For some reason this spring I am really in the mood for dresses. I like the simplicity of a dress; of getting dressed without having to consider the skirt and the shirt or the pants and the shirt. No matching, except for the cardigan or the scarf if you need it. I have been a dress wearer for years and just recently realized that I have way fewer dresses in my closet than I would prefer. I am ready to change that. Maybe it's the fact that this year, for the first time in a long time I am greeting the warmer weather knowing that I will not be pregnant or nursing anyone. Perhaps it is my own daughters who don their own play dresses daily. Whatever it is, I am eager for some new dresses.
I grew up wearing dresses, all sewn in her 'spare' minutes by my mom. My younger sister and I often had matching dresses, sometimes with ruffled shoulders or puffy sleeves but mostly just good, simple day dresses. That's me on the left up there, in a dotted swiss dress with puffy sleeves and an inset of eyelet. That's my sister, Nancy, and brother, Chris. Mom also made his tie and pants and Nancy's matching dress. It was the era of ERA, and bra-burning, and hippies in long caftans, but in Ohio in the 70s little girls still wore play dresses to Brownie meetings, the library and the park where we learned to keep our panties hidden on the monkey bars without the help of spandex shorts! Imagine!
So in my renewed lust for dresses I have been doing a bit of late night searching on the world-wide interweb and I came across A Dress A Day. This blog kept me up way too late and made me long for a closet full of great dresses. Read all her Secret Lives of Dresses essays and then go hit your best resale shop, but leave a few dresses for me, o.k.?
Cynthia, my aunt sewed dresses for us girls when I was young since my mother never learned to sew. My twin sister and I each owned a dress very similar to yours-dotted swiss and all! It was a very long time before we were 'allowed' to wear pants (but never to church). Your hair looked much better than ours. Mom put ours up at night with bobbypins, so in the morning we had a fuzzy mess floating around our heads. Thanks for bringing back the memories!!!!
ReplyDeletei have 4 sisters, and every Easter my mama would make us matching dresses......and accessorize us with matching hats, purses and gloves.....very fun!
ReplyDeletei enjoyed your blog very much!