I have probably seen the Sound of Music about 12 billion times. The music, the family dynamic shift, the historical context, Julie Andrews twirling on a mountain top – I just love it all. I remember coveting Liesl’s dress in “I am 16, Going on 17” and having serious wardrobe envy over the drapery-meets-dresses, make it work moment (clearly). But, the song I find myself still humming today always starts with, “Raindrops on roses…”
I think we all have certain elements of clothing we just can’t resist. For me, that element is a beautiful print. In particular, a scenic print. And it honestly doesn’t matter how many scenic print dresses Bernie Dexter produces – I will want them all! I try (with a certain degree of effort) to minimize my scenic print craze to one-print per style, and I’m proud to say that while my resistance often fails on many counts, this is my first of her Paris style dresses.
Something you may have noticed in all of my ramblings, is that I tend to write the way I speak (not that you’ve all necessarily heard me speak, but I’m sure you can imagine it. Picture a whackadoo american-aussie hybrid accent speaking way too quickly). On the blog, I try to keep my writing fairly conversational and will jot down most things that pop into my head. Along with my stream of consciousness prose comes a tendency to abuse ellipses… You know, those magical three little dots that indicate a pregnant pause. An omission. A fill-in-the-blank…
I find that there are certain dresses you just can’t seem to get out of your head. This chocolatey number was just scrumptious – so much so that I would ‘visit’ her regularly (via the Trove Vintage Etsy shop), but never took the plunge to purchase her. She was one of those dresses that I couldn’t shake though – with amazing shoulder detail and the twirlable skirt of stratified cocoa hues, like the delicious layers of a hot fudge sundae, melting into perfection.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – one of the best parts of learning how to sew for me is the ability to see a dress that is very likely to be forgotten or discarded, and give her the opportunity to feel like new again. I spied this cherry red cutie at Pursuing Andie Vintage – an absolutely stunning Vicky Vaughn with lace trimmed collar and sleeves and a scalloped drop waist, all wrapped up in a cloud of dotted swiss adorableness.
There’s nothing quite like a vintage novelty print. Though I admittedly love a good rose or gingham print, novelty prints somehow manage to feel like they go a bit against the grain. You know the ones I mean – the prints that were the rebels in school, with a healthy disrespect for authority, who marched to their own drum. They stood on the outskirts, removed from the plaids and the ditsy florals, listening to bands you had never heard of. So confident and cool, less entrenched in the opinions of others.
A few months back, I went on a shopping adventure with a friend of mine and she asked me, if I ever had to choose between fashion and science, which would I choose? As most of you know by now, I’m a marine biologist and I love my job. Like, get-up-and-be-stupid-excited-to-go-to-work kind of love. You know that feeling of discovery you had when you were a little kid? Being a scientist basically means that part of you never has to grow up. Although there’s a bit more red tape and bureaucracy involved than when I was digging up critters in my…
It’s no secret that I have a weak spot for border prints…but a vintage border print masquerading as eyelet lace? That is definitely something I can get behind. I love the concept of art imitating life imitating art, and this might be one of the most beautiful pieces of vintage art imitating floral printed lace that I ever did see…
One of Mr. Dressed’s and my favorite down time activities is to curl up on the couch, pour a glass of top shelf scotch, and kick some serious butt in Mario Kart (the degree of butt kicking often directly corresponding to amount of scotch). We recently acquired a Wii U thanks to our last tax returns, and despite the plethora of options when it comes to the superhero/street fighting/crime solving games out there, I admit I’m a bit of a traditionalist. Mario & Luigi all the way.
I’m not sure why, but the stripes on this dress have always reminded me of the pole that sits outside of old school barbershops. When the barber’s striped pole spins, it creates a visual illusion, where it appears as if the stripes are moving up or down the pole. I kind of like the idea of a dress in constant motion, as if by spinning and spinning you’re never risking stagnancy. Always moving forward or backward, but never staying in one place for too long.