Saturday, May 30, 2009

Summer dresses

I'm not your cut-off shorts kinda girl. In fact, I tend not to wear shorts at all, except for a pair of an ex-boyfriend's shorts that I appropriated a long time ago. Summer finds me in dresses. Lots of dresses. Each year, I make a few and purchase a few. They are a mix of the modern and the vintage but ultimately, they remind me of my childhood.

I've asked myself why, this obsession with dresses? The more I think about it, the more it has to do with watching my aunts and grandma get ready for Church or for parties. Well...there's also the fact that dresses hide a multitude of sins, but I digress.

In my salad days in Haiti, people really dressed for church. Days before, the women would busy themselves with chores but come Sunday, they transformed themselves. Their hands were manicured, their shoes shined, their hair done up, and red lipstick was put on just so. Inevitably, they always wore such pretty dresses to church.

Since I'm feeling very sentimental, here are my inspirations for dress shopping/making for this summer.


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This image is from HAMB. Not a dress, I know....but maybe I should give the whole cut-offs thing a try. On beach days I simply wear a cover-up, but I reckon shorts would also work well. Any tricks to making the perfect pair?

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Buy broken-in, well-fitting jeans from Salvation Army, Savers, buck-a-pound, etc. (do NOT shell out for them from an upscale thrift store or consignment shop, waste of money). Cut them an inch or two longer than you actually want, because they'll fray. Once you've cut them, run them through the wash before wearing. Try them on, adjust length as needed.

Also, cutoff corduroys are ridiculously comfortable.

May 30, 2009 at 12:23 PM  
Blogger Brigadeiro said...

I've made a few pairs of shorts from old jeans, but other than that I'm clueless as to making shorts :) In Brazil we used dress up to go to church too :)
xx

May 30, 2009 at 10:43 PM  
Blogger thea said...

damn, no tricks up my sleeve I'm afraid - or should i say up my shorts...? :)

I'm loving the dress on the top of this post. Now THAT is a dress. So lovely the way the plunging neckline still reveals no boos whatsoever. But now I'm rambling... Isn't the key to cut-offs just to make a full pair and literally, cut off to desired length...? hmmmmmmmmm...

May 31, 2009 at 2:46 AM  
Blogger Pam said...

I tend to wear pants all year round until Summer and then it's dresses and skirts every day! They are so flowing and comfortable.

I agree with Anon, the best cut offs I had were from a pair of green worn in Guess jeans purchased from Salvation Army and promptly made into cut offs.

June 2, 2009 at 9:20 AM  
Blogger Martini said...

Anon--Thanks for the tutorial.

Pam--I'm planning to make a trip to Goodwill very soon.

Cut--offs here I come! Though to start, I think my have them be more like Bermudas than Daisy Dukes.

June 2, 2009 at 10:10 AM  
Anonymous Danica said...

Interesting post.!! Well, I really like the way you are thinking about dresses.

June 20, 2009 at 12:46 AM  

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