This post shows two core lessons of The Directrice in practice.
Any guesses?
First, if you find dress in a classic style that fits you perfectly, and it comes in two colors, buy both. You’ve seen this dress before, in a wonderful terra-cotta color. Right here.
Second, a white dress is so nice in the summer. So fresh.
As much as I love white dresses, I try not to get too attached.
I wouldn’t spend a lot of money on a white summer dress because they are vulnerable to many mishaps: coffee, chocolate ice cream, sunscreen, children’s dirty hands, and cat vomit.
Read on.
This dress was sale-on-sale over the winter and so I bought it in January, envisioning a very different summer.
I am pleased to have it nevertheless because it’s pretty and comfortable to work in.
You could pair any sandals and jewelry with this dress and look put-together. I am wearing “the” sandals of 2020 (still too lazy to go downstairs to retrieve the summer shoes) and a green stone necklace.
This particular green also feels fresh to me. And I want to eat it.
Generally, I am pretty good about not spilling things on my clothes. Occasionally I might spill some Diet Coke, but that miracle drink practically beads up and rolls away. So I wear white without fear.
The other day, while wearing this dress, I heard Mr. Orange starting to retch in the kitchen. He was sitting in one of the chairs that I finally had slipcovered and I could not wait for events to unfold, so I put my hands around his mid-section and moved him to the floor.
The other day, while wearing this dress, I heard Mr. Orange starting to retch in the kitchen. He was sitting in one of the chairs that I finally had slipcovered and I could not wait for events to unfold, so I put my hands around his mid-section and moved him to the floor.
Oh no!
I moved him into the arc of his own projectile vomiting. Such an indignity for a cat who keeps himself so scrupulously tidy. (He’s tidy, but he does tend to vomit on the furniture, in his favorite resting spots. I’ve never had a cat do that.) In my attempts to console him and clean him, I got his vomit on this dress. So gross.
No fears! A little Oxyclean removed all of the evidence.
Moving the cat was the right call.
Continuing our confessional bent regarding the strange impulses and irrational demands of this summer, I’ve been wanting an enormous hat. Not simply a big hat. Enormous. I can’t stop looking at them on the Internet.
I’ve resisted anything straw because large, structured hats are no friend to the city-dweller. There’s no place to store them. If I had limitless space, I would buy this one.
But I don’t have limitless space, so I only deal in crushable hats. This one is partially satisfying my fixation.
This hat will be perfect for sitting in the sun on a windy day.
Who do I look like in profile? Think back. It’s someone from your childhood.
Dress: Love Binetti; Hat: Marrakshi Life; Shoes: J-Slides
* Lola Hats says The Spinner can be rolled up like a baguette.
I don’t think it’s malachite. Must be jade.
Paddington Bear?
Poor Mr. Orange.
The white dress is lovely! And the last pic has some kind of optical illusion going on that makes it look like you’re in a botanical garden by a lake or pond. I’m imagining a skillfully packed picnic basket nearby, and a picnic blanket with family history or some other intriguing origin story. Very happy to see you in the fresh air and cheerful frock!
It does look like the countryside, doesn’t it? It’s just the little garden in front of our building! That’s Connecticut Avenue behind it, busy as ever. They removed a bush and now it’s the perfect spot to take Directrice photos. Personally I think there’s an Alice in Wonderland quality about this set.
Lovely post thank you! I love white and green together and the dress and necklace are a beautiful way to wear that combination, and your last picture also, of the dress worn in the green garden, though the necklace is not visible, is another way to ‘wear’ green with white. My cat who lived to the age of 23 years, was a vomit in the house cat, though she never ever had any other accidents. She decided her very favourite location to be sick on was my beautiful large vegetable-died silk Persian rug, which I couldn’t use oxyclean on sadly, just baby wipes and diluted liquid wool wash. Yucky. I now have little reminders of kitty in the form of the many slightly faded areas on my rug!
I am digging the longer hair! And thank you for the white/green inspiration.
‘Into the arc of his own projectile vomiting’. Undignified for the rest of us, never mind a cat, poor thing.
I like the idea of a big hat for shade but haven’t been able to figure out how to wear one – a brim turned up enough that I can see ahead catches enough air to easily blow right off once I start moving.
Hmmm. That does not look like malachite. The yellow understones aren’t common in malachite. So jade, or possibly some more unusual semiprecious green stone?
Definitely the right decision to move the cat. Oxyclean is magical.
Argh. Understones=undertones.
I’ve missed reading your blog… hello! And thank you – great hat!
A large hat can be very useful. I bought a huge, cobalt blue, straw hat 18 months ago. At the time the family laughed, saying I had no need for such a large hat. I assured them that someday I’d wear it to a summer wedding. The hat is not foldable, it’s made of stiff straw and takes quite a bit of space to store — causing frequent suggestions that I get “rid of the thing.” Well, last month we went to an outdoor wedding that was billed as Coronavirus-careful. When we arrived, nobody was wearing masks and all were grouped together under tent shade. My masked family and I stood outside the tent, under the relentless sun, and as far as possible from the others. And I felt vindicated wearing my own shade.
Ha! If the hat is big enough, it becomes an instrument of social distancing.
That is a Wonderful Hat (the stripes!), and exactly what I was thinking. My brother-in-law cut himself a 6’2″ stick* to carry along to the first outdoor gathering they went to in early June. A gigantic hat can offer similar service, as you have to stand far enough away to see.
*the extra 2″ were, he said, “for good measure”
Wonderful dress in both the white and terra-cotta. Lovely summer inspiration. The hat is delightful and impractical,but worth the amusement. Mr Orange is unfortunate to have his affliction, but so fortunate to have such kind and loving caretakers.
The Flying Nun?