That I wear to work, or out to dinner at a fancy restaurant. I wear it almost every weekend all summer long, slipping it on after an early morning workout and shower, when it is the coolest, most comfortable piece of clothing imaginable.
This is the dress that looks amazing on me even when I gain a few pounds, and makes me look like a sylph when I haven’t. This is the dress that I have worn for ten years. Grocery shopping, at work, out to dinner, for a meeting with teachers, writing novels.
This dress has done everything a dress should do — makes me look my best, makes me happy to wear it, all the while requiring minimal care. Into the wash, the dryer, shake it out, hang it up. This dress turned me into a woman who wears dresses, not a woman who slops around in a T shirt and shorts. This dress converted me.
I love this dress. But — it’s faded. A little stained. The slit up the side is torn just a bit, which I can mend. However, I know from long experience that once I start mending, it’s never the same. The dress is no longer magic. It becomes just a garment. I’ve been looking for its replacement, for a dress I can fall in love with. I might have found it but I’m not sure yet. (Target, purple tie-dye, long, slightly Grecian in the bodice). It’s not love at first sight, it’s love after a long acquaintance, when the dress becomes a staple in my wardrobe.
I’m not ready to give up this dress though. I’m just thinking ahead, because there will be a time when this dress will finally have to go. And I will miss it.
What’s your dress?
2 Comments
J. Kathleen Cheney · June 5, 2012 at 6:06 am
I own only two dresses, and am not wild about either one. I’m too tall and busty for most dresses that have any shape whatsoever (so that the ‘waist’ ends up at my bust. So it’s skirts and shirts for me…
Patrice Sarath · June 5, 2012 at 9:54 pm
I never thought I would be a convert to a dress, but I did without even realizing it. Part of it is just the heat of Central Texas. Sundresses are just way more comfortable than anything else.