sorry if this has been discussed....I searched but had no real luck...

Was anyone else here relieved that Alice took Bella under her wing.

Call me a snob but when I think of Edward the words "trendy,elegant" scream to me...and this girl seems like such a ........ slo b.OK not slob but she just does not have any care about how she looks.

Like in Twilight when Edward stays with her the first night and she pulls on the od Tshirt and sweats...I just want to CRINGE.

OK...maybe that is just a city girl vent.

Carry on

I think that the way Bella dresses goes back to the type of girl that Bella is; she really isn't into trying to impress everyone with her fashion sense. I know that we read in New Moon that she does replace those holey sweats with something a little nicer to wear to bed. I also wonder if that is also part of her attraction to Edward in that she doesn't have to be so ostentatious in her dress? She probably just tries to blend in so that she is not to noticed.

Well, I'm in the slob category. I'm like Bella that way. I don't care about the latest trends or how expensive someone's pair of jeans cost on some reality show. I'm a country girl, though.

I don't think she sounds "slobby" but maybe instead "comfortable." LOL. She probably dresses a lot like I did in high school (oh geez - and even college) now that I think of it (band t-shirts, jeans and Docs). I only weighed 100 lbs but wore size large T-shirts. Yeck. *crawls under rock* For me, it took finding a man who actually loved me that way to work up the nerve to dress like a lady in well-cut shirts, nice pants, and even dresses and skirts (and those I didn't even have the guts for even until after we got married unless we went to a wedding somewhere that required it!), and I think that Edward's love is starting to have that influence on Bella. It's a big self esteem/confidence issue, and love can help there!

I was definitely relieved to see Alice take her under her wing, say for her prom, graduation outfit, etc. Sometimes people need a little input to dress appropriate for an occasion, and it seems like Alice pulled it off without pulling Bella too far from her comfort zone.

I think that is the whole idea.....they are complete opposites in that sense.
She works hard for her money probably to save for college or a car. She wouldn't want to spend it on clothes if she has perfectly good things in her closet.

now, if you have money to spare sure you will become accustomed to new trendy clothes all the time like the Cullens.

exactly, bella doesn't waste money that she doesn't really have to spend on clothes that don't make a difference in little old fork were she would be all dressed up with nowhere to go.

Call me a bella. I work with preschoolers so my clothes get trashed, it would be a waste of my teeny tiny salary to spend a bunch of money on clothes that I either can't where or I can wear and but ruin within the first few times it's worn. A month ago I bought myself a bunch of new clothes-(that arent even paid for yet and are still accruing intrest) cause I felt tired of looking sloppy in stained, bleached, mishapen clothes. and guess what-they are ALL already ruined. I could have saved the time and frustration and burned my money at the stake.

See I was thinking more that there would be a direct contrast to her when "changed" (IF she is changed) ....... a more striking change, vanity pops in.....

Because lets face it Alice was not the stylish pixie she is in her human existance.She was a girl in a mental hospital

Well since we don't really know a WHOLE lot about Alice's life before the institution, I think it might be safe to say that maybe she did like fashion and fashionable things before and that is why she still likes it as a vampire

True.

I don't think a girl has to wear designer labels or spend a ton of money to look good. She just has to have some tiny modicum of style and not shlep around like a slob. A little attention to detail (hair neat, clothes match, clothes FIT) goes a long way.

Bella seems to have been pretty unconcerned about her couture and coiffure before she met Edward. Even afterward, she's not rushing into the latest fashions or upgrading her wardrobe, or even taking better care of the clothing she's already got. However, she does start to pay a little more attention to what she wears, as evidenced by her selection of the dark blue blouse to wear to meet the Cullens (because she knows it's Edward's favorite color on her), and her desire to dress up just a little for the graduation (dang that Riley).

Maybe she'll start to notice her wardrobe more now that she's about to enter the adult world as a married woman. Is she going to want to go around looking like a wet-behind-the-ears teenager next to the dashing fellow who's her husband? Would Alice let her??

I have to laugh at myself because the entire time I am reading about the rain I keep thinking how AWFUL my hair would be in that climate...I have a fro in Motreal when the humidity is bad!!!!!!

And mine would just be plastered flat to my head even after it dried. When I lived in the Seattle area I had to have a perm or I could never have gone out in public. Chemicals and toxins be darned, I wasn't about to go around looking like my hair was only painted on, like a Russian nesting doll's.

I will trade you one day of Stevie Nicks hair for one day of PeeWee Herman hair!!

Done! But let's not stop at a day.

I think Bella's fashion sense is yawn-inducing but I'm dead-jealous of her hair. She can just do whatever--put it up, pull it back, leave it down, straighten it, curl it--and not worry about it again the rest of the day.

I even envy her when she wakes up and it looks like a haystack. I wake up and mine looks like banana skins, but only on one side.

I think when you grow up with not a lot of money your sense of fashion and being in fashion is usually not high on your list. She wears comfortable clothes and she doesn't seem to even own a lot of this type. I mean, the girl owned 1 khaki skirt. When you have no disposable income of your own, why even go to the mall? Just to torture yourself? When you're not one to troll the malls looking for clothes every weekend you don't really know what you're missing in terms of fashion.

She also seems to think that allowing Edward to spend money on her puts their relationship more out of balance. She mistakenly believes that Edward is so much above her and that she hardly deserves him as it is. If he spends money on her then there is another thing that she can not reciprocate with because she hasn't got any to spend on him. I know Edward has more money than probably all the oil shieks in SA, but Bella is not quite as aware yet of his wealth or how spending money is not the big deal to him since he's always had it.

Once she is changed money won't be as big a deal that it is now. And she already lets Alice have fun dressing her up. I think she's beginning to let Alice help her fashion-wise because Alice always says "Edward would really like you in that" -- and you know Bella wants to please him, lopsided as she thinks their pairing is.