Wednesday, August 21, 2013

She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not - a Dress Guest Post


Her shoes are Poetic License; the bag is Dooney & Bourke
Effeuiller la marguerite, or in English, "she loves me, she loves me not."  If I could pull the petals from the cottage roses that decorate my deep red silk fabric, I'd have long ago removed every one of them while repeating that bittersweet refrain.  From the first time she slipped me over her head in the L.S. Ayres dressing room in 1996, I made her feel pretty.  But I don't have a zipper, and even with a surplice bodice, it takes a bit of contortion to get in and out of me.  She nearly had a panic attack that first day in the dressing room because she thought she'd tear my seams trying to get out of me, until she realized that I had to be pulled over her head and off of both arms at the same time, rather than one arm at a time, which was her typical way.  Despite that little challenge, she brought me home and wore me proudly to a late summer wedding.  She donned me periodically after that, but after a time I was relegated to the back of her closet in favor of new items she purchased with her employee discount at Parisian.  She loved me not.

I thought I was long forgotten, and it was just a matter of time before I'd be hauled off to a Goodwill store.  Then in August of 1998, Kevin (he's her husband) unexpectedly yanked me out of my hidey hole all the way at the back far right side of her closet, threw me in a garment bag, and whisked me off to meet her at the airport in Chicago.  She was coming home from a three month internship in Australia just in time for another wedding and wanted to wear me again.  I was elated.  It turns out she knew exactly where I was all along and gave him explicit instructions on where to find me.  She loved me!  

What a beautiful wedding that was, and so much fun.  She danced a lot and was barefoot by the end of the night.  I remember, in particular, having my neckline yanked to the left several times because her friends did not believe she really got a tattoo on her shoulder while she was in Australia.  She did.  She has pictures of us from that wedding.  A couple of them are even framed.  They're included at the bottom of this post. 

After that wedding, she wore me quite a bit for a few years, but eventually she again grew bored with me, or perhaps, frustrated, or maybe I just didn't fit for a time.  In any event, I was once again pushed to the back of the closet and ignored.  She loved me not.

I've moved with her four times in the 17 years we've been together.  She's donated a lot of clothing to charity over the years, and she's consigned other things, but she kept me so I held out hope that maybe I'd get to make her feel pretty again someday.  And last week, against all odds, I got my chance.  She paired me with a pair of Poetic License spectator pumps I'd never seen before, and an ivory cardigan with a lace back.  This was a vast improvement to the sage green cotton one she used to throw over me when she got too chilly in her downtown office.   

After all these years, Kevin hadn't forgotten me, either.  He said, "I remember when you used to wear that dress a lot.  I like it, but isn't that the dress that stained the driver's seat of your old CLK?"    Not helping my case, Kevin!  She defended me.  Though the light oyster gray leather did, indeed, acquire a strange reddish tint about the seams, there was never enough evidence to convict any particular item from her wardrobe.  But, she also recalled the day she wore me to work in the air conditionless Jeep Wrangler in 100 degree heat...when she got out of the car she looked like she'd spilled something down her back (or worse) and had to spin around like a mad woman in the parking garage until I dried.  Another reason to love me not. 

Nevertheless, I still make her feel pretty, and when she put me back in the closet, I stayed near the front.  I hope that means I'll be worn again soon!

Fashion is what you buy; Style is what you do with it!

August 1998, with Kevin (a member of the wedding party) and her college roommates.  It was a beautiful wedding and a great night!
I'm linked up with Bella's Shoe Shine at The Citizen Rosebud - check it out!

7 comments: