purple.light

Sunday, October 26, 2003

Playing dress up 

I fell in love twice yesterday, within the space of three hours.
Saw two gorgeous dresses, tried them on and as the song goes, I can't get them out of my head.

The first was at the Oppt Shop at The Heeren. My sister and I were ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the 1950s' dress, which reminds me very strongly of Julianne Moore in The Hours. The top of the dress is very simple - a u-shaped collar with two not-too-thin shoulder straps. The collar has an embroidered flower on it, breaking the monotony of the u-shape. It tapers down to a very fitted waist (22", I am told) before it flares out glamorously, with little pleats. The skirt has pretty prints of tulips and they look really exquisite. The back of the dress is a low u, with the zip in the middle.

The dress is made of stiff cotton or linen, I can't really tell. Plus, the skirt reminds me of the cancan, because of the stiff netting sewn into it. Anyway, I tried it on and the shopkeeper managed to zip it up but my oh my, it's a dress which you CANNOT eat or breathe in. Twirling in it makes me feel as if I was a suburban American housewife in the 1950s.

In short, I love it. But it costs a wicked $190. No go.

The next dress can be found at one of my favourite shop, Double Index, at Bugis Junction. Now, although this shop sells funky clothes, I was amazed at the dress that I unearthed.

It's black and made of two layers - the outer chiffon and the inner, satin. It's a very simple dress, again a u-shape collar with two not-too-thin straps. There is not zip so I had to slip it over my head. It's very streamlined, the length of it running down to my ankles. But the interesting detail of the dress was a strip of 2" wide black satin ribbon sewn across the hips. Both ends of the ribbon are left hanging at the side of the dress so you'll have to tie it up into a bow or something else. The whole look was rather elegant and glamorous. But glamour does come at a price and the dress would have set me back $50. Considering I still have two brand new black formal dresses hanging in my wardrobe, begging to be worn somewhere, it wouldn't have been prudent to buy yet another dress.

But oh, how I wish I could buy them both, if only for collection's sake (and gathering dust in the process) and to prevent other people from getting their hands on them.

Who says I am not evil?

yAnn at 10/26/2003 05:30:00 PM