02 PM
Vicky I LOVE THIS! I too have a famous leather skirt that sits idle in the closet no longer an appropriate piece of attire for my aged body. I just can't part with it however...it's been one of my favorite things for far too long. I did pull it out for a girl's party where we celebrated Cher's never can say goodbye tour...thinking about it now...How appropriate that would be the last time I wore it. Thanks for the memories and laughs.
Posted by: Gina McNew | December 19, 2009 at 08:38 AM