Surviving the Fashion Freeze

The town where I live, Homer, like the rest of Alaska, faces some huge fashion challenges. First of all, it's cold for much of the year. When it's not cold, it's probably muddy. In mud season, you see a lot of these:

Sexy, right? Extra-Tuff's rock, but they're not exactly Jimmy Choo's. In Alaska, survival comes first. We dress for the elements. I'm talking layers, long underwear, snow boots, Grunden's oilskins, oversized parkas. Both men and women do plenty of work outdoors, which means Carhartt's are ever popular.



Here, "body conscious" involves conserving body heat, not showing off your hot bod. No wonder Anchorage was named the worst-dressed city in America last year.

But ... Homer, along with its daunting weather, also has an amazingly high concentration of artists and craftspeople. These creative types have managed to tweak our fashion with eclectic outfits and hand-crafted pieces.


Seriously, why not pair a home-made ruffled skirt with the inevitable mud boots? Carrie, our local clothing genius (who made my wedding dress) comes up with all sorts of interesting "recycled" clothing items.

In winter, you might have to layer them over other pieces -- the more vibrant the better. Bright colors are a Homer trademark ... and no wonder. Rich purple, sunshiny marigold, even spring green can do so much to lift your mood during those long dark nights.

Makes you want to knit yourself a scarf, doesn't it?

So there's a small taste of our homegrown Homer style. Of course, we're most famous for this:

But for the record, there's a lot more to the Homer look than a Salty Dawg t-shirt -- even though I love spotting them in random places around the country.

So what's your verdict? Are you thinking ... Project Run-away? Or book a ticket to Homer for next mud season?

Summer Postcard from Homer

Time for a postcard from beautiful Homer, Alaska, otherwise known as the "quaint little drinking village with a fishing problem." It's finally starting to warm up here and we've been inundated with RV's trundling through town. Homer is known as the "End of the Road," because, well, you can probably figure it out. Only one highway heads south from Anchorage -- we call it Highway 1 -- and it runs out of pavement when it gets to Homer. Tourists come for the halibut fishing, the stunning views of glaciers right across Kachemak Bay, and for glimpses of the Time Bandit, which you may know from The Deadliest Catch.

Many of the RV's wind up on the Homer Spit, a long finger of mud that stretches toward the majestic mountains across the bay. Here you can park your traveling home, camp, eat everything from pizza to king crab, and bask in the alpenglow. The Spit is kind of like the Atlantic City Boardwalk, Alaska style. Instead of fried clams, we have fried halibut. The Salty Dawg Saloon tends to be more popular than the ice cream shop, simply because there's often a knife-cold wind blowing in from the ocean. The "Better Sweater" shop is always busy. It's hard to foresee just how cold it's going to be when you're visiting from Nashville or Florida. A cruise ship docks in Homer every two weeks, spilling out passengers who hop onto shuttles when they want to venture into the rest of town. Homer goes out of its way to offer visitors a good experience. Even the extra-clean public bathrooms feature bald eagles scenically perched on the lampposts outside.

But just for you, here's a sight-seeing tip few tourists know: the best eagle viewing in town is at the dump. Best in terms of numbers, but maybe not photo ops. The same bird that looks so majestic soaring through the air can look pretty scraggly when its scoping out the landfill for food scraps. Our visiting cousins seemed to take this phenomenon very personally. Should the symbol of America really be poking around the dump competing with seagulls and crows? I guess a bird's got to do what a bird's got to do. In Alaska, no matter the season, it's all about survival.

Scavenger eagles aside, if you're looking from a respite from the sweltering heat in the rest of the country, you're welcome to bundle up, head into the wind, and bask in our twenty-hour a day, mildly warm sunshine. The days may not get very hot, but at least they last a long time. And make sure you stop by the dump on the way into town!

Have you been to Alaska? If not, is it on your bucket list?

Coming at you from the land of the midnight sun,

Jennifer