No Belly Button Showing Please

I know I am not alone in being sick of cold weather.  This winter has dragged on too long everywhere.  I hate to complain because although it has been unseasonable cold here in North Carolina we have not gotten anywhere as bad a winter as most every place else, even Virginia.  But I do live in North Carolina for many reasons, and warm weather and short winters are high up on the list.

Despite the still freezing temperatures I am fairly certain that warm weather is coming sometime.  For me it is coming a couple weeks when I am being forced to go to Mexico with my husband.  I know you are crying for me.  In anticipation of their balmier weather I went with my friend Hanna today to try on clothes for the trip.

I found a beautiful very light cardigan and thought that it would be nice to get a little shell in the same color for underneath it.  The line that sweater came in had three or four coordinating sleeveless blouses for layering.  Most everyone on earth knows I like sleeves, but as a piece under a cardigan I have my arms covered by the sweater. I tried on a tiny silk number that had a couple of layers of the thinnest silk draped across the front.  The workmanship was beautiful.  The fabric was like a whisper it was so light.  The sweet blue color was one of my favorites.

There was only one major problem, well maybe two.  First was the price.  It was expensive, but it was exquisite.  It was enough money that it gave me pause.  I looked at it in the mirror more closely.  I had the silk shell on with the cardigan.  A perfect match, but wait, what is that I see?  Is that my belly button I can see through the only single layer of silk that draped across my middle?  Since the rest of the blouse had two layers of silk falling elegantly on a diagonal there was just one small bit in the middle, which only had one layer and in it’s sheerness I could see the dark hole that at one time connected me to my mother.

Obviously a camisole worn underneath was the answer to cover the offending body part, but that would add yet another layer to summer outfit where heat might be the issue.  There was no way I was going to spend big money to be self conscious about declaring to the world I had an inny belly button.  I don’t care how much flatter my stomach has gotten.  I am too told to show anyone my midsection even if it is veiled in the finest of silk.

So to all you clothing designers and manufacturers who certainly read my blog, one bit of advice.  Most people who have enough money to spend on a blouse like that don’t want to expose their belly buttons and those young and nubile enough to show their belly buttons aren’t spending their entire month’s clothing budget on one small shell, no matter how beautiful.