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Questions to Ask On Your Next Clothing Purchase
NEWSLETTER
4/30/20262 min read
There’s a fashion icon I worship that you might actually worship too. And she’s not even a real live person. She’s an animated character. Do you know who I’m talking about?
Ms. Frizzle from Magic School. I've never met a person that didn't think she was cool. Like a lovesick teenager I think everything she does is awesome, but a huge part of my obsession is over her style.
She’s a cartoon, how significant can her style really be?
Significant.
I said admire, but I think we actually envy her too. Ms. Frizzle is living the life many of us want to live, but feel we don’t have permission to (and let’s just ignore her magic abilities for the purpose of this discussion).
She’s loud and boisterous, unapologetically smart, literally announces her pursuit of mistakes, and doesn’t define herself by her marital status.
Her style reinforces her nonconformity to expectations. Her hair is wild, her dresses are vivid, and she easily switches from beautiful A-line dress to a practical zip up suit. Her style is always fun. She doesn’t sacrifice joy in her style to appear more serious or professional at work, and yet, we believe her to be completely capable.
All of this seems too good to be real. But there's also protests over her nonconformity that balance this too-good-to-be-true feeling and makes us admire her even MORE. Not everyone likes how she shows up. Her students are often uncomfortable at how blatantly she seems to ignore expectations. They’re so uncomfortable that they don’t share with their parents what’s really going on at school.
But Ms. Frizzle is undeterred. She almost appears unaware, but since she’s clearly a genius it's not believable that she really didn’t notice that people were uncomfortable with her brashness. More likely, she’s very aware and consciously decides to show up authentically regardless.
Ms. Frizzle’s style is brave. It’s authentic, fun, complex, and unapologetic. It’s uncontrolled by societal pressures.
A woman showing up like that in the 90s felt otherworldly. A magic we wish we could dip ourselves into, but that we knew was impossible.
Now, she's an inspiration pushing the boundaries and pushing the rest of us to follow her example. She's a guide post for how each of us could live if we decide to be as brave as Ms. Frizzle.
P.S. Did you know Ms. Frizzle’s first name is Valerie?? She continues to surprise me.
