Oh, sweet, sweet goodness, I love me a pretty dress. A simple, pretty dress. Truly...they are hard to find. The dresses in my mind are actually impossible to find, because they exist only {for now} in my imagination.
But here are a few that get close to my ideal...
Are you feeling the sheath-ey, A-line, simple sweetness? Each of these styles would have to be adapted to my over-45-years-old age bracket...in each case, the mantra would have to be:
Lengthen the dress, shorten the heel. Unless I am wearing that short dress as a long top, over jeans.
Make the dress a tad bit longer. Make the shoe heel a tad bit shorter. No mini dresses and stilettos for this preacher's wife. Not that I am against either of those things per se - I am just a huge fan of age appropriate dressing. I'm pretty sure stilettos and short hemlines are for the under 30 crowd - and not even all of them can pull it off without looking a bit insecure. Faith Hill might be the only exception...she's so country music.
Translate these designs above, into beautiful, heathered, solid colors in a medium weight linen or light wool or heavy weight knit...
{no prints or patterns, thank you, I am no longer a fan of them...and no more light-weight knits in either my shirts or my dresses...I am tired of flimsy fabrics. I am a grown-up, after all. I'm not a junior in college, and do not want to be...though I will still wear some of my patterned knit shirts. Once in a blue moon. Because it is what I have until I have what I want, or what I want to design - though it chafes my very soul to wear them, truly}
...add jewelry designs that are organic, a bit askew, unexpected - with mixed metals and always a scrap of leather here and there...
...add a chunky leather cuff with a word that feeds your spirit discreetly stamped on it - or boldly stamped...and no hint of a manicure, because you are an artist, and everyone knows a real artist cannot...cannot...keep a manicure looking good longer than one day. If you think I am lying, ask a girl artist.
...add a patch pocket to the front left side of every dress, in the same fabric as the dress...
...with a word{like "grace" or "bliss"} hand-embroidered on a tiny patch, and added to the corner of the pocket...almost unnoticeable...it would have to be pointed out for someone to even see it...it exists for you, because you are "all that", and so worth the extra detail...
...with a tailored shoe, about two or three inches in the heel...preferably a lace-up 40's style, a flat spectator oxford style, or kitten heel pump...
...or a western boot, for that element of surprise...
...with one little layer, peeking from the hem of the dress, or a ruffle on the 3/4 sleeves - a petticoat, if you will, or a bell sleeve, but not both...
...throw in an unfinished seam or two {a la Alabama Chanin}...
...and a great bag - also in my head, not to be found anywhere, yet...
...and really, really cool bifocal readers...
...and medium to medium-long length hair - in a messy bun. Buns are beautiful, no matter what your age or the shape of your face. Say it with me: buns are beautiful.
Put all the above in a drink mixer thingey, shake it, then pour it into a glass and pop an olive on the rim, and there you have my very own finished design. My style. My look. Classic, not trendy {except in the jewelry - my jewelry is quirky sometimes and edgy other times} and good on any age, but great on a grandmother.
Smokin' hot on a grandmother. No matter what size she wears.
Only, right now, I can't find dresses like that anywhere. Such is the dilemma of having a designer brain. Or...should that be a designer's brain??
Sooner than I think, longer than I wish. I cannot wait to wear my own designs...someday.
