Fashion should start at the knees

I've just returned from a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico. It's a nice place. If you haven't been there I'd recommend it. Being in airports and watching people as they traverse the concourses reminded me of years ago when I was a professional quilter.

Every year in the fall there is a very large event held in Houston, TX called the International Quilt Festival. It's held in the George R. Brown Convention Center. The festival takes up the entire 1.2 million sq. ft.

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If you aren't familiar with quilting other than as blankets, you would be amazed at the fiber arts included within the genre. One of the main things many quilters like to do is create wearable art. Vests, jackets, skirts, capes, shirts are worn by those who attend.

Needless to say, because of the large venue one walks, and walks, and walks between the show floor, classrooms, etc. So what does this all have to do with my trip to Santa Fe?

As I watched some of the women walking in the airport a saying from the Quilt Festival came to mind. "Fashion starts at the knees". With all the walking sensible shoes, in the form mostly of tennis shoes, is the norm at Quilt Fest. No one cares that you have tennis shoes on while you're wearing a fancy jacket you've created and want to show off.

Women traveling come in casual to business attire. What surprises me, and I'm sure it's my age talking, is the number of women walking the vast concourses of an airport in spike heels. From one gate to another, or to baggage claim, or transportation is often long in distance. I've not worn high heels in a long time but remember that they are not the most comfortable to walk in.

I've noticed a number of women walking with a gate which shows they are in obvious pain. What insanity is this? To chose to walk distances required in airports in shoes which cause a person pain just so they can be "fashionable"? And to do so around people who they will never see again.

I understand the American need to be fashionable, shallow as it might be. We all want to feel like we are presenting ourselves at our best. There is a line though at which a sensible person looks at what they are doing that day and chooses sensible over fashionable. My suggestion is to wear and walk in sensible shoes until you get out of the airport, then pull your heels out of your bag to then again become the fashion diva you want to be.

At airports, as well as Quilt Festival, the motto should be "Fashion begins at the knees".