The other night, I was wearing my favourite pair of underwear. They’re from 2009 and they have a Guinness logo on them and pink edging and I bought them in order to have a truly authentic souvenir of the time I went to Ireland for ten days with my mom’s parish (close tab). But, whatever, I really love them and have probably vaguely anthropomorphized them at this point. But if I don’t pack them, they may never see Los Angeles again!
And at first I thought, oh, maybe Toasties would like to chat a bit about their favourite underwear, but it seems unlikely that enough of you have really strong feelings about your underwear to make that interesting, so let’s pull this back: what’s the best outfit you ever had?
I don’t remember where I bought The Dress. I had it for a while, but didn’t really figure out how to make it work until my friend Emily looked at me and said lose the bra. I can’t! I said. I can’t lose the bra, that’s not for me, that’s for different people. But I did, and if I thought 100% about my posture while wearing it and wore those little nipple petal things, it actually worked, and it was sort of khaki-coloured and nipped in at the waist and had this soft leather belt that tied back and around itself.
And I think it was partially the mandatory no-bra posture that made it so transformative to wear. You had to be Joan Holloway in it. Did you know Christina Hendricks NEVER wears bras in stuff in her civilian life? She just makes designers do things for her with a lot of built-in buttressing? I saw it in Lucky, I think. I’ve never had a shelf bra do jack for me, but The Dress was different.
You had to enter the room like it was yours; like you, personally, had yanked it out of a stone, or it immediately slid off one shoulder and cried and poured egg salad on itself. I wore it to about six weddings in a row. I wore it while smoking pot after a wedding in another guest’s car and then wore it two seconds later when an ex-boyfriend’s parents ran into me and wanted to say hi and ask about what I was up to. Wearing great dresses and getting lit in cars at weddings, I dunno. But the dress allowed me to pull it together, is what I’m saying.
So, now that we’re here, what is the great outfit of your life? It can be from when you were six, that’s totally fine. I had a oversized white T-shirt with rainforest animals on it I wore 24/7. But what was it, and why?
Tags: clothes, fashion, loss, needful things, the best outfit you ever had
I had a t-shirt with a cigarette hovering over a toilet bowl with the words “Stink Pot” written on it. I wore it over a long sleeved shirt with green horizontal stripes, and with a pair of flared brown corduroy pants. I had simples that I wore with everything at that time and because it was the early nineties, I wore a flannel shirt over it when it got colder. I was 12 and loved how tomboyishly sassy and dirty and edgy I felt in that outfit.
Oh goodness. I own My Best Outfit right now. Here are the components:
– Teal dress with white polka dots
– Skinny-width black patent belt
– Black tights
– These really colourful flats that are tribal patterned that basically match everything I own.
– Yellow pashmina that has zebras printed on it that I saw a woman wearing on the tube one day and loved. Two hours later I found it on a cart on Oxford Street for £5.
– Fake pearl necklace and earrings
– A ring with a big yellow bird sitting on my finger
– Faux-leather biker jacket
– Bright yellow Cambridge satchel (with my initials embossed on it, because I am a narcissist).
You know how you’re a kid and you think about what you’re going to look like/who you’re going to be when you’re an adult? A few days ago I was wearing This Outfit and had just gotten my hair cut so I was checking myself out in the window on the side of a building. And I had this moment where the idea of the person I wanted to be lined up with the reflection I saw and it was one of the best moments of my life. Like, I might just being getting my shit together for once. And that was awesome.
But that’s only when I wear this outfit. The six other days of the week are a mess.
this is amazing
PHOTOS FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD IN THE WORLD
Ahh! Okay, here’s what I can gather on the interwebs:
Bird Ring
Satchel (in yellow)
Zebra Scarf
Dress (or the closest I could get to finding one that looks similar)
Faux Leather Jacket
Weee!
You have to put your initials on your Cambridge satchel because otherwise someone (I) might (will) knock you over and TAKE IT OH I WANT ONE SO MUCH.
Not an outfit but a great pair of shoes: fire-engine red, patent leather, open toe sandals, with just the right amount of heel, fit like a glove. And EVERYONE loves these shoes. I first wore them to my brother’s wedding rehearsal, and an aunt of the bride ran up the aisle to tell me how much she loved them. At another family wedding, my 5-year-old nephew bopped into our hotel room while I was getting ready, stopped in his tracks and said, “Great shoes.” A stodgy geology professor came over to me at a cocktail party and said, “Marvelous shoes, young lady.” They are the red shoes of love, uniting strangers, spreading peace and harmony wherever they go. And you can dance in them.
I love your red shoes and I have not even seen them.
I have a similar shoe love experience: hot pink, open toed, just high enough but not too high, fit like a glove. I love them so much that I chose my wedding dress to go with those shoes (and then danced alllll night in them at my wedding!)
I got them online years ago–totally random website, on sale. Best impulse buy ever.
Red shoes are great. I was walking to work one day and saw this girl in the subway hall wearing just jeans, a white t-shirt, and a pair of bright red pumps. She. Looked. AMAZING.
My red shoes are not half as nice as yours sound, but I still get tons of compliments on them. There’s something about red high heels that are like a signifier of female ballsiness and owning one’s own beauty. Some people just gravitate towards it.
Yes! People just stop you to tell you how beautiful and red they are!
I never ever get more compliments on anything than on this pair of scarlet patent leather Mary Janes from Kurt Geiger that I saved up for MONTHS for when I was 16, and I have had them resoled four times, and they are AMAZING. Red shoes!
joining the chorus of Magical Red Shoes! Yours sound great!
I have a pair of peep-toe slingbacks which are actually leopard print fabric but with red patent trim & heel and a red patent strap with silver buckle across the foot. Everyone loves them and my husband’s store almost didn’t stock them – I told his boss they HAD to get them and they sold out in like two days.
I have a pair of shoes like that! Mine are, strangely, Dr. Scholl’s sneakers. Yes. They are Ben Simon/ Tretorn/ Converse-ey, but with arch support. Dark grey with orange details and a white toe cap. Crusty bike buys, young women undergrads, my mom, total strangers. They are The Shoes That Unite.
ONE SHOE TO RULE THEM ALL, ONE SHOE TO FIND THEM, ONE SHOE TO BRING THEM ALL, AND IN THE DARKNESS GIVE THEM ARCH SUPPORT AND COMFORT.
It’s funny, what people will react to that you don’t expect.
Magical red shoes!!!
Mine are red patent leather T-straps with cute but simple cutouts. The best thing about these shoes? The soles are covered in leopard print. Which, sadly, means the print has totally worn off on the balls of my feet, but there’s still a lovely little surprise when I kick up my heel.
They are these: http://compare.ebay.com/like/221265543763?var=lv&…
A+ shoes
Those are amazing. Whyyyyyy are they too big.
I’m loving your magical shoes from afar. I have two pairs of Magic Shoes and they’re both aging poorly and I’m so sad. They’re both a brand that has since expired, both kitten-heeled and pointy-toed. One is black, red, and cream with weird cutouts and geometric shapes; I call them my Russian Constructivist shoes. The other is purple, black, and magenta suede, kind of weirdly sporty-looking. I love them both so much, I get stopped by strangers on the street every time I wear them (especially the purple ones), but they’re not much longer for this world.
The Russian Constructivist ones are like these but, you know, better colors.
I don’t think my Best Outfit has happened yet. I have this amazing black dress, halter-style and no-bra-allowed, just long enough, just tight enough, and nowhere to wear it. Please, fashion and weather gods, let me wear it out next weekend for my birthday, with red wedges and round shades. I’ve had it for almost two years. It’s time.
(I did wear an outfit recently that was Pretty Great, if not The Best: Batman leggings–from Romwe–and a striped tunic, with aforementioned red wedges. A number of male strippers thought it was neat.)
I have that dress! I wear it with a wide red patent leather belt sometimes and I STOMP AROUND.
I would never have got it but someone gave me a gift card to American Apparel and I decided to spend it on something I would never typically buy and didn’t actually need, because free money.
I will report back if I ever get around to wearing it.
My favorite pair of undies are this soft pair of “boy shorts” that are striped pink and green like a watermelon. They have somehow grown with the blossoming shape of my ass over the past five years, like magic. I am definitely fatter, but these undies do not care – they simply adapt.
Best outfit goes to my black lace dress. It is simple. I like to wear these shorts I have with lace on the hem underneath, so as to avoid the chubby-rub and accidental flashes. I love the feel of lace and being covered in it.
Oh man favourite underwear… Mine are definitely a pair of boxers I bought while on vacation with a friend. They’re not the most awesomest piece of clothing ever, though they fit decently and are cozy. They’re my favourite because they remind me of finally being brave enough to buy boxers, and having a friend with me who made me feel like it was ok to want to wear (possibly terrible) non-gender-conforming underpants.
I feel amazing wearing dude’s underpants under formal work clothes. Especially with a lacy bra.
I had a oversized white T-shirt with tropical fish on it when I was about 7, and I also wore 24/7. It was obviously THE MOST AWESOME T-SHIRT. I had really really long hair at the time and often pretended I was a mermaid. Mermaid hair + fish t-shirt = happy 7 year old me.
My favorite outfit ever…hmm. When I was about 17 I had a long straight blue linen skirt with a high slit that I wore with a skinny chartreuse boatneck tank top. I had these awesome strappy brown flat sandals and I’d just figured out eyeliner. I had this simple silver necklace that was basically just a chain with four loops on it. I wore this outfit so often, usually with enormous sunglasses.
It probably was not as amazing in real life as it was in my head, but it made me feel so grown up and savvy and chic, like I could be dropped onto the French riviera at any moment. Linen! Sandals! Eyeliner! Jackie O. sunglasses! BRING IT, WORLD.
I think the 50s very stiff white silk dress with blue floral pattern that I got as a bridesmaid’s dress but rewore one romantic weekend in Paris is the best probably, as I don’t have the balls to wear it whilst walking around in London, but Paris, sure! Though I’m proudest of the hideous 80s leopard print with giant green flowers giant batwing dress. I sewed those batwing sleeves closed to be normal sleeves, removed the epaulettes and now it is a very slinky dancing in a club dress. My first sewing machine attempt. No one else knows that inside the dress is a mess of threads!
Oh man, my favorite jacket is an old-man tweed one that I got at Goodwill for like $7 and then shortened and removed the shoulder pads and made 3/4 sleeve and added just a little bit of shape to the waist, and it turned out so great. It’s the only clothing thing I’ve made that I actually wear, and the inside is a mess, but nobody needs to see that.
A pale teal dress with a white poppy print on it, it is made out of clingy magic. goes with patent beige wedge slingbacks and a RED lip.
that’s a bit of the pattern 🙂
also these shoes:
I want those shoes what are those shoes where are those shoes.
I had two. One of them was the one I pulled my now husband in. Both of them were from the age of 17.
I had this close-woven lace dress that was almost seethrough in exactly the right light. Like any good early millenium british goth teenager, I wore this with no bra, black underpants, fishnet tights and stompy boots. It was the dress of my brief and golden Year of Cool. The year I went from being desperately unpopular and lonely to everyone wanting to know me. The year I turned into a monster from power. God, I love that dress.
The one I pulled my husband in was a black, snug-fitting chinese-style dress, with black embroidery on it, that I wore with ankle boots. I chatted him up at an LRP, starting a six-month dancing around each other period.
Of course, there’s a lot of great outfits I’ve had. My custom-made wedding corset and skirt were glorious, and that pretty black vintage dress with the lace sleeves are favourites.
I had a pair of white bikini-cut underwear with cherries on them (UGH! I know. But I was 14 and that was kind of a thing then?). Anyway, I decided they were my lucky underwear and I wore them on every test day in high school. (When I was a junior, I added lucky knee-high argyle socks to the repertoire.) When it was time to take the PSATs, I discovered that the weekend beforehand my sister had packed them to go to college with her an hour and a half away! I cried hysterically and then kind of still halfway blame that for not getting National Merit Scholar.
I have strong feelings about underwear, is what I’m saying.
My dad just said, “I don’t think I wanna know what makes them lucky.” Bless him.
…your sister took your underwear?
Yeah, she went through a few years where she didn’t buy underwear and would just take mine out of the clean laundry basket in the washroom. (She’s the older sister, in case that wasn’t apparent.) So now that the pattern’s been established, we just kind of go with it? I mean, it’s not like I take em off and hand em over with a flourish and go, “here, it’s your turn!” Now it’s almost more in cases of emergency.
I’ve done an informal poll, though, and most people find it kind of strange. My college roommate only had brothers, so she was especially weirded out by it.
As a regular thing, I find it a little strange but my sister and I have done that before in a pinch.
As the younger sister, I have to say I stole the hell out of my sister’s underwear when I was in middle school. She could buy “cool” underwear! And thongs and things! I was so jealous and would steal it and wear it all the time. I mean it’s not THAT crazy right? I got hand me down swimsuits from her my whole life. When I went to visit her recently it came up and she was like “oh yeah I told all my friends about it they thought it was weird and hilarious”. All her friends who I was about to spend 4 days hanging with.
I don’t think it’s that weird. I mean, you washed them, right?
I have underwear with David Hasselhoff’s face screenprinted on them.
I have two of the best pairs of boots in the world (and a comedy cat): http://www.flickr.com/photos/lebatihem/4884922334…
I can’t walk in heels but I can do anything in those red flame New Rocks. I also have them in plain black and am resisting getting the knee-high version because I don’t need three pairs of the same boots.
I got My Dress when I was 15, little, slinky, black, not tight but follows your body. Short sleeves, low but not too low neckline. I’m 35 now and I still wear it, still with funky tights and big boots.
I have a few dresses that I rock on a weekly basis. Strangely, the best one is from Old Navy. The one from Old Navy is red orange and every time I wear it, I get compliments. I had a stranger stop me while I was out shopping last week to tell me how nice the color looked on me.
It has some tiny holes in it (from kitten claws). I still wear it anyway, holes be damned.
I think I’ll have to go with the vintage Levi’s that I wore to death in high school. They were slightly too tight, so I wore long sweaters with them. AND, the cherry in top, was the flowered Doc Martins. They were too little, but I made my mom buy them anyway. I felt like such BAMF in that outfit which is a rare feeling in high school.
i am like DYING to see a photo of that no-bra dress and all of these other outfits.
I’m a visual learner–I need photos of all the outfits! Or maybe folks can take a stab at it in MS Paint Edith-style?
I knooow the first one especially! I put a bit of the fabric of mine up there
nicoooooooooooole post a photoooo
Polyvore!! It’s like paper dolls but with real clothes!
It doesn’t fit anymore post strength-training revolution, but I can’t toss it out.
so lovely!
i keep being convinced i just can’t do the no-bra thing anymore, but this makes me remember the lovely dresses of my past and want to try again.
This is probably a bit weird to say but we look oddly similar. Now I’m wondering if I have any relatives I don’t know about in North America. It’s in the eyebrows.
If it’s too small now because you’re superbuff, that looks like the kind of thing one could take apart and make a pattern from, and resize. A sheath dress, with an interesting belt. Totally doable. Post strength training revolution-sized dress!
Unless it’s too small because you’re superbuff, in which case it also looks downsizable.
Assuming you’re wishing you could do something other than leave it in the past.
(I am getting good at not only altering things, but altering them so I can re/un/alter them when I inevitably change size again. I like my good clothes and am not willing to let the best stuff go.)
BEST OUTFITS:
My mom made me a smocked pinafore and under dress in Laura Ashley fabric when I was about 4 and it is still one of my favorite things. Recently, I have found A Great Black Silk Sheath Dress. Wore it as a bride’s maid, and have worn it since to work, out for social, and various other places. A good basic is a good thing.)
I guess it’s too big now? But it’s big in DIFFERENT PLACES and smaller in some. And fit is everything with this dress, it just has to fit perfectly. I’ve never gotten anything tailored, but it might be worth it for this one. I am so amazed by anyone who can say “make a pattern from.” It’s like “or, you could split atoms, and that would work.” What a wonderful thing to be able to do.
The best thing I did in college, and didn’t know it at the time, was work in the costume shop. The boss made you learn new skills every production. She was a perfectionist, and made you do the thing over and over again till it was right. She made hard things like pattern alteration doable by not mentioning they were hard. She taught us the value of good material and good equipment. And how to do research. And she hired really good staff. I learned to enjoy the process of a project as much as the outcome, and to think ahead and anticipate problems as part of that process.
I learned that making clothes is a kind of engineering, and the idea that women aren’t mentally inclined towards car-fixing and product designing skills is bullshit. Like AHP’s comment on cheering making her strong, under the frill. The complexity of sewing’s skill-sets is often obscured by the materials you work with.
I learned a lot of really good stuff from her. Taking apart a pattern to make another pattern and then resize and refit the pattern was only one of them.
If your Perfect Dress is too small and too big at the same time, it could be time to start looking for another perfect dress. Mostly because that would cost a lot of cash, and you’d have to find someone who would do it. Professional tailors have probably got to keep the process moving. You would need someone who would do it for the fun/challenge. Kind of like rebuilding a vintage car engine.
Or, you need a Great Depression/ War With Clothes Ration Coupons. Then people would get good at making functional things from existing functional things again, because the dress’s existence would be more important than the time it would take to alter it.
(wow, that got wordy)
(sorry)
*sigh* Perfect Dresses. Why You Gotta Be So Hard?
MOST EXCELLENT.
Underwear! I have so many feelings about underwear. So I have sensory issues and my ideal state would have to be being completely nude, while covering just so that no matter where I walk or sit or stand nothing touches me. Sadly, that is not an option so I try to make do with clothes, but underwear is the worst. So far I’ve been managing with Aerie boyshort underwear, but the problem is that boyshort underwear looks best on me but also never manages to totally cover my butt. And the one’s I have now were finally comfortable and fit properly, and I’d finally figured out my size…and then they shrunk in the wash.
I don’t think I’ve ever had a best outfit. Oh actually know ok my prom dress in high school was pretty awesome. I bought it on sale at Zara so it was like $20 and it was stretchy and had these things where the sleeves folded so that they went around your neck? Like the part that would be under your armpits had a roll (from the fabric fold) that went like a halter dress. I don’t know but it looked awesome on me and I still have it even though I can’t wear it because it’s so tight that it’s see through on me now (I promise it wasn’t this way when I first bought it).
Oh, my other best dress is this one. It looks terrible in the photo but in person it is clingy and delicious.
Speaking of clothes, you know the best thing to wear when you feel gross and hate everything but you still have to go to work? Maternity clothes (this is assuming you’re not pregnant and already wearing them). It sounds weird but places like Target have a wear to work section with wrap dresses and stuff and they are so much softer and more comfy than the regular clothes.
I have long suspected this! My boss just left on maternity leave and for the past four months she has been wearing the greatest, most snuggliest, wrap–aroundiest clothes. I asked her about one of her dresses and she was like “For real, maternity clothes are the best. They are basically like work pajamas that are also a cocoon.”
My closet contains a category called Bathrobe Dresses, which are perfectly work-appropriate dresses that feel like bathrobes. None are technically maternity wear, but I wore all of them while pregnant and they were perfect.
I have a supremely comfortable, perfectly soft cotton-rayon sweater that greatly resembles a bathrobe. I call it my Arthur Dent sweater and it is perfect.
I am also currently in love with my skinny jeans-Converse-Captain America tee combo.
(I am wearing my favorite underwear right now. Boyshorts. BOYSHORTS.)
Every once in a while I will rock my Converses (Conversii? Converse?) and commune with my late-teens self.
I will dress like a teenager until the day I die.
I don’t know if it’s just the shape of my butt, but I can not for the life of me find boyshort style underwear that does not give me the worst wedgies. I feel like everyone I know says that boyshorts are their go-to comfort style of undies and I just don’t understand.
not just you, I HATE boyshorts.
ditto.
Yep me too
Okay thank-you! I feel better now!
I buy the Aerie ones and wear them a size big. It doesn’t totally fix the issue but it helps. I wish there were boyshort undies that truly stayed put because they are the only type of underwear that is flattering on my body.
I usually buy this style from Aerie: http://www.ae.com/aerie/browse/product.jsp?produc…
and those one I looooooooooooove. They are comfy and great.
I need a Captain America tee. But in the meantime, I have Wonder Woman Converse low-tops that are pretty bangin’.
I have a red wool Calvin Klein sleeveless sheath dress that I got for a song at a TJMaxx, and when I put it on I swear I’m three inches taller and my ass goes POW. I’ve had it for four years and I take better care of that than any of the rest of my clothes.
My favorite outfit ever was probably one I wore in college. It was a brown crushed velvet dress. The bodice and long sleeves were tight like a bodysuit, and it had a low scoop neck. It had underwire insets that weren’t actually functional but looked good. It was probably the lowest-cut clothing item I’ve ever had, and showed off my not-yet-saggy rack quite well. The skirt part was a circle miniskirt, and the weight of the fabric made it swing enticingly against my hips and ass when I moved.
I paired this with a very long necklace of chunky, tumbled glass beads of a multitude of colors and sizes. This sucker was long. If I didn’t double it, it would hang to my crotch. I would sometimes double or even triple it, but with this dress I would always loop it once around my neck like a choker and tie the rest into a knot. The necklace was really heavy and I loved the weight of it and the tightness around my neck. It was sort of dangerous in hindsight, because anybody could have grabbed it and choked me. But you know…I was young and invincible.
I topped off the outfit with green 8-eyelet Dr. Martens boots with socks. No pantyhose or tights, even in the winter.
I felt so sexy and badass in this outfit.
I’m in a clothes slump right now, so I will amend this to ‘best clothes purchase of the past fortnight’ and say that I got a pair of grey long john-type leggings at the supermarket the other week that are SO COMFY and they have owls on them. Owls!!
Probably my t-shirt with the Eraserhead baby on it.
i have very strong feelings about my underwear! the best pair are these fancy midnight blue ones with tiny stars embroidered into the lace that were originally as much as i’d usually spend on ten pairs of underwear but were marked down by 75% and ahhhhh i love them so much! they’re so sheer and flimsy-seeming, but somehow also make my body look noticeably better? magic!
my best outfit was owned when i was nine or so, and i still miss it a lot. a pair of long shorts that were printed to look like a white brick wall, with neon graffiti of “punk” (read: NOT punk) slogans all over them and a matching tee that had two cool punk rock girls in amazing outfits sharing a milkshake. i wanted to be those girls so bad!
My best outfit currently is a long, slightly goth maxi dress with tiers of alternating black lace and black crepe. It is quite low-cut, and I was having a hard time finding the right bra for it. Out of desperation, I bought a $6 bra from Rainbow (a cheap chain of stores in NY) and was shocked to discover that $6 basically bought me magic. I’m not one to toot my own horn, but my rack looks GOOD in that bra/ dress combo. When I wear it, I imagine I am Stevie Nicks and I walk down the street making up angry songs about Lindsay Buckingham in my head.
in college i used to wear a clingy 70s pieced together velvet and floral two piece long skirt and tie at the waist top, oh i miss that garment!
I had this magical pair of jeans in high school/early college–low cut but not TOO low, perfect length, boot cut, soft yet substantial, right amount of give…the ass has very nearly worn out and they’re too small for me now, but I cannot bring myself to throw them away. I may be saving them to hand to some magical fairies/tailors at some point and say “Here, these, make these again to my current measurements. And make six.”
We’re wistful magical jeans twins!
I once spent a huge amount of money on a pair of jeans, because I had been jeans-shopping all day around Oxford Circus so my soul was crushed and I hated the lower half of my body and the concept of clothes and money and crowds and fitting rooms. But they were wonderful. Even though they’ve worn through in the crotch and been patched and worn through the patches, I still keep them. The fabric is thin enough to just skim and crease, and they made my legs long and my arse have a shape and everything I wore with them look intentional.
I also have a pair of canvas-and-leather biker boots bought from a closing-down shop which I have been franticly gluing the sole back onto, and every single time I have worn them a gay man has complimented me on them.
I’ve had a few Magical Outfits at different ages.
– kindergarten: long-sleeved deep purple leotard, leopard-print fun-fur pants, one pink sock, one purple sock, maroon sunglasses with gold oak-leaf flourishes. PURRFECT.
– high school: an aluminum foil dress I made from a few boxes of foil. It was intended for punk shows, but I quickly realized I couldn’t dance properly in it (and peeing was no picnic either) and reserved it for less-dancy parties. I had to pour baby powder all over myself to prevent chafing, and it smelled like old foil (obviously) but I felt like a badass wearing it — and even not wearing it. It stood in the corner of my room like a half-suit of armor.
– at 21: a bronze princess-seamed* mini-dress with long fitted sleeves, flared skirt, and pockets!, bronze leggings, and metallic bronze flats. The week before I bought it, a miscommunication with a stylist gave me an accidental pixie cut; this outfit made it allllll okay.
– at 24: a black princess-seamed* dress, full-skirted and sleeveless, made from a miraculous rayon knit that shrank and grew predictably: wash and lay flat, it sizes up; wash and tumble dry, it sizes down. That meant it could always be perfectly fitted to my body’s shifts. We stocked the (now-defunct) company’s dresses in the boutique I managed, and I owned 12 of their princess-seamed dressed. (I still do!) The owner/designers eventually renamed the dress from “The Princess” to “The [Elsa]**”. After a decade of wear, the seams got shabby, but I kept the dress to use as a sewing template someday.
– currently: my wedding not-dress from 4 years ago. Super-soft super-thin Prussian-blue rayon knit, a swingy elliptical knee-length skirt and a short-sleeved blouse with vertical tucks down the front. It cost forty bucks, shipping included, and I’ve worn it dozens of times, separately and together, for work and for dressing up. I keep trolling eBay looking for the same skirt in black because I feel bulletproof when I wear it.
*”Princess seam” is just a fancy phrase for the long shaped seams that make a dress fit closely without darts or other horizontal shaping breaking up the vertical line. It makes me look a hundred feet tall.
**They renamed it with my offline name, which is not Elsa.
Can I ask what the company’s name was (the company that made the dress). I know you said that it’s now defunct but those dresses sound amazing and I want to try and find it on ebay, or at least get a picture to make something like it.
The Princess Dress (later renamed “The Emily,” hi everybody!) was from a California-based company called Tom Tom. They were originally in Berkeley and moved to [some other Cali town I can’t remember, starts with an E — maybe Emeryville?], or maybe it was the other way ’round.
I periodically see Tom Tom cotton clothing (especially the boxy, printed cotton jumpers and camp shirts and basic tees for which they were best known) on eBay and Etsy, but I haven’t yet seen any of their rayon knit resold. I half-suspect that everyone who bought a piece wore it to tatters, just like I did. If you do find out anything promising — and especially if you find any sign that they’re still in business! maybe I’m wrong! — I’d love to know.
I’d have to say the outfit I got for Christmas when I was six remains one of my best. Picture this: A 3/4 sleeve, off the shoulder, black and white leopard print top with different colored neon heart shaped buttons; black leggings with a hot pink tulle skirt on top; and a white rabbit fur head band.
My only regret is I don’t recall which shoes I wore with it, but at that point, who’s even looking at the shoes?
I go in and out of love with outfits over time… though try not to question past love, try to just assume my body/hair must have changed or something.
but for a while I had the perfect blue-green shade of turtleneck that felt like cashmere but a little lighter (and was some funny blend of other things). It made me eyes go blue-green as well, and clung well and was soft and whenever I wore it I knew the effect was just right, like magic. I usually wore it under a hip-length black leather jacket and with dark jeans. It pilled to death a few years ago but it’s still in the bottom of my sweater drawer.
It would also be interesting to know about the death of favorite outfits. Do they go to Goodwill? Do you keep them? Do they just disappear some day and you mentally block out what happened?
I cried when I had to throw out my pastel yellow closed-round-toe slingbacks, and then again when I had to throw out the pink ones.
I kept my hot-fuchsia cowboy boots for waaaaay longer than I should have. When I wore holes in the soles, I lined them with flexible plastic (trimmed from a distilled-water bottle), tucked insoles over that, and resolved only to wear them in dry weather. Finally, I demoted them to indoor-only shoes: I kept them in the back room of the boutique and wore them all day, then changed shoes to walk home.
When our water heater burst and flooded the store room, my much-loved boots got soaked through with rusty water. I disposed of them with some ceremony. Even my boss, who had just lost thousands of dollars of stock (insured, but still), cried out “Not your boots!”
“Not your boots!”
this warmed my shriveled heart!
> It would also be interesting to know about the death of favorite outfits. Do they go to Goodwill? Do you keep them? Do they just disappear some day and you mentally block out what happened?
I feel like this could be an entire open thread/column on its own.
Heh. In college I had The Outfit, which I would never be able to get away with now. It was my gypsy phase: threadbare Levi’s, a boatneck batwing three-quarter sleeve silk blouse, bangles, ginourmous 4 inch Tibetan chandelier earrings, and $3 velvet Chinese slippers (like actual bedroom slippers, which I wore on NYC streets and wore through at the rate of a new pair every six weeks: http://img1.etsystatic.com/000/0/5650781/il_fullx…
I wore my hair in a tight chignon, with the big ol’ earrings, and looked very Amnesty International meetings at the Student Union.
I also wore Capezio ballet shoes as shoes. (Not pointe shoes, just the regular dance class slippers.)
There have been times in my life when that would have been the Perfect Outfit.
I’ve had so many over the years. Some of them strange (like the time I wore this cowboy themed button up with jeans for almost two weeks straight when I was in jr. high) some of them not so strange (my favorite brooks brothers navy sweater with jeans and these awesome brown leather boots).
But, right now, I have to say the outfit I wore on almost every promising first date last summer- including the first date of my current gentleman caller. And we just celebrated a year together.
Anyway- it isn’t even that impressive. The top is from anthropologie- a navy t-shirt by Deletta (Tartlet Burst); a pair of 3 1/2 inch shorts from Old Navy in light khaki; and these perfect wedge sandals from Rocket Dog- they have orange and yellow polka dots on them and I love them so much and I’ve glued them back together so many times I’m afraid to wear them anymore. (and I found them on ebay once, but not in my size!!! ebay linkage)
Anyway- I had lost 25 pounds during my divorce and for the first time in years I felt comfortable wearing shorts. And with the heels my legs looked fucking awesome. I just feel confident and sexy when I wear it. The outfit wound up on several bedroom floors…
I have different ones throughout the years, and different work or not work outfits, but my current favorite (and probably forever favorite) outfit is a black seamed Irish linen sheath dress from Talbots. It’s a littleee too tight, but forgiving enough it fits. There’s these side diamond-shaped panels that give me the greatest looking shape ever and I just feel like the CEO whenever I pair it with long pearls and a light blue blazer. It’s a little too formal for my current workplace, but I wear it whenever I need to give a big presentation.
On the flip side of that, sophomore year of high school l I wore the same charcoal gray Land’s End zip up every day in winter, with a different shirt underneath. It was the most comfortable thing ever. Towards the end of her life, my grandmother said she loved her light gray one so I gave her mine so she had a second (and had outfit options for reading around the house, of course). I have since moved on to varying my winter wardrobe.
Mid-college, I had a cream lace tube dress from Forever 21, and yeeeears later I still wish I could fit into it again. Supershort but empire waisted so not excessively slutty & hid the burgeoning beer belly perfectly. I picked up so many different dudes in that dress, it was like a magic sex charm. And being that sex was basically my number one priority: best, most functional and cost effective outfit of my life.
I had a tea length sundress of this crinkled greenish grey plaid linen blend. The top part was also the same hue, but a strong canvas fabric, fitted, sleeveless, empire waist with a collar and fake pocket flaps. It had pewter buttons all down the front which would fall off more often than not, and I ended up replacing them all with plastic buttons that wouldn’t cut through the thread. Except for the pocket flaps. I sewed some silver buttons with thistles on those. It would billow out and if the wind caught it right it would unfortunately flap open. But I loved wearing that dress to drive in during the summer months between Wyoming and Montana. I bought that dress right after I left a terrible relationship and I suppose I equate it with freedom.
In fifth grade I had these floral draw-string pants that I would wear every Monday or second Monday or whatever, because for some reason that day we had lunch with the class of the guy I had a massive crush on, and I wanted to look cool. So he probably thought I only had one outfit. These were my cool pants because I normally only wore leggings, but big baggy pants were in fashion and those draw-string ones were my closest approximation. My other best outfit was my purple leggings and teal shirt, because my lunchbox was purple and teal so I had an awesome matching situation going on. Then I went to middle school and discovered I was supposed to be wearing Abercrombie and Fitch all the time, sigh.
I just have this one sweater. It is from the gap, from 2005. Black, hip length, three-quater sleeves, and while from waist to hip it’s just solid fabric, the top is, in both front and back, a super deep crossover v neck, like deep to the point that I need to make sure my bra cups aren’t visible. The fabric’s kind of stretchy and kind of heavy-ish, but also doesn’t look it? It makes my boobs look AMAZING. I usually wear a camisole of some sort under it, but when I don’t, I become just a little obsessed with myself? It just makes me super happy to wear it, and is pretty much my favorite thing. It’s also 7 years old and still going like a champ.
I just bought the most incredible maxi dress. I did something I’ve never, ever done before. I saw it in the window or this tiny boutique and went, “That’s cute!” Then I couldn’t stop thinking about it, so I went back the next day and bought it. It’s white with a navy and green-ish teal pattern, cap sleeves, “wrap dress” feel across the bust, and it fits like a dream. I want to wear it everywhere.
I’ve been kind of off my outfit game lately, but since my best friend and I do a personal style blog together, I’ve been able to collect my favorite blog outfits on a self-indulgent pinboard so that I can look at it for a self-esteem boost sometimes. My current favorites involve the ikat short-shorts because I love how my fat legs look in them and I don’t even care.
(Although I’ve recently been considering my ikat and wax-print garments on the basis that they’re probably appropriative…)
I honestly don’t know what to do about ikat etc. It is such gorgeous fabric and I wish to wear it, but not in a way that appears to be stealing it from the people who traditionally wear it! Currently I just cross my fingers and make sure I’m not wearing it in anything that looks too “tribal” *bleugh*
Almost all of mine are from college/my early 20s, when I really needed my outfits to carry my confidence. I had Perfect Dresses and Perfect Tops for every occasion.
But the best was probably a t-shirt I found at the thrift shop when I was in high school. It was a white tee with the Philadelphia Cream Cheese logo on the front, and “Philadelphia” was in English, but “cream cheese” was in Kanji. Actually, for 2 years I had to assume it said “cream cheese” until a Japanese student in college confirmed it for me. I wore that shirt until it was so threadbare it was see-through. And then I continued to wear it to concerts over a tank top for several more years because I knew I was never, ever going to find a cooler, more one-of-a-kind t-shirt. (I haven’t.)
Perfect outfits I have owned:
1. When I was in 5th grade and had just read The Lord of the Rings for the first time, I declared that I was going to be Eowyn for Halloween. Obviously this presented a challenge as far as store-bought costumes go, but I had an aunt who could sew and she said, “Sure, give me a description and I’ll make you a dress.” So she made me an amazing green satiny princess dress, with sleeves that came down to a point on the backs of my hands and a big square neckline and white-and-gold braid trim around the neckline and cuffs and waist. If I could still fit into this it would be literally all I would ever wear.
2. In high school, I bought a green corduroy peacoat with a huge paisley print in muted reds and oranges at a secondhand store. I wore it with red jeans that I think I probably ordered from Alloy. Every time I wore that outfit to school, my most stylish friend would stop me in the hall to exclaim about it, which I found thrilling.
3. Two years ago, I had to unexpectedly go to a funeral while I was on vacation. I had nothing even remotely suitable, of course, and I was in a small town in Florida where there weren’t a lot of shopping options — but by some weird miracle, when I went into the one department store at the mall, there on a mannequin was the perfect Somber Dress for me. It’s a very dark olive green sheath dress, with cap sleeves and a high neckline and a little belt, and it fits like it was custom-made. I think I may have accidentally made a deal with the devil to find it, but I don’t even care because it’s so perfect. I wear it for interviews now.
Apparently I’ve been doing this my entire life. My mom fondly tells the story of shopping with me at age 2, and running into this white dress covered in paint splatters, ribbons, fake pearls, and glitter. I looked up at her from my stroller, gripping it in my hands and announced: “I need this dress.” She understood, said she’d been there, and she keeps a photo of it on the mantle.
I’ve definitely had plenty of “power” outfits, and all my clothes are nicknamed for the occasions they were intended or succeeded — the College Interview Skirt, the First Date Dress, etc.
Really, it all comes down to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV7HYSVoPoE
“Did you know Christina Hendricks NEVER wears bras in stuff in her civilian life? She just makes designers do things for her with a lot of built-in buttressing?”
WHAT!?
I inherited a ton of amazing clothes from my grandmother (tailored silk Thai and Indian shifts, Skidmore College Physical Education department blazers, midi length full denim skirt with lace trim), but the very best has to be this absurdly 1960s orange, yellow, and lime green paisley midriff cutoff bell-bottomed jumpsuit. My grandmother was a few inches shorter but somehow it fits perfectly. And yes, there is photo evidence:
http://nathattack.com/2012/11/15/what-makeup-do-y…
and wearing this jumpsuit also led to the most absurd picture ever:
Recently, I went to a concert on the beach and I wore short white lace shorts with a sheer turquoise and coral vest/sleeveless top (it only connects at the top and bottom. Kind of hard to describe) over a polka dotted bikini. It was perfect and I ran into an ex boyfriend and his eyes fell out of is head. Added bonus.
I also have a gray patagonia dress that I have worn to several weddings and it is perfect because it is made out of adventure fabric and never gets wrinkled.
my favorite socks have corresponding cartoon character names based on their feeling and color. Grinch socks (grinch green) & Grover socks (dark blue & blue stripes). I’m in the market for some Garfield socks, right about now.
Oh, and through middle school and early high school (cringe) I wore the shit out of purple floral print flared capris. FLARED CAPRIS. This was me, at my boldest.
My favorite underwear is a pair of black Hanes bikinis in a nice thick cotton that they don’t seem to make anymore; they are comfy and cute and when I’m lounging around the house in those and a black tank top I feel like the sexiest, most athletic, coolest version of myself.
The dress is a couple dresses: one, an olive green scoop-necked short-sleeved cotton dress I’ve had since the mid-90s, which still miraculously fits and makes me feel great when I wear it with knee boots. Two, a short black H&M spaghetti-strapped floral print dress, WITH POCKETS(!!!), that I wear with a laceweight green cardigan, no bra, and flats.
best outfit:
Mid length flowy pink skirt with medium size white polka dots, its a polyester-ish fabric that’s normally terrible but is perfect for this skirt.
White button up peter pan collar blouse (tucked in)
Black patent belt
Black Cardigan
Pink patent ballet flats that exactly match the skirt
The shoes are dead and the skirt has a mystery stain (ink i think) that just magically appeared one day on the top front of it. So now I can only wear backwards (side zip) with a cardigan to cover stain and a belt to cover up the fact that the elastic-y scrunchy back bit is now up front. Its so sad 🙁
I had the Best Solid T-Shirt. It was black-navy and cut just low enough, and draped like a DREAM. I adored how little it made me seem to give a shit about looking so hot. And then I spilled Korean food all over it.
I'm loving your magical shoes from afar. I have two pairs of Magic Shoes and they're both aging poorly and I'm so sad. They're both a brand that has since expired, both kitten-heeled and pointy-toed. One is black, red, and cream with weird cutouts and geometric shapes; I call them my Russian Constructivist shoes. The other is purple, black, and magenta suede, kind of weirdly sporty-looking. I love them both so much, I get stopped by strangers on the street every time I wear them (especially the purple ones), but they're not much longer for this world.
The Russian Constructivist ones are like these but, you know, better colors.
Those are amazing. Whyyyyyy are they too big.
I want those shoes what are those shoes where are those shoes.
My closet contains a category called Bathrobe Dresses, which are perfectly work-appropriate dresses that feel like bathrobes. None are technically maternity wear, but I wore all of them while pregnant and they were perfect.
I had this eyelet babydoll dress that I used to wear with my Mary Janes back in the day and I would kill to have that outfit back.
Breezy lavender dress. Never fails to get compliments: http://wearingitall.tumblr.com/post/57026927547/d…