back in january i blogged about a different dress by 3.1 phillip lim. someone outbid me and i've yet to stitch up a bootleg version, even though i managed to unearth my sewing machine. recently i saw this sequined number on the outnet and you can figure the rest. i'd love to tell you what it cost me, but my extremely frugal mother sometimes reads this blog, and i don't want her to have a heart attack.
hypothetical attempt
me: but ma, it was the outnet! major discount!
mom: everything i wear came out of the alley... and don't i look styyyylish.
last time i saw my mom, she was wearing one of those expandable scrunch tees that you sometimes see in walgreens, or on hunyak tourists. this particular one was sheer and tie dyed, and underneath she had a tank top with small-print words on it like "love" and "peace." her skirt, leggings, and socks were all different patterns, or purple, brown, and amber. the only solid-color garment she had on was a green cardigan i'd given her. i wish i'd taken a picture, but it was too terrifying. it was sort of like the pattern-clashing that you see on poor people in third-world countries, but taken to a psychedelic extreme.
right. so, out of respect for my mother i won't admit the cost of a designer dress, but i will gleefully criticize her outfit. let me adjust our lens; on a skinny hipster at fashion week, my mom would draw a crowd of photographers for being the most original and reckless dresser. vogue italia would give my mom preference over
or
any of these chicks.
i will never get over the horrors of being forced into mixed liberty prints as a child -- it's one of those things formative pains that drive me toward a sculptural, soigné, monochromatic principal -- but fashion folks are real aspirational about contrasting patterns. there are editorials devoted to mastering this stylistic challenge. well, let me tell you, franca sozzani (you chic creature, you) my mom does this with aplomb.
maybe for a future challenge, i will try to replicate one of my mom's looks. lord have mercy.
okay, sorry, i meant to talk about the 3.1 phillip lim dress. the designer, by the bye, had a gorgeous, minimal f/w 2012 runway. below you've got filtered photos of the dress, which is all matte white sequins with a silk chiffon lining. covered black buttons and handkerchief-hemming at the hips. it is just slightly too big, but that's how i usually do. (tight and open-toe is for strippers and slatterns.)
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| coach belt, miu miu courts, vintage python clutch, vintage earrings |
sometimes you pick something out and you know exactly how you'd like to wear it, and for whom you'd like to wear it. this is a romantic notion of how you'd like to be perceived; your most-assured, most-poised, and yet most-comfortable self. your impala-self more than your otter-self. even if you will never wear it under such dreamed-of circumstances. this is how fashion works on the brain, (i tip my cloche to flaubert) which is to say that it's emotional and irrational.
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