Pacific Sun 09.28.2012 - Section 1

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›› STYLE

The 47 percent solution You don’t have to be a venture capitalist to dress nicely in Marin... by Dani Burlison MISSY REYNOLDS

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sional-looking clothes to mask the fact that their purses are tight? “One of the nice things about living as a poor person in an afuent area is that the thrift shops are off the hook,â€? says Joslyn, who frequents Jaylina’s, a consignment shop in downtown Mill Valley. For Stephenny, its Knimble in San Rafael for shoes and accessories. Or Encore in San Rafael for some higher-end duds. Leslie hits the sale racks at places like Anthropologie when not shopping online at Rue LaLa, Gilt or HauteLook. So for our 47-percenters out there, there is hope. “Don’t rule out a store based on how expensive it is,â€? says Leslie. “All stores always have things on sale and, at a minimum, you can get some basics, like a super nice basic black tee for $40 when it was originally $100 or something.â€? “Sweaters and scarves! The bigger, the better,â€? says Stephenny. “The slouchy oversized knit with boots and tights can make you bulletproof in a crowd of Margaret O’Leary devotees.â€? Also, she says new shoes will keep you blended into the 53 percent crowd. And ďŹ nally, Joslyn thinks it is ďŹ ne to stand out from the crowd just a little. “Honestly one of the things I aspire to as a Marinite is to NOT look like all the other tall blond buxom cougars we seem to have a major glut of here,â€? she says. “Luckily for me, I couldn’t look buxom if I tried. But I am a natural blond—so I dye my hair pink. I’d rather look poor than look like your average desperate Marin cougar!â€?< Give Dani 47 percent of your attention via dburlison@paciďŹ csun.com.

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ontrary to what Mitt Romney would like most of us to think, the lowly 47 percent are not all sleeping in until noon and then wandering the streets in mismatched slippers, stained bathrobes and tattered hats asking for handouts, crying and blaming society for their bad luck. Instead, most of the so-called 47 percent who will vote for Obama take care to launder and even press their clothing before heading out into the world. Many are even fashion-conscious and a large chunk of them live right here in Marin, the county which voted more heavily in favor of Obama in the 2008 election than anywhere else in the state. What may also come as a shock is the fact that many even have have jobs(!) and blend in with the 53 percent, making it nearly impossible to pick them out of crowds. The poor are among us. So how do they do it? And by “itâ€? I mean, “not look poor.â€? A few stylish Marin women speak for themselves: Joslyn, a 41-year-old self-employed writer who has operated her own business in Mill Valley for the past ďŹ ve years; Leslie, a 39-year-old branch manager for a private in-home professional health care agency; and Stephenny, the trafďŹ c coordinator and a production designer at Marin’s mostread newspaper, all manage to ďŹ t some fashionable threads into their lower-tomoderate budgets (while two of them also pay out of pocket for health care). “I was taught that you don’t get a second chance to make a ďŹ rst impression and how you dress counts a lot toward that ďŹ rst impression,â€? says Stephenny, at her ofďŹ ce in downtown San Rafael. “I think fashion is a mirror of your personality and traits—if you look professional you are professional. It matters.â€? Though Stephenny claims she could get away with wearing yoga pants to her casual ofďŹ ce and Joslyn mostly works from her home ofďŹ ce, they both manage to avoid looking like the disheveled zombies Romney seemed to describe in his recent display. “Right now I’m helping a trio of attorneys write a book about investing. I have had to meet with them ďŹ ve times so far,â€? says Joslyn. “That’s ďŹ ve attorney-worthy outďŹ ts I’ve had to come up with. Luckily, I’m creative.â€? Leslie, on the other hand, doesn’t have the same level of freedom with her wardrobe and needs to select items that will cover her tattoos while she works with her clients. So where do these ladies ďŹ nd profes-

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SEPTEMBER 28 - OCTOBER 4, 2012 PACIFIC SUN 17

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