I visited my wonderful 95-year-old grandmother recently, and she gave me the fantabulous gift of a dress from her younger days. She used to work in the fashion industry and has a deep and abiding love for beautiful clothes. Her neighborhood in Florida doesn't give her much in the way of fashion eye candy, so she's convinced that NOTHING is made the way it was back in the golden days of yore, and that NO ONE knows anything about design and that fashion is a bunch of garbage in this heinous rotten present. Usually I argue with her and throw issues of Vogue and show her Calvin Klein's latest, but when she pulled out this example of a normal, nice dress from 50 years or so ago, I had to admit defeat.
[note the old lady shoes, from a real old lady]
The dress is incredible. Look at the detailing. It's UH MAY ZING. All appliqued by hand. And all those little hooks and eyes! Nothing terribly difficult, but certainly not your average Loehmann's find nowadays (and my grandma got this dress at the equivalent of Loehmann's). It does make you think, wow, maybe disposable fashion and whiplash-fast trends are really not worth the price of sacrificing quality like this. You can't even see the grey pearlized buttons that face inward down the center! Such a pretty detail, to be seen only by your ribcage! Love it.
It was so sweet how excited my grandmother was to see that I could wear her old dress. She's littler than I am, so the hips are a little high (note awkward gapping...will have to baste shut!), but I think it's doable. I do need to find a replacement belt for the grey one she said it used to have. Any tips for where to search? I have a big problem finding good/affordable/simple belts.
1 comments:
I would SO wear that dress. Love it!
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