The Dressed Aesthetic

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Connect the Dots

Connect the Dots - The Dressed Aesthetic

As the end of the year is drawing to a close, I can’t help but look back on the frenzy of this past year and try to make sense of it. To try to connect a jumble of seemingly random events and wonder why they brought me to this particular moment – and where they’ll bring me to next. It’s definitely been a year of ups and downs (as most years are). Whether you believe in fate or the randomness of the universe, there is still something stringing it all together. Something invisibly connecting the dots.

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On the Borderline

On the Borderline - The Dressed Aesthetic

We’re entering into such a unique time of the year, where relaxation starts to rein triumphant. Since the start of December, I can feel everyone’s resistance slowly wearing, as work gives up her fight to the temptations of a relaxing Christmas holiday. There are more holiday parties, emptier hallways as the weeks wear on, and a general fading of the frenzied cloud of productivity that usually hangs over our building. I have to admit, I’m sitting right on the borderline – I have a few key things to check off my list before I officially start my holidays, but the tantalizing…

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Outside the Box:
A Few Easy Tricks to Maximize Your Wardrobe

Outside the Box: A Few Easy Tricks to Maximize Your Wardrobe - The Dressed Aesthetic

I’m sure I’m not the only one who stares into the depths of her closet in the morning and mutters the infamous phrase “I have nothing to wear!” (yep, even me). Truthfully, it doesn’t matter if you have Emelza Marcos shoe collection or are reaching for a potato sack each day, everyone’s wardrobe can use a little recharge. That’s when I start to think outside the box…

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Do, a Deer

Do, A Deer - The Dressed Aesthetic

I have a soft spot for fashion that looks like it may have one day been someone’s sofa. This can include items of clothing, handbags, or shoes. Basically, if it could have just as easily been the fabric destined for an armchair or victorian draperies, I’m sold (Seriously, those Von Trapp’s had it right). I love brocades and tapestry and heavy, luscious fabrics. There’s just something about the weight of them that speaks to bygone eras…

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Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

Sweet Dreams are Made of These - The Dressed Aesthetic

I think we all have a different recipe for what makes a dream sweet. Perhaps in your world, it’s Antonio Banderas fanning you with palm fronds while whispering sweet nothings, or swimming through towers of gold coins, Scrooge McDuck style (though that always looked rather painful to me…). But my sweetest dreams usually involve being out with my Mr. and my pup, happening upon the most perfect blooms, wearing the most perfect 1950’s border print dress…

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Bright Lights, Big City

Bright Lights, Big City - The Dressed Aesthetic

I’ve done a fair bit of traveling in my life, and have lived in some weird and wonderful places. From the bright lights of Boston all the way to a tiny fishing village in New Zealand, back to sunny San Diego and then across to peaceful Perth. And although I would never call myself a City Girl, because I love the outdoors too much, there is just something about the pace of a bustling metropolis that feels so invigorating.

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Purple People Eater

Purple People Eater - The Dressed Aesthetic

There was this rather whacky song I loved when I was a kid – “The Purple People Eater” – which was really popular in the late 50’s. It basically sings the tale of a one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater who has a grand plan to come to earth and start a rock & roll band (go with me here – it all made sense a the time). Now, I was never clear whether he was purple and ate people, or if he selectively chomped purple people exclusively, but it was a rather cheerful song despite the supposed grape-tinted carnage.

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{Tailoring}: Fanning the Flames

Fanning the Flames - The Dressed Aesthetic

There are a LOT of reasons why I love vintage. The stories the garments come with, the attention to detail, the one-of-a-kind nature. But few things get my heart beating quicker than a glance at the INSIDE of a vintage garment. Back in the day, so much care went into every aspect of making a vintage dress – each seam, each stitch – and care even went to imagining the future woman who would wear her. The adjustments she might want to make. Because fashion was once about longevity.

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Sea Angel (+ Black Friday sales)

Sea Angel - The Dressed Aesthetic

My love of the hea knows no bounds. I’ve always had a lifelong passion for the ocean and all of it’s undersea inhabitants – I think I announced when I was 5 that I was going to be an ichthyologist who studies sharks (no really, I’m serious). So, it’s no surprise I’m amassing quite the collection of vintage novelty seaside prints. I pretty much can’t resist them (case in point here). Every time I find one it unleashes a new wave of childhood joy.

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Love at First Sight

Love at First Sight - The Dressed Aesthetic

You know how the story goes: Your eyes lock across a crowded room. Your heartbeat quickens, your palms get sweaty, you lose all power of speech. You had read about this feeling before but never experienced it yourself. And suddenly there it is. Your heart swells and moonlight floods your soul. You see the universe and all of it’s possibilities and realize this is the moment when your life will never be the same. And I’m not talking about boy-meets-girl. I’m talking about girl-meets-dress.

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