DvF
"On the hanger the $200 garment had no shape. But it had suddenly given one to me. The splurge was occasioned by a promotion to correspondent. It was a decided step up from the secretarial pinstripe suit with pleated pants (the horror) that I'd bought right out of college. It was also a couple sizes down, thanks to my punishing new exercise regime. An updated version of the frock Ms. von Furstenberg first introduced to wild national acclaime in 1974, the wrap was certainly slinky: It could, in theory, unfurl and tumble immediately to the floor with a single purposeful tug of the "self-belt". But it was sexy in a totally autonomous, empowering way. No second party was needed to help button or zip up. I could rewrap smartly in a flash and and leave wherever I was in seconds, like Wonder Woman sans bustier and tiara."
-Elle October 2006
Oh, if only I could find a DVF wrap dress for only $200. I check Bluefly religiously. My 6 year old J Crew version does amazing things though. Not well-made, the fabric is mediocre, seams are falling out (J Crew was different 6 years ago. I think this cost like, $75 or something; now they don't have dresses under $200 either)
I didn't know how to dress myself at 15- everything I wore was ill-fitting and unflattering and usully too revealing and in a color that was all wrong, usually chosen based on its merits on the hanger or on someone else, not on me. It's by pure chance that I picked up the ideal shape for me (for me now- at 15 I probably looked more lumpy, less lithe.) and that I chose a color that back then I had never worn before that I now know always looks stunning on me.
At that time, I lusted after the clothes that would fit the kind of person I wanted to be, and not what I needed to wear to school. Obviously this lead to a lot of mistakes, like too-short skirts and very low waistbands and tacky little thongs and even a shiny silver velour tube top (cringe!). My mom was buying me duplicates of her clothes, and this was before she developed the taste I now admire her for. This was the Talbots era. Tube tops and thongs and bare (pudgey) midrifs were reactionary. I've forgiven myself and so has she.
Which makes it even more remarkable that the dress I wanted back then not because it suited me but because I aspired to become someone who would be suited by that dress, is now undeniably the most beautiful, flattering, confidance boosting thing in my closet. I guess something went right.
How can you not love the one piece of clothing that's at once the most comfortable and the sexiest? That always fits beautifully, plus or minus 20 pounds? That looks tastefully knee length and family-friendly upon entry but happily falls open up-to-there under tables in restaurants and in the passenger seat of a car? That comes undone with a pull of a string and pours off your shoulders down your back into a little silk pool on the floor around your feet?
-Elle October 2006
Oh, if only I could find a DVF wrap dress for only $200. I check Bluefly religiously. My 6 year old J Crew version does amazing things though. Not well-made, the fabric is mediocre, seams are falling out (J Crew was different 6 years ago. I think this cost like, $75 or something; now they don't have dresses under $200 either)
I didn't know how to dress myself at 15- everything I wore was ill-fitting and unflattering and usully too revealing and in a color that was all wrong, usually chosen based on its merits on the hanger or on someone else, not on me. It's by pure chance that I picked up the ideal shape for me (for me now- at 15 I probably looked more lumpy, less lithe.) and that I chose a color that back then I had never worn before that I now know always looks stunning on me.
At that time, I lusted after the clothes that would fit the kind of person I wanted to be, and not what I needed to wear to school. Obviously this lead to a lot of mistakes, like too-short skirts and very low waistbands and tacky little thongs and even a shiny silver velour tube top (cringe!). My mom was buying me duplicates of her clothes, and this was before she developed the taste I now admire her for. This was the Talbots era. Tube tops and thongs and bare (pudgey) midrifs were reactionary. I've forgiven myself and so has she.
Which makes it even more remarkable that the dress I wanted back then not because it suited me but because I aspired to become someone who would be suited by that dress, is now undeniably the most beautiful, flattering, confidance boosting thing in my closet. I guess something went right.
How can you not love the one piece of clothing that's at once the most comfortable and the sexiest? That always fits beautifully, plus or minus 20 pounds? That looks tastefully knee length and family-friendly upon entry but happily falls open up-to-there under tables in restaurants and in the passenger seat of a car? That comes undone with a pull of a string and pours off your shoulders down your back into a little silk pool on the floor around your feet?
posted by Sarah at 2:47 PM
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