Holds Scarf for Added Interest!

I just bought this on Ebay, while ostensibly doing research for today's post. Ahem. It's not the world's greatest picture, but what a cool dress! I'm thinking of doing pin-on buttons so that I could change them at will.

I probably wouldn't wear it with the scarf. It's just so perfectly 2001: A Space Odyssey without it. The temptation to make this in white double-knit is strong. However, I'm thinking -- blue or black denim! With red topstitching! And a bandanna scarf! It would also be cute in bright green twill. Right? Right.

Can't wait to see how this is put together. I haven't made one like this (with no waist seam) in a while; we'll see how it goes.

Dada Poem Wedding Dress

In her Dada Poem Wedding Dress, Lesley Dill presents one of her enigmatic paper dresses, stamped with an image of a real biological heart (a votive) amongst black letters (Dada-style, in that the varied size and boldness of the typography suggest sound), which spell out what is only implied in Hawarden's corseted dresses: Dickinson's "The Soul has Bandaged Moments". A dip at the waist gives way to a body (there and not there), with the words "MOMENTS OF ESCAPE." Up and down the sleeves, letters straight and reversed (looking-glass-style) puff out and suck in the heaves and sighs of "THE SOUL HAS BANDAGED MOMENTS." The tight fit of the dress's bodice, coupled by its impossible wedding-dress train, gathers paper whispers of inescapable dirt and tears yet to come. This "aloof beauty" can do nothing more than wait for her dirt to be collected, wait for the rips to mar her perfection. Loose threads tangle their way off the skirt's hem and at the wrists--inviting the shredding, the ruining yet to take place. They catch me in pain with each inconceivable step, with each unforgiving gesture, like tendrils of hair caught on an unfastened hook and eye. Minuteness is all.

from Becoming: The Photographs of Clementina, Viscountess Hawarden

If you like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing you like

Mina's dress from the movie Bram Stoker's Dracula. Click on the picture to go to the site where you can order a custom reproduction gown from a movie. Examples on the site include Somewhere in Time, Ever After, Titanic, and (of course) Star Wars. (Amidala, not the Leia Slave Girl Costume. If you want that, go here. Not quite sure that last link is SFW. Or actually a dress, but hey.)

The Mina-dress maker says she's happy to work with you to get you what you want, even if you don't see your favorite movie on her site. So perhaps my fantasy of having all the Doris Day outfits from That Touch of Mink can become reality, after all ...

Beat the Heat (Sundress Time)

So cute. So cool. So bright! (Bright is good. Not everything has to be a neutral color, you know.)

At $85, this is fairly reasonably priced for vintage. I've seen stuff much worse than this go for more than $100.

Click on the link to see the back view, and while you're at it, check out the rest of this guy's site -- some things seemed to be really cheap! (Haven't purchased from him myself, so can't say anything about quality.) The site is not so fun to navigate, though, so pick a time when you're not in a hurry or cranky ... Guys (and I know there's one or two of you reading this, it's okay, I'm glad you're here) check out the Men's 40s and 50s selection because there's an excellent gray wool car coat there ...

A quick contest update

First of all: y'all ROCK. The links and so forth sent so far are great!

More details: the contest will end Monday, so you still have time to send me links. I will pay shipping on the dress, don't worry! (Although, if you live in, like, Australia, expect to get it 'round Christmas.) People who asked for other measurements -- I'll post 'em up or email them tomorrow, as my little boy has AGAIN absconded with all my upstairs tape measures. (They're the cool round retractable kind, so it's not unreasonable that he takes them every chance he gets.) I have decided that there will be runner-up prizes, but not *what* they will be yet.

You are really, really going to like the stuff folks have sent in. Trust me on this.

A Dress-A-Day Give-A-Way

To celebrate me finally adding an "email me!" link to A Dress A Day, I'm giving away this dress. It's one I made a while ago and while I like it, I never, ever have worn it. For one thing, it's navy blue, a color I usually run screaming from (blame Too Much Catholic School--although funny, that didn't ruin the Peter Pan collar ...).

It will fit a 36-38" bust, a 30" or so waist, probably hips up to 45" -- the skirt is fairly full.

How exactly do you win it, you ask? Just use the new email link (on the right, at the bottom) to send me a link to a dress you like, and tell me why you like it! The dress that I like best will win this dress, and it (and a couple runners-up, if I get more than one I like, which seems highly likely) will be featured on A Dress A Day. Please include the name you'd like your find to be credited with (it doesn't have to be your Realio Trulio Name). Don't worry about sending me your mailing address; I'll email for it if you win.

I should also point out that the dress is made of polyblend shantung. This probably means I will get no entrants. (But it's nice polyblend shantung!)

Employees of A Dress A Day (as if!) and their families are not eligible to win. Cash value of prize: your guess is as good as mine. (If you end up selling it on Ebay let me know what you get for it.) T-shirt on dress form not included. Winner can ask to have "Made For You With Loving Care by Erin" label sewn in; I've never used any of the ones my aunt gave me ten years ago.

Any other questions? Ask me in the comments ...

Jil Sander, again

Thanks to a benevolent commenter on the last entry, I can show you the dress I was talking about -- that is, I can gesture vaguely in its direction, as it's mostly covered by a coat. (A coat, which, although it looks interesting, would be about as convenient to wear as a full suit of armor -- you can't tell me those drawstring loops wouldn't get caught on every little thing you walked past. I picture the wearer, at the end of the day, removing the small dogs, newspaper kiosks, bicycles, and the odd parking meter that had accumulated all day, caught up in her coat ... )

I've been trying to puzzle out how, exactly, the fabric was cut to allow for all those tucks across the bust, but since I suck at origami I'm no closer to knowing now than I was when I was staring at it through the store window night before last.

And, for the "How Would Erin Change This Dress" feature of this blog, I think I'd like to see it in a different color, instead of the oh-so-predictable neutral (is it gray? is it black? is it khaki?) shown here. It's for Spring, dammit, how about primrose yellow, or robin's-egg blue, or even turquoise?

Click on the image to go and see the entire Jil Sander Spring 2005 RTW collection at Style.com.

Industrial-Strength Chic

I have a sneaking fondness for dresses that, in a pinch, could double as janitorial uniforms or be listed under the heading "noncommissioned officers, for the use of," and this is a dress that definitely falls into this category. (Although most uniforms don't cost $590!)

I like the standup collar that looks as if it should be folded down, and the patch cargo pockets that look handy in principle but that I'm sure in practice would lead to large lumps in the least-attractive place for large lumps. I like the color, and the skirt length, and the 3/4 sleeves.

There really is just one thing I'd change about this dress (besides the insane-o price): I would not, I am absolutely sure, be able to resist sewing a name patch that read "Betty" over the left breast. But can you really blame me?

This one is from Jil Sander. I was originally looking to post a Jill Sander dress I saw that was nothing more than a shift of transparent silk organza with amazing little tucks giving shape to the bust, but I couldn't find a picture of it. I took a picture of it with my Treo, but I am resolved not to start posting crappy cameraphone pics of dresses shot in bad light through shop windows. That way lies a lot of wasted electrons, I am sure. But if any of you have better Google-fu than I do, and run across a good picture (believe me, you'll know it when you see it), feel free to drop me a line and I'll run grab it and share it here.