My Summer of Love

Speaking of pale beige dresses

A nude-colored dress from my closet.  It's short and sweet.

 

 

via i'myourpresent

Heathered gray

I have a new dress.

When it touched my skin I felt a bit like a she-wolf.

These images make me think of the lyrics "What was golden went gray," from the album The Milk-Eyed Mender. 

This dress is mini-skirt length.  It doesn't look that way so much on this model, which surprises me.  I think it's the tall grass creating an optical illusion.  Or, with any luck, I'm proportioned with fairly long legs for my height.  I'm barely five foot three and it looks very mini skirt-ish on me.  It has a great square neckline, with cool braided edges.  One of the best parts is a silky lining inside.  It was made by LuLu Via.

At the risk of a non-sequitor, let's rally to support the recovery of wolves from the brink of extinction. I mean it wholeheartedly.  We need to follow our heartstrings when they are tugged.  Are any of you guys lovers of wolves?  I used to have a print of a howling wolf in the snow. It was beautiful and I kept it in my room growing up.  Now I rely on India Richer paintings for that effect.

Photography above by Stephanie Williams.

I'll include a 2 minute vid below, unrelated to the photographer or dress maker.

It's called "Living With Wolves."

Explains that only 52 Mexican gray wolves exist in the wild in 2009.

They are the most endangered mammals in North America.

What is becoming of this world?

Sweet ladies and gentlemen... may we all strive to be good, and care for the beasts who cannot speak for themselves.

Currently listening to:  Peach Plum Pear by Joanna Newsom, 2004

For those who actually want to help, there are many ways. Here is one: clickable link of petitions and ways to save wolves

A dress that makes me feel like a glass of bourbon

 
This dress, named "Café au lait," was made by an artistic team in New Orleans.
 
Wish I'd had the pleasure of wearing this earlier in the season.  I'll gladly wear it with bare legs next summer.
 
It's a dress I could picture myself reading a lot in, and handwriting letters in.
 
Sewing, drawing, kissing, hugging, taking photos, planting flowers, dirtying my knees in it, canoeing, admiring spiderwebs, etc.

(Lili, Adrienne, and my family all randomly mentioned spiders/spiderwebs this week. I have those conversations on my mind.)

I'm purposefully leaving painting off the list, because I don't want to get paint on this dress!  When you're a painter, you start out with your normal clothes and your smaller set of painting clothes.   Eventually your "painting clothes" are a bigger handful of pieces than you thought.  You get paint on you and it aint coming off.  That's one reason I've gotten into aprons.
 
The dress is pure cotton.  Pretty simple, yet bedecked with lace, crochet, a doily or two, cap sleeves, and a touch of grey.
 

 
I told the girls who created it that the dress will be cherished in a good home for many moons--
 
Unless I get soaked in a bayou, and a gator tears the delicate frock while I'm swimmin and wrestlin out of it.
 
It was saturated then faded, to a wonderful effect.  I bet their recipe was:

- dip in coffee at Café du Monde,
 
- pour on foamy steamed milk,
 
- add a drop of rose petal water to bring out a hint of pink.
 
- Drape over an iron balcony in the French Quarter,

- Tie it on the branch of a tree covered with Spanish moss
 
- Wash and dry in the sun.
 
After all the care they put into it, I've got a romantic soft dress full of character and charm.
 
I'm pretending those are the ingredients they used.  Shhh...let me dream.
 
The dress is also a little the color of
skin,
 
 
 
flushed cheeks,
sunrise,
or red clay earth.
 
There's certainly pressure at my job, maybe in "my field" as a whole, to dress as if you've gone to finishing school.  I enjoy looking like a grown-up Nancy Drew whenever I can, and I feel comfortable in a pleated kilt, Peter-Pan-collared blouse, a trench, pea coat, or any number of choices.  I wish I could manage to buy more Burberry, Paul Smith, or outfits resembling those collections, because I love that stuff.  But I like to wear clothes that are nearly the opposite plenty of times...clothing that shows you can still be a lady while you honor the part of you that's down de bayou.
 
One day I'll show you photos of me actually wearing these things out of my closet, if you'd like?  They look really pretty on their own, though.  If you need to imagine them on a person, please picture a ghost girl inside them for now. 
 
A ghost in my clothes!  Sounds like a poem I could write, or a song one of my friends could play.
 
I'm brand new to blogging.  I can't imagine modeling all of my clothes for the world wide web.  I kind of want to some day.  I fig I'll get there in due time, and I hope that suits you fine, lovely readers.
 
Do you ever feel confused by blogging because it seems too ego-centric?  I'm not entirely comfy with it for various reasons.  That's a whole worthwhile topic of its own, and I won't change this post to be about that.  I will say that I guess you find your groove in a blog eventually. 
 

I'm waxing poetic about something so small here-- a dress I own.  Maybe that's what this site's purpose is right now, stopping to smell the roses.
 
I've always looked at the world as an artist, and I like sharing those eyes with you.   It's more than swell having you along for the ride.  Please keep commenting, emailing, and sharing your take on things.  You inspire.
 

 
Currently listening to:
 
"I Wish I Was In New Orleans"
 
by Tom Waits, 1976

Girl in a Picasso

  

Andrea's recent post called "Running Off" inspired me to share some of my clothing with you. 

Wearing these makes me feel like a girl in a Picasso. 

In Japanese, "pierrot" can be a word for a modern day circus performer, which is not quite what I'm thinking of today. 

The pierrot I'm thinking of is the French figure, dressed in white soft clothing, with a beautiful face. 

I'd love to see a version from Japan, come to think of it. 

Pierrots and harlequins were dancers, and were graceful and mysterious.  Picasso loved them and spent time with them in Paris.  These were the years he's said to have referred to as "the happiest times in my life."  Occasionally, he painted himself or his children as these performers. 

This is called Pablo as a Harlequin, from 1924.  

Angelic, don't you think?  He depicted this subject throughout his life (1881-1973), and the majority of the paintings were in his 20's and 30's.

 

"Tumblers":

 

 

Above Picasso images from:  clickable link

I was a gymnast for 9 years (I miss it!) and I'm attracted to acrobatics.  Balance, strength, and agility are things I love to imagine about these quiet, athletic artists.

Now for my threads.  Here is one of my dresses by Ana!s of Brooklyn.  The designer uses high quality natural fabrics and cares about every stitch.  I own several of her pieces.  This dress is a mini.  It's bubble style, with double layers of the softest cotton.  It feels sooo good to the touch, which is very important to me.  It has an intricately crocheted collar, in a creamy tea color.  It's one of a kind.

To shop Ana!s: clickable link 

The above dress was new.  The rest I'll show you today are all vintage, from my closet, and all are a little see-through.

First, I have what was dubbed "The Ghost Town Sweetheart Blouse."  I really enjoy ghostly clothing.  This was handpicked by my beloved girls at Violet Folklore .

The model is musician Alela Diane.  She has a beautiful look and is a talented songstress; I'm happy Sasha intro'ed me to her.

   

To shop Violet Folklore:  clickable link

 

I have more to say about the girls and I'll save that for another day.

The next top was found at the treasure chest that is Dear Golden. 

I like things that are see-through, while also tasteful and innocent. 

If you can peek at a girl's skin, or get a glimpse of camisole, and her outfit is demure at the same time, I find it perfectly lovely.

This blouse is more conservative than sexy.  Yet, it's silky and transparent, and it reminds me of the Chanel No. 5 box.   It can be worn for museum work and dinner at the yacht club.

Next comes one of my vintage evening gowns. 

It reminds me of Jackie Kennedy. 

 To shop Thrush:  clickable link

The sheer top of the dress is made of a floaty fabric with ribbing.  This piece gives me the Chanel No. 5 feeling too. 

The model looks like Ellen Page. 

 

I'm wishing all of you a peaceful midsummer eve.  Here's wishing you meet friendly ghosts tonight.  Or, if you don't believe in or enjoy ghosts, may you do cartwheels among the fireflies.

Currently listening to: 

Ellen Page and Michael Cera,

singing Anyone Else But You

by The Moldy Peaches

My green dress

I received a bunch of compliments when I wore this, thank you, so I decided to photograph it. Thanks especially to Jean.

In person, I loved how little bits of sky peeked through the woods like stars. They echoed the little stitches and beads that reflected the light.