The seasonal transition continues. I’ve been too lazy to take my transitional dresses out of my transitional closet. Instead, I am making do with the most autumnal of my summer clothes.
Color can be as good a seasonal cue as coverage and weight.
A dark green cotton utility jacket with a white dress seems like the right mixed-message on an 80 degree day in September.
I love army green and white together and I like the gathered skirt of this dress with the fitted shape of the jacket.
I showed you this dress a few weeks ago, when I was taken with a description of the label as “inspired by men’s tailoring and Elizabethan garments.”
Is it weird to say that I thought Orlando was a good movie for clothes? Is it pathetic to admit that I otherwise found Orlando rather dull? And less interesting to me when I tried to re-watch it last spring than when I first saw it in 1992?
Do any of you fear, as I do, that you have become stupider with age? I think I have lost my ability to watch complex, intellectual films. It may, however, be that I have only lost my ability to watch films that are depressing, which many complex, intellectual films are. I am looking forward to The Death of Stalin — which looks smart and funny.
But I digress. Back to the dress. Does it look a little like a nightgown?
I have decided that this nightgown has a 16-week season: June, July, August, and September.
Long-sleeves in the summertime are smart because they provide protection from the sun. Obviously this dress is no sunblocking rash-guard, but it provides a little coverage when running out to fetch lunch at noon.
This dress reminds me of a favorite blouse. Is it weird and/or pathetic that I feel affection for a dress that reminds me of a blouse when both are hanging in my closet?
Notwithstanding my affection, I must admit that the dress is a little too long.
I think we can agree that the solution is child’s play.
The dress will look better when shortened by 4 inches, like this.
Perhaps I’ve pinned it a little too short. It should hit just below the kneecap.
Interestingly, one’s perception of the perfect length depends, in part, on how full the skirt is. With a fuller skirt like this one, the eye may believe that the middle of the knee is the right length.
Finishing things off, an assertive trans-seasonal shoe.
Have a fantastic weekend! If you live in the D.C. area, you should go see Red Molly —
an amazing female folk/roots trio — at the Birchmere on Saturday.
Jacket: JCrew; Dress: Thierry Colson; Shoes: Dr. Martens; Bag: Car Shoe
At your saying this dress reminds you of a favourite blouse – and before you mentioned shortening it – there immediately popped in to my head an outfit whereby the dress is worn (as a blouse, if you will) over a long skirt – long, slim, high waisted (so the skirt’s waist sat under the high waistband of the dress. Rather seventies-does-Edwardian, perhaps?
I agree the dress is less possibly-nightgown-like with a shorter hem, but I think it is also considerably less interesting. It is very gorgeous nonetheless.
All of you (see below) are right, Jessica! I shouldn’t shorten it. I should leave it as is — or, as Ginger suggests, remove no more than 2 inches. I am so glad that I put this before a focus group before taking action!
Yay! I’m delighted!
I thought something similar to Jessica, the dress with an apron-like layer over top of it. The top of the dress is fine, but the skirt of seems like it needs another layer. So leaving it longer would be fine.
If you are bound and determined to shorten I think a little longer than what you’ve got it pinned up to. As a matter of principle I try to stick to shortening things 2 inches. If you go more than that then I think you run into design problems with the cut of the skirt.
are those Doc Martens still on the market? They look comfortable without looking like camel hooves.
Ginger — Your advice is excellent. I will leave the length alone. As to the Sianos — unfortunately, I think they are sold out at Dr. Martens, but you might try Amazon and eBay. Good luck!
I’m thinking layering too – what if you added a sleeveless dress on top? If the pinafore idea makes you feel too Gibson Girl or Prairie Dawn, chop away! I think it’s dreamy 🙂
Orlando was indeed superb for clothes and perhaps a tad self-indulgent otherwise. In case you don’t know them, I am Love and A Bigger Splash are also superb for clothes. In the former, Ms. Swinton is a free spirit imprisoned in the tasteful uniform of a Milanese bourgeoise lady; in the latter, she is a rock-star who wears modern tailoring with throwaway ease in her off-hours.
My own confession is that I prefer to know endings before watching a film these days. Otherwise the narrative momentum is a distraction from the subtler pleasures of great acting, writing, scene-making etc. I’m fine with depressing endings – I just like to know they are coming.
The dress does look somewhat like a nightgown – perhaps an artfully-repurposed flea-market find ? I have a couple of much-loved ones which I wear as warm-season sun-dresses with sandals, at lengths similar to yours as shown without alterations.
I like the dress. How about shortening the front as you show it and leaving the back long? I also like the wide hem.