I was recently back home in Nebraska (yes, I'm from Nebraska, gasp!) and it was just this trip that I truly realized how much I love it there (in small doses, don't start getting any crazy ideas Mom or Robin!). Ryan is from a very small town tucked away in the northeast corner of Nebraska, where cows may outnumber people and people don't think twice of seeing a tractor parked in the middle of town. The rolling cornfields and big skies are complete eye candy to a city girl like me (I'm from Omaha, just for the record).
It's unpretentious and unassuming, which is an excellent escape from the consumerism that I experience in any major city I've been too/lived in. And leave it to me to analyze the fashion.
Ryan and I drove the entire 30 hours to Nebraska and back and it's a trip that will repeat itself in May when we go back for the wedding. Throughout that drive, we passed miles upon miles of farmland (I feel that's all that Iowa really is) and it dawned on me that these hard working mid-westerners are truly the core of America. They don't care who the latest womenswear designer honored by the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America www.cfda.com) was, it was Marc Jacobs for those interested, nor do they seem to care about the latest It Bag, or the newest season of Christian Louboutin heels.
They seem consumed with living their lives and living them to the fullest, labels or not. This type of outlook is so refreshing and one that I'm trying to adopt, albeit slowly. They have adopted this utilitarian outlook on clothes, questioning not the name, but the quality and usefulness. Rough, stiff denim reminiscent of the '70s Levi's that screamed America are a staple. Jeans that take forever to wear down and seem to retain their shape no matter how many times you washed them. Field jackets and Carhart overalls are all as common there as high heels and girly dresses are to me here in Cleveland.
The feeling of simplicity that washes over me when I go home is like no other, it's better than the high that I get from scoring the latest fashion find on eBay (winning an auction is fantastic!), it's something you don't want to let go of. It holds onto you, you instead feel the love from family, feel your Mom's (in this case Ryan's Mom) home cooking in your tummy, hear the laughter from people that make your world go round and it makes fashion the furthest thing from my mind and reminds me that I'm home.
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