Tag: white

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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

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tennis whites

Anyone looking at the number of tennis skirts I’ve amassed would guess I play a lot more than I do. The process of shopping for my tennis wardrobe is a prime example of aspirational acquisition. I want to play more, and I want the way I look to reflect that. Want to look as if I do play.

[Which I do, though, while I am not bad, I am not what I would call good yet, either.]

I want to be inspired to be the kind of player I look as if I might be, and dress like the player I want to be (dress “up” – ready parallels here with dressing like the person you want to be). There is always power in looking the part.*

*Did you see this video of the homeless veteran who has a makeover that changes his life? Did I mention this already?

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And tennis has the best outfits.

I know that the tradition of white is all tied up in the sport’s aristocratic heritage and is fundamentally impractical…but I love white. And white just looks better and better as the summer wears on and I gradually bronze up and bleach out.

I mentioned planning to feature some tennis gear a while ago when I mentioned getting this watch, but somehow or another kept getting thwarted.

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I prefer skirts to dresses, tennis-wise, but the dresses have their charm, too. They are both so adorably unnecessary. Such a quaint holdover, dismissed long ago by every other sport I can bring to mind.* Such an instantly recognizable uniform (and any uniform may also be a costume: I was a tennis player for Halloween once, effortlessly). The option to wear them is too good to pass up.

*I could think up some feminist issues with this but I don’t feel like it. They are cute. I like them.

This particular dress is forgiving of how out of shape I am at the moment.  [Shall we blame winter? Even though it was a while ago now? Let’s blame winter.] You may not be able to tell…so much the better.

Pure Lime tennis dress, Fila visor (this is key), Adidas racquet bag (this one is enormous, I carry everything in it), Wilson BLX Pro Open racquet, Saucony sneakers. I like tenniswarehouse.com for this kind of gear, which has great sales now and then and a number of useful guides. I like to pick and choose across brands in this context as in any other.

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Yes, I really do wear the wristbands.

I’ll have to show you some of the classic pleated tennis skirts I have, which have to be my favorites. Or do I like the sleeker ones best? It matters not.

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