I get a ton of questions about my overalls! I’ve been asked everything from how often I wear them, to how many I have, to how long I’ve worn them... So, I figured in this week’s “Ask Sophie” I’d answer all those burning bibbed-overall questions at once!
“Why do you wear overalls?”
I started wearing overalls when I was young. I’ve never liked tight clothing, and that fact that overalls really don’t have a waist and just sort of hang from your shoulders gave me a freedom I liked. At the same time, they’ve got tons of pockets, so when I started working in this business I could climb a ladder and literally carry all the tools I needed with me. Over the years, they sort of became my uniform, and now I wear them to every event. I do not, however, make my employees wear them!
“Do you always wear overalls?”
If I’m doing a fancy party, like a Bar or Bat Mitzvah (or basically any event with teens and grown-ups), I wear my “blacks”: black pants, black shirt, black socks and shoes. That way I blend into the background and am not so “present” unless needed. At those larger events I’m more of a “stage manager” than a performer, so I like to appear neutral. I also have to play a character at many parties, like a princess, or pirate, or fairy. On those occasions I arrive in my overalls, set up the party, then change into costume right before the party begins. Finally, when I go on vacation, or out for my own entertainment, I do not wear overalls.
“How many pairs of overalls do you have?”
At the moment I have eight pairs in circulation, three pairs that are waiting to be broken in, and two pairs that are demolished, so I only wear those when doing housework, painting, or the like. That’s what, 13 pairs?
On a side note, I find that younger kids find me to be less threatening and more like a big kid when I wear my overalls. In my biz, that’s a plus! I used to only wear Osh Kosh B’gosh overalls, but they stopped making them for adults about seven years ago. These days, I wear Dickies.
