What Not to Wear

I know that I've been busy lately, but where was I when wearing your satin cap outdoors became a fashion and beauty trend?

Now, I'm all about satin: I have a satin pillowcase, a satin cap, and a red satin nightgown! I understand that covering your hair in satin can protect your style and prevent breakage.  However, some people are taking the use of this beauty supply staple too far!  For example, today on the way to Dunkin' Donuts, Chloe and I noticed a woman walking down 145th Street wearing a shiny black satin cap in BROAD DAYLIGHT.  Chloe looked at me and asked with the utmost sincerity, "Do people wear satin caps outside now?"  I don't like to make judgmental statements about other people in front of her (I save those for my friends and co-workers) so I chuckled, as did the people around us who heard her question, and we continued with our day.

No Ma'am; This is not a look!

Hours later, Chloe and I were headed to Chez Lucienne for lunch and we saw another woman wearing a satin cap walking down 125th Street.  I tried to whip out my iPhone to take her picture, but Chloe had the good sense to stop me.  We sat down to enjoy Riesling (me) and Earl Grey (Chloe) and we spotted a third bedtime bandit walking along looking like she did not have a care in the world.  Chloe asked me why we had seen three women in satin caps in less than three hours.  I turned the question around on her, and asked what she thought about it.  She thought for a moment and replied "not appropriate."

The second irksome fashion trend I have noticed recently is women (and girls) wearing their hair in a wrap, pins and all.  I have had arguments with my students about this when they showed up to special events looking like they just stepped out of the Dominican hair salon on a rainy day.  Why do middle-school girls think that it is ok to wear their hair in a 'doobie' on Dress-Up Day? Maybe it's a generational thing, but in my mind, wearing pins to school is almost as bad as sitting in class with a head full of pink rollers.  I don't care what Ms. Fenty does on the red carpet, a wrap is a preparation for a hairstyle, not a hairstyle in itself.  

This is not about respectability politics in a traditional sense.  I'm not really concerned with what white people will think when they see a black or Latina woman walking down the street in sleeping attire.  The more important issue here is what that women thinks about herself.  There is something about the caps and pins that make me feel as if the woman wearing them is not living fully in the present.  It is as if she is anticipating the right moment to reveal her best self.  As women, we need to wake up, take off the caps, remove the pins, and understand that the special occasion that requires us to look and feel beautiful is always RIGHT NOW.