Category Archives: Dresses

Oh, well, what could a girl wear?

Shopping fever

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I am infected by a pesky shopping bug!

I have been compromised, and have the worst case of shopping fever in a while. It is not related to the sales, only 4 of my  sea of purchases was actually from the bargain bin.

It seems to be contagious: 3 of us in the office are suffering from similar symptoms.

In the past 2 weeks, I bought: 1 pair of trousers, 3 dresses, 2 skirts, 1 shorts, 5 tops, 3 high heels, 2 pairs of flats, 3 rings, 2 earrings, on top of very expensive flights to Brazil.

I need some help, thinking about setting up a support group!

Dresses and icons

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Breezy, eh?

The news that Debbie Reynolds will put her iconic dresses from her private collection fills the fashion world with excitement – and I am no different, even though I am unable to afford one.

With dresses such as the “subway” dress Marilyn Monroe wore in “The seven-year itch” proced at US$ 2 million, is not surprising the whole lot is expected to fetch in excess of US$ 7 million.  Still a disappointment for Reynolds, who was expecting to open a museum to display the items, but gave up as no sponsor stepped forward.

See the collection here

Dresses made famous by women and women made famous by dresses

This delightful selection consists of dresses worn by famous women in events  and movie characters costumes together with controversial picks – J. Lo’s belly button low cut green Versace and “that” dress that  brought Elizabeth Hurley to fame.

Breakfast at Tiffany's

My favourites are the rhinestone encrusted dress Marilyn Monroe’s wore to sing that infamous  happy birthday to president Kennedy and Audrey Hepburn’s black dress worn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.Elegance does not consist in putting on a new dress.

“Elegance does not consist in putting on a new dress”, said Coco Chanel, and she was right, in more ways than others – I would feel most elegant wearing *most* of these oldies!

Wedding dilemma II

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Topshop coral ruched dress, £46 goes to the wedding

Well, so I bought the new dress ( and now I have a red dress I haven’t yet worn and material to make a lovely fascinator in a box).

Having more than 100 pairs of shoes, you’d think I would manage to find a pair that goes with the new addition to my packed wardrobe.

However, on the day I bought the chosen dress, I also came across gorgeous coral (ok, it’s more flamingo, but it goes perfectly!) and grey shoes.

My sensible boyfriend (who I think is a bit scared my shoes will one day rebel against him and kick him out of our bedroom) told me that I should go home and see if any of the shoes I have in giant tupperwares under our bed would go well with it.  So, in a rare display of shoe sensibility from my side,  I decided to take his advice into account (another rarity).

Sorry, not this time (Ibiza, SS 10, R$150)

I got home, and opened my Pandora’s shoes boxes. And I knew which one would fit the bill – a lovely snakeskin and gold, Brazilian make Ibiza pair, which I have worn once.

I still couldn’t get out of my head the perfect shoes I didn’t buy – the  glass slippers to my ball. And that’s another thing about me is – I obsess with pretty things. I want something, I think about it all the time until I buy it. It’s like crossing an item from a list. It is not healthy.

So I went back to Topshop and bought the shoes, on the promise to my boyfriend that I would assess the need of yet another pair and ask a qualified panel of people their opinion and subsequent vote. I had a system.

You shall go to the ball (Topshop, £62)

I took the shoes home and tried them on, with dress and Ibiza shoes. I documented my findings and in a very impartial manner showed to 3 people in the office, who all voted YAY to new shoes.  I also conducted additional research amongst other focus groups, and the new shoes got all the votes!

Basing my decision on scientific research methods,  I am keeping the pretty new shoes. And that’s it.  Another find was that being sensible when it comes to shoes is not sensible. I rest my case.

On another note, I also re-ordered all the material for a new fascinator and I am now looking for jewellery, in coral and silver! Ha.

The wedding dilemma

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The sold out fascinator I fell in love with, from 2adorn

No, I am not getting married!

When an occasion arises on my social calendar, my very first thought is: what should I wear?

From there, I start looking for the dress, which should be a starting point. However, I do have a tendency to get side tracked – I start looking at what I call “secondaries” –  shoes, bags,  jewellery and hair pieces to go with a dress I haven’t found.

Then I do the wrong thing – fall in love with a secondary. So I start looking for the perfect dress for my fascinator. Or shoes.

So this time, for and August wedding, I knew I wanted red. To go with my Louboutin soles. So I found a red/black fascinator, which was sold out. So I trawled the internet looking for the same materials to make myself a fascinator that looked like the one I fell in love with. Then I finally found a dress. it looked like my plan got together, 4 months before the wedding.

Needless to say, I was very happy with my outfit.  But then tragedy stroke. I heard that the wedding was to be way more informal than I thought. My perfect outfit was so fitting anymore.

Shock. Panic. Horror.

I decided I needed a new dress! And this time it came naturally. During a casual stroll I found a lovely coral dress and bought it.

Now, that caused me another problem the shoes and fascinator, but that’s another matter altogether…

Maxi dresses and the dirty feet curse

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A culprit of the dirty feet curse

I am finally into maxi dresses – it did take me a long time, tried a good 3 years ago, when the trend first made a come back, but being 5’2″ makes it really hard for me to find a maxi that doesn’t double up as a mop.

Well, I got a sewing machine, and now nothing can stop me (even if hemming my own dresses takes a couple hours just to mark mark the hem on myself!) I got a good half a dozen!

What bothers me now is the fact that I seem to develop extremely dirty feet when I am wearing maxis and flats, a dark, dusty streak that builds up when I wear for a full day. It is really horrible and I don’t know what to do.

I couldn’t bring myself to post a picture of it, it’s horrible – and now I decided I will not leave the house wearing the maxi+flat combo without a third addition: wet wipes!

McQueen’s Savage Beauty

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My favourite dress being exhibited

An exhibition of Alexander McQueen’s masterpieces that is to be launched in New York Met’s Costume Institute was unveiled in London’s Ritz hotel.

This just confirms the late McQueen’s icon status, and I think Anna Wintour really gets it spot on when talking about his legacy on this article.

The launch will happen during this year’s Met ball and this really cements the late McQueen as an artist – rightly so!

The fact that the dresses were photographed on models then digitally altered to look like they are on mannequins for the catalogue,  makes the pictures at the Vogue gallery even more stunning!

I am in love – absolutely breath-taking pieces, in my humble opinion, a museum is indeed the right place for his works of art!

Since I wrote this post, the exhibition has launched and is at full swing – wish I could attend! See the Met blog for more details.