Yee Haw, Hee Haw!

Ellen C. Wells

I will begin by commending managing editor-at-large Jen Polanz on the brilliant work she’s done once again on Green Profit’s Style issue. Fifth annual! It was a revolutionary concept when the idea was brought up back in 2014. I mean, who in horticulture knows anything about style and fashion? And then there’s all the work Anissa and Christine do as graphic designers (and stylish individuals in their own right) to make the pages pop. We’re thankful everyday that they haven’t been headhunted by Vogue or some such publication. They’re that good, aren’t they?

Fashion has never really been my thing. Rather than call it being unfashionable I like to say I’m practical in my style and in my clothing choices. From tip to toe, from a wool hat to warm boots, it’s all functional. Pockets, because I’ll forget a purse somewhere. Shoes without heels in case I have to run suddenly. Nothing too tight because I gotta bend down freely to leash up the dog or weed in the garden.

Within the framework of comfortable clothing I do find the opportunity for some colorful self-expression. Like the Red Sox ball cap and a Celtics T-shirt because, hey, Boston pride, baby. There are the maroon jeans I like to wear when blue jeans just aren’t acceptable at a nice event. I have a basic white oxford shirt and a black dress as my fashion consultant friend Bernadett commands. Orange and lime green are my staple accessory colors. Plus the orange doubles as a warning color when I’m walking the dog in the woods during hunting season.

See? One can be fashionable and practical at the same time.

Maybe my sensible style arises from growing up on a farm. As most people my age, our mothers picked out the clothes and chose 99% of the outfits we wore to school up until, I don’t know, first grade I guess. I am sure it was she who bought me my most memorable childhood outfit: A pair of brown Hee Haw overalls.

Now, if you don’t know to what I am referring when I say Hee Haw, take a moment right now to Google it. Go ahead, do it.

How fun was that, huh??

For a farm family, that was the show to watch weekly. Good, goofy times were guaranteed. Now, imagine a pair of brown denim overalls with Hee Haw images on them: The donkey with some hay in his teeth, Minnie Pearl with that price tag hanging off her hat, the grinning faces of Roy Clark and that other guy (who was that guy, even?). On a pair of overalls. On a little girl.

I. Loved. Those. Overalls. What wasn’t to love? Pockets! Sturdy denim! Child-appropriate images! To this day I haven’t had an item of clothing as practical and as fun as that pair of overalls. Gosh, I wish I had them back.

I’ll even take a regular ol’ pair of overalls—but those cartoon images, they just bring the point home, don’t they? The point being that style is you being you—your authentic self. And you can see from my smile in the photo that I was really being myself—an overall-wearing farm girl.

There’s nothing more stylish than an honest smile. Wear it frequently. GP