Your Unemployed Daughter

Currently, I’m sitting in my apartment while two men work on my leaking toilet (lest you worry, it’s been leaking inside the tank, which is quite conscientious of it, but the noise has begun to drive me crazy).

Now I hear water flowing and the men laughing and am moderately concerned about the shape my bathroom will be in when they depart, yet…at least I don’t have to go to work.

Something like “waiting for the guy to come and fix my toilet,” would be a huge pain in the ass if I were employed at my previous job. I’d be impatient, cranky, and ready to go. I’d have promised to get there asap—it is, of course, a Monday. I’d already be late. Yet, one must repair one’s leaky toilet, no? If only for posterity?

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Recent Parsons grad Lauren Simon schools YUD Fashion Director Lindsey Hunter Lopez on the art of dressing while jobless. Lauren shows off flirty floral shorts—and her mad design skills—during a night out in downtown NYC. Work it, girl!

LHL: What’s your favorite part of your outfit?
LS: Probably my shorts.

LHL: What’s the best place to shop when you’re trying to be thrifty?
LS: Your closet. Target.

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When this jobless lady celebrated her birthday in style at Water Taxi Beach, Long Island City, YUD Fashion Director Lindsey Hunter Lopez was there to ask the important questions.

Karen Berg loves her cuffed white cargo shorts. “Look, they’re too big!” she points out. “Comfy.” (There’s plenty of time to work out when you don’t have a job.) A flowy black tank completes her carefree ensemble. She has shoes somewhere in the sand, but she doesn’t need them at this beach bar.

While I interrogate her about her choices, this former health editor sips her favorite accessory, a vodka soda, and shows off a vibrant red manicure.

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We all know what YUD wears when she’s—how shall we say?—got no place employmenty to go. But what about the rest of us 361,000? And further afield from that, in other cities and states and countries, what are the unemployed donning before they head out into the big, bad world each day … or, no judgments, when they make no departure from their tender abodes at all?

Lindsey Hunter Lopez: EMPLOYED

Thank heavens we are now in the occasionally manicured hands of YUD’s new Fashion Director, Lindsey Hunter Lopez, who will be offering us weekly glimpses at the faces—and fashions—of the recession with her Unemployment Lookbook.

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photo credit: Ana Santos

Ah, back from the beach. Yes, unemployed people do go to the beach. Where else are we to go? The sleeping accommodations, if sandy, are at least free, and the weather (thank you, thank you) has cleared so conveniently that I don’t need even to crawl inside my plastic poncho to avoid the downpours most nights.

It’s the simple life, where all one needs is some stretchy fabric to cover one’s “special” parts, liquid refreshment so as not to dehydrate – perhaps a large iced tea in a styrofoam cup – and spare change for the inevitable beers you must consume else the locals look at you funny. It’s all perfectly wondrous and cheap, but for one thing.

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photo credit: twen

Are you tired of not having a business card to give to all the men you meet in bars?

Embarrassed to have to say, “Oh, I’m actually … unemployed … um … check out my blog …” ?

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YUD is very excited. Her friend (and former colleague/wearer of the “Snaps Cap”/grand master of imitations verbal and physical/shutterbug/dance fiend) Derek has been documenting a variety of things, large and small, that are helping him through his second brush with unemployment. And he has agreed to feature his work on YUD! Check in regularly for more entries.

THINGS GETTING ME THROUGH UNEMPLOYMENT, A HISTORY OF

“Unemployment” is a word that is being shouted from the rooftops these days, but instead of jumping, why not take a picture of the view? It’s so easy to get caught up in it all: rent, loans, food, bills, etc… All things that money needs to be spent on in order to get through the day.

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Unemployment jeans: One week

Being unemployed has altered my daily wardrobe rather dramatically. Where once dresses with cardigans or black jeans with cute silk tops were the norm, now I sit in plaid pj pants and a white V-neck tee. At some point during the day I will change into my workout clothes. That is your indication that I will go to the gym.

Now let’s say post-gym I have plans to meet a former or possibly future colleague, or just to get drinks so I don’t feel like a total shut-in. What to wear? That dress makes me look like I’ve been at work all day. Can’t have people thinking I’m in denial, or worse, a wannabe. That top screams “Look at me, I’m employed!” And those pants … no. I don’t wear pants, even when I do have a job. It’s been too chilly and rainy a June to put on one of my numerous beachy sundresses. And so, inevitably, I turn to THE UNEMPLOYMENT JEANS.

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