dress quest: the white maxi

I’ve been searching for a great white summer dress for decades now, it seems. Somehow it’s eluding me.

I’m imagining a drapey (a heavy silk-like cotton blend, imagine) white maxi dress with a casual Grecian look. Something like this, though this dress only looks the thing from the side, and upon investigation is no good.

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Last year I picked up this ‘Goddess Maxi’  from Victoria’s Secret. No longer on their site but you can still find it around. It’s a bit too formal, though, to meet the criteria of the quest. The fabric itself is a little fussy, heavy and stretchy with a slight slickness, and the gathering detail in the front also feels fancy to me. Pretty, but not the one.

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I considered their knife-pleat maxi, too,* but decided it’s better in color (I like the navy), and anyway it doesn’t come in white.

*I usually find Victoria’s Secret hopelessly tacky but once in a while I really like a piece of clothing, and I like their bikinis and their simple cotton underwear, too.

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Anybody have a recommendation for me?

I could also happily turn in the direction of a 40s midi dress, I think.

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If you see one like this, tell it I’d like to meet it.

images via pinterest

the straw fedora

 Style ain’t nothing but keeping the same idea from beginning to end. Everybody got it.

                                                       –August Wilson, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

I got a new hat, a snazzy little blunt-brimmed straw fedora in bright ivory. Arguably out of place anywhere but summer.

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IMG_6214You gotta get. that. dirt off your shoulder…

IMG_6203Some light, easy fare for the last days of summer. Old Navy top, Hollister cut-offs (thrifted, cut off myself, as is invariably best – don’t want them to look too neat or precise), Victoria’s Secret python bikini top, Superga sneakers, Goorin Bros. Marin fedora, Fossil watch, antique scarab pendant, Pearls of Joy 6-7mm studs. On the lips: OCC lip tar in Banjee.

This is my rather dull balcony. There’s a fair amount of hat holding because there was a real danger of having it blown off. Plus, it looks saucy.

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IMG_6222_2-bwIf you can’t do gangster poses with a fedora, when can you?

Resolved to play more with black and white. Got the excellent advice to include some pure black or white (or both) in the composition to maximize the range of contrast. Have a bit of a thing for sepia, too.

IMG_6184This lip color is a straight, marigold orange (swatched here in my ode to orange). I was skeptical to use it alone–thought it would look too editorial/bizarre–but after messing around a bit, adding a little gold powder to the center, I really liked it. Not as distracting/weird as you would think bright orange creamsicle lips would be, right? [Or maybe I got desensitized over time…] Fruits of experimentation.

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