Tag Archives: Say Yes to the Dress

16

Feb. ’13

Say Yes To the Dress: Day 4

“Embrace the manufacturer whose clothes consistently do nice things for you.”  Helen Gurley Brown, Sex and the Single Girl.

I got into Betsey Johnson only recently in a perfect storm of rediscovering Cyndi Lauper and a TJ Maxx opening in my town.  I had two Betsey Johnson dresses in my closet that I’d all but forgotten about; one bought for me by a creepy roommate I had in Brooklyn in hopes that I would model it for him (and leave it crumpled on his floor–I did neither) and another given to me in a bag of clothes from the daughter of a friend of my F-i-L.

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I’ll pretty much wear anything my dollies come dressed as

I like Betsey because her clothes are fun, flirty and sophisticated and casual, a rare combo indeed.  It’s hard to find something that meets all three.  Flirty clothes are usually fun but rarely sophisticated, and sophisticated clothes are rarely casual.  I rarely give my loyalty to a designer, but as I began to acquire more and more pieces, I saw the quality, and decided that if I was going to spend money on a purse or shoes, they had better be nice ones.  When I wear my spike-heeled black and white booties (which I bought because they reminded me of shoes worn by my Monster High Dollies) I get more compliments than on anything else in my wardrobe.

Betsey DressAll my Betsey dresses are black.  My office is pretty casual, but I can’t exactly show up to in an off-the-shoulder skull-print party dress.  My favorite is a vintage piece from the 90’s that I got for $30 on ebay, with short sleeves, a drop waist and a full skirt.  I live in it during office hours in the summer, but it looks just as cute with a sweater in the middle of a New York winter.

Now if only they made Betsey Johnson dresses for Dollies . . .

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13

Feb. ’13

Say Yes To the Dress Day 2–Cold Ankles

“The most becoming lengths for skirts falls within an inch and one-half an inch between the bottom of the kneecap and the top of the calf. The kneecap is not the most alluring part of the female anatomy and should be covered in most occasions” Arlene Dahl, Always Ask a Man

The hardest thing so far has been not wearing pajama pants.  I have a romantic satin Victoria’s Secret nightshirt, but with no pajama pants, I can’t exactly lounge around downstairs with my Father-in-Law there.  I stayed warm between two fluffy blankets, but when I got up in the night, by the time I got back to bed, my knees were chilled to the touch.

Did I forget to mention I live in upstate NY?

DressDay2Yesterday was the 60’s, so today I decided that I was Veronica Corningstone and decided to wear my soft blue wrap sweaterdress.  With it I wore stained-glass patterned tights, shoes like Velma Kelly’s in Chicago and a beret.

A word about patterned tights–I’ve been rocking them for well over a decade.  Back before you could get them at Claires, and only goth chicks wore stripes.  My sister Shaun went to NYU, so when I went to visit, she would take me to the Sockman on St. Mark’s to stock up.  Polka dots, pinstripes, wild blotches of color, bright red fishnets.  For fancy occasions I had black silk thigh-highs with the seam up the back.  I wore these tights with a pleated skirt (that, for the record, still fits) and a sweater, because there’s this thing called the late 90’s, and it’s going to be around forever.

However, the problem with wearing nylons is that your ankles get cold.  No other part, just ankles. And cold ankles are a unique sort of misery. I wouldn’t recommend them.

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12

Feb. ’13

“A girl puts a man on guard psychologically when she takes to wearing pants around the house. . . give a girl a pair of pants and she sprawls in a chair, crosses her legs like a man and becomes more aggressive in her speech and manner” Arlene Dahl, Always Ask a Man

I’d hate to put my man on guard or be aggressive in my speech and manner* For the next seven days, I will only wear dresses/skirts.  No jeans.  No leggings-as-pants.  Not even pajama pants.  It’s dresses, skirts and nighties, no matter what the weather.

Today I’m wearing a black cotton empire-waist dress I bought at Urban Outfitters, which I normally don’t shop at because the clothes aren’t meant to fit right.  But this was on sale, and it was comfortable, and because I, an ex-goth chick, am automatically drawn to black dresses.

Over it I put a vintage blazer I used to wear a lot in Binghamton, back when was actually cool.  I was going through a phase where I wanted to look like I hung out in record stores, even though the only record store in Binghamton wasn’t exactly a hang-out place and was mostly populated by old crazy dudes in tie-dye.  Also, it was next to a drug front.

Dress Day1But if there HAD been a record store to hang out in, I would have fit right in.

I rediscovered this blazer in a “to repair” pile I’d set aside six years ago and spent a good part of Friday afternoon repairing the shredded lining, which immediately tore again when I moved my arms.  In keeping with my record-store flair, I topped it off with a loopy black scarf and a raspberry beret that I did, in fact, pick up at a second hand store.

Black tights, black flat knee-high boots and a sweater cuff I made.  With my Fantine haircut, I look very mod.

I’m mostly comfortable for the day.  My feet were kind of cold in my tights, and the empire waist rolled up to create some impressive underboob that, under my blazer, no one saw.  Whenever I moved, I heard a small tear in my shoulders.  But I did start making a deliberate effort to sit up straight and move with more delicate actions.

 

*Not really.  Aggressive is kind of how I do things.

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