Let's Talk Women's Clothes: A Rant

Specifically, women's skirts.

I made my first foray of the fall clothing season yesterday by taking a quick look in Macy's. What I saw, or rather, what I didn't see, does not bode well for my chance to spark the local economy by spending money this fall, because if this is how the rest of the season will be, the only things I'll be buying is maybe another pair of boots and a sweater or two.

I need skirts. I, however, do not need, nor can I wear the things hanging on racks in the guise of skirts. I do not like suit type skirts. They tend to not fit me right. I do not like skirts that don't sit on the waist. Most of what I've been seeing in the past year or two are skirts that sit on mid-hip. I have no clue why they don't fall down.

I am a practical dresser. For over twenty years, I haven't carried my keys or a wallet in my shoulder bag. I carry it in a pocket of skirts or pants. In recent years, though, finding a skirt with a pocket large enough and sturdy enough to carry a wallet comfortably is almost impossible. From what I saw yesterday, this might be the year "almost" gets dropped out of that statement.

And if I'm fortunate to find a skirt with a decent pocket or two, they are the size of belts on steroids. I'm sorry. Even when I was a teen, I couldn't wear skirts that short. Along with making me a woman, puberty also gave me thighs. The heavy thighs of my father's mother's side of the family, a group of zoftig women if ever you saw any. Above the waist, I take after my mother's thinner, more proportioned female family members, which means I've been mostly two sizes--the above the waist size and the below the waist size which has meant it's nearly impossible for me to get dresses to fit without serious alterations. Which is why I mostly wear skirts and tops. Bringing me back to my current dilemma (not that dresses have pockets or decent pockets, either). Pockets. And decorative pockets that would hardly hold a folded tissue don't count.

I can still fit into the fashionable Misses clothes. I don't want to shop in the women's section. I try to dress suitably for my age, but I'll be damned if I have to go to the formless styles that make a woman look four times her age. And finding pockets in those skirts is just as difficult.

Is it too much to ask that someone make practical clothes for women who work but still want a sporty look?