October 11, 2016

The Dress That Didn’t Get Away

Nicole outfits style, vintage

Do you ever get rid of things and then later regret it? (Do I ever ask redundant questions?) Ok, seriously, I am sure that 99.9% of the population has at some point in their life gotten rid of something and then regretted it afterwards. I personally have done this so many times in my life that I have lost count. My family can attest to this, as I am a menace when I get into a cleaning and de-cluttering frenzy! Cleaning and de-cluttering is great for my well being at the time, but a little while later, (sometimes as quickly as the minute I drop it off at the thrift store) I start to think about those things I parted with a little too hastily. Perhaps this is a clue into how attached I am to my things (which is not a good thing). The best article I ever read on Apartment Therapy talked about the concept of an “outbox”. Have you heard of it before? The concept is that you can place anything in the outbox while its “fate is being decided”. Once you have left it in the outbox for at least one week you can either decide to: take the item back out and keep it, leave it in for another week if you are undecided, or simply get rid of it. This was a huge help to me, as I can then think about the results of my organizing before I commit to them permanently.

This gingham dress was a very fortunate result of not getting rid of something. I picked this dress up at a second hand shop a few years ago. It is from the 1970’s (I think), as the style is slightly reminiscent of that era, and the fabric is a poly/cotton blend (as gingham’s usually are. To this I ask- why? Why are all gingham fabrics poly/cotton??? But I digress. . . ) However, even though this dress is not very old, it masquerades wonderfully as the 1920’s! The 1920’s is not an era I find myself gravitating to very often, as I just don’t have the figure for the drop waist style. (Though I absolutely love the fashions from the era, and have mentioned several times before how much I want to bring more of the 1920’s into my wardrobe!) This dress is the perfect solution because, even though it has a drop waist, it also has a tie belt, which brings the silhouette in just enough to be flattering, while remaining very 1920’s in style. I also love the fact that it is a large gingham, as you can never go wrong with gingham in my book! The simple, pleated style of the dress, and the casual fabric really makes me think that this is the sort of thing that a sportswoman of the 20’s would wear, paired with some thick stockings and a knitted vest (jumper if you are in the UK), to go play golf.

So, why did I (attempt) to get rid of this dress when it is practically perfect in every way? Well, here is the strangest thing- it got a black grease stain right on the front, in one of the white squares, that was very noticeable. I wore it a lot to my old job in a flooring store, where I didn’t mind if it got damaged more than it already was, but after a while I just got tired of wearing a dress with such a noticeable stain. So, I decided to take it out of my closet. However, I didn’t get rid of it completely, but packed it in with my costumes, as it is such a perfect 1920’s style dress. I had kind of forgotten about it, but then a couple of weeks ago, decided to go and dig it out, as I kind of missed it, and I thought I could just overlook the stain. As I started pressing the pleats back into shape I searched . . . and searched . . . and searched, but I could not find the stain. It actually faded and disappeared over the span of the last year! I did finally find a small, pale mark, where the original stain was, but you can barely make it out even if you look for it.

So there. That was a happy story for you, on why you should not always get rid of things, but instead pack them away for a year, and then take them out again and love them all over again!

Outfit Details:

Gingham dress: Thrifted Vintage

Shoes: Earthies, from a few years ago

Cardigan: Kersch

Scarf: Thrifted

Ring: Bauxo

Earrings: Vintage, from my Mom

Purse: Can’t remember!

Cloche Hat: Andre Canadian Hat

As my sister and I were taking these photos, a flock of cranes flew overhead!

These earrings, from my mom, are the craziest. If you look closely, you’ll see that one earring is the cutout, and the other is the area around it, so they are artfully mismatched!