Team Fashion in South Florida

You know, I've never really been into watching televised sports of any kind.  I am, however, working on it.  I've been told that I will never get a man to commit if I don't adopt a team; any team.   I've at least started tolerating watching a basketball game here or soccer game there.  

In Houston, I only went Astro's games; as a patron a few times and as a waitress.  So I was either in a sundress or a uniform.  I never really put much thought into my outfit in relation to a sports team, well other than my uniform.  I did purchase some cute Astro's earrings once.   However, living in Florida during the era of the Miami Heat, has really made me pay attention to sports fashion in a way that went unnoticed in Houston.  

Floridians get dressed in team regalia just to watch the game at home.  And if they have tickets to a game they will most definitely don their flyest team sportswear. That's dedication to support your team through fashion, even when the can't see you. Sports fans are intense and in Palm Beach County that intensity permeates their fashion choices on game day.  I am in  South Florida so I see either Miami Heat or Miami Dolphins tank tops, hats, t-shirts and everything else. Oh also plenty of soccer jerseys.  

I have yet to adopt a Florida team, and really don't plan on feeding the franchise machine.   The only time you will catch me dressing for a team is when I am going to work, or are playing for that team.   I may wear a team shirt that someone gave me if I so happen to be going to a game.  But it better be a Texas team.  

Team fashion in Palm Beach will give you an easy way to ALWAYS be in style.  It is an easy trend to keep up and can be like a uniform in your wardrobe rotation.  Additionally, there are higher fashion options when it comes to team wear for fashionistas.
   

Miami Trends

So I hate to insult you by blogging about The Real Housewives of Miami, but I must.  I know the Housewives are trivial and most likely all have social disorders, yet in fashion land they rule. They are true Florida fashionistas. 

The fashion on the show is impeccable.  I am sure they have stylists for the show, because all of the Wives' looks are polished.  The fashion on the show really speaks to the style in Miami.   Miami is full of beautiful people who are willing to take the risk and wear something trendy and expensive.  Dare I say, trends are created in Miami. 

Alexia, the blond on the right with neon green top, and black and white horizontally striped skirt, created an incredibly sexy look for the daytime.  I am a fan of pairing black and white with a color in any manner. And in South Florida, especially in Miami, why not make it a neon color?  The outfit is trendy, polished, sexy and remains classy. Not much skin is showing and if you have the figure you can pull it off at any age.  What you can't see is that the skirt is high wasted, and the shirt is a crop top.   

And then there's the white.  If ever in doubt when picking a daytime look, wear white.  Two of the 'Wives' wore all white to this daytime event, and the other two sported white bottoms.  Short white dresses are the best.  All white is all over the South Florida fashion scene.    

When I go to Miami, I am always looking to do a trendy style.   I once made the mistake of going to Miami dressed down, once.  Housewives of Miami gives me unexpected inspiration for how to dress, and how not to behave.  

Courthouse Divides: Pt. I

        Perhaps nowhere more starkly do perceptions on architecture conflict than in our public spheres.  Consider, for example, all of the recent brouhaha over the Washington Mall.  MLK’s monument had to be “corrected” to delete the supposedly arrogant “I was a drum major” quote.  Plans for Eisenhower’s memorial have been criticized harshly, resulting in some to call for the outright revamp of the plans.

                It is with these controversies in mind, then, that we venture to comment on the architecture of our local courthouses, styles I am well familiar with having entered those halls of justice so often.  Comparing the state courthouses in the tri-county area is to relive the classic divide between traditionalists and the new.   

             Let’s begin with the Miami-Dade courthouse.  Venturing closer from the street level, you are confronted with a towering example of neo-classical features.  Sliced columns at the second level reminiscent of national buildings we are so familiar with, rising into the crowning triangular shapes of the pantheon.

             Coming closer to enter the hallowed space where lady justice reigns (as do sleazy attorneys; misogynistic judges who make comments on attractive court reporters; and bums sleeping across the street who keep their watchful eyes on the building), we pass through the columns that we often associate with neo-classical style.  At a height high above the ground, these columns may evince in some a feeling of feeling small in the face of authority; to others, they may signify the solemnity that we should feel when dealing in matters of life and liberty.

               

We even pass by a solemn statue of the man for whom the Miami-Dade courthouse is named, Henry Flagler.  

At one time, the courthouse was reputedly the tallest building in America south of Baltimore.     

              

              Traditionalists and fans of neoclassicism, then, will surely love the adhesion to timeless principles that are echoed in our most revered sites across the nation.  Haters of the style will likely see only symbols of our less equal past.

                

             This critic, for one, sides with the fans of the classic; it is one thing to advocate for new wave trends or for innovation in our commercial districts, but this author believes that nothing is lost, “Rien n’est perdu,” in the fearless new world words of Captain Nostromo, when we adhere to principles that remind the educated among us of the foundation upon which our Western system is founded.  Truth, liberty, justice – for this author, these principles are signified by the architectural parallels to the pantheon, by the impressive seeming permanence of the columns. 

              From the FAD Palm Beach then, we issue three cheers to the Miami Dade Courthouse, a rare and shining example of neo-classical architecture in our plasticky South Floridian midst.  Just as my co-blogger might say about fashion design & trends, I am of the persuasion that in architecture, we can never go wrong with the classics.