Pink Floral Summer

Many years ago I worked as the assistant to the assistant of a small bank’s president.  The degree of separation was very short and I became friendly with the president, a lovely woman of a certain age.  What I learned from her could fill a blog post of its own but one special benefit was that she believed long lunch hours were necessary for the very productive afternoons she required from staff.

Being in the city, I had access to its one remaining venerable old department store that still employed a dedicated uniformed elevator operator and still had a wooden escalator.  But the thing I remember most about the place besides its courteous clerks and old-world charm, was something called The Blouse Bar.

Imagine a large round display with two female assistants eager to help you select a pretty blouse out of hundreds hanging just below a pristine and circular mirrored counter.  A “blouse bar” – not a shirt bar or a t-shirt bar but a round rack of blouses that danced away beneath the glass in silks and soft blends with unique dressmaker styling and embellishments.  And as you skipped through them, the hangers made a delightful light scrapping sound against the metal pole even though the “bar” was brimming with garments.  Somehow there was still plenty of room, owing to careful store design and thoughtfulness rarely found today.  And thanks to our generous bank president, I had plenty of time to go ’round and ’round and ’round.

As it was, the only blouse I was ever able to afford was cotton in pink floral.  It was elevated from shirt-status by its wide ruffled yoke and the dainty pearl buttons on its cuffs.  It was darling and I wore it to shreds in just two years.  But I never forgot it and ever since, every summer, I still search for my holy grail of pink floral, whether in a dress or blouse or even a simple shirt.  This summer, I hit paydirt and my memories of the elegant “blouse bar” and with it, this long story of kindly bosses, and old department stores came rushing back.

While searching for a summer dress online for my granddaughter, I happened upon a sweet floral block-print blouse.  It had a charming “hippie” vibe but with just the right amount of formal edge that I thought would look nice and elevate my white jeans.  I wore it a lot in June and July and then I began to see pink floral blouses everywhere…in catalogs, in shops and more online.  It seemed as though summer was bursting in pink flowers.  And every piece reminded me of my long-departed and now mystical floral blouse.  Need I tell you that a lot more flowers came into this house?

To me, the trend seems to be all over the place.  I even found a catalog dedicated JUST to whimsical pink florals.  And what could be more elevating than wearing flowers on your back?  In these times, we need fanciful and feminine and even fickle, as one of my blouses was described by a friend when she noted the varying sizes of dizzy blooms on my top.  She also said the color made her feel happy.  Me too….

As summer winds down, I know it will be sad to fold away my floral blouses.  I am reminded that August is always a little wounded with longing.  But this time, my flowers will keep and will bloom again…