cheers to a summer of dresses
a love letter to white dresses, small clothing "edits", and my 90's slip dress wormhole
I have been feeling the joy and slight chaos of being caught between the seasons the last two weeks – getting back from almost a month of traveling to three beautiful weddings in a row, and settling back into life in Brooklyn. (Let me say the joy of Sammy not having to leave again for New Haven is immense! He lives here now! With me! In our home!)
It feels like I still have a pinky toe in summer but am stepping into fall. The turnover led me to a big closet clean out and had me thinking back on some of my favorite dress moments from the summer – all thrifted, gifted, vintage, handmade, or had-for-years. Spoiler: about half of them are white.
Dresses are my favorite article of clothing, so below are some that define Summer 2024 for me.
Something I’m sure I inherited from my mom and grandmother is the love for making small “edits” on your clothes –swapping out buttons, taking off sleeves, making a necklace out of earrings or vice versa. I’m truly inspired by the ways my mom continues to relate to the clothes she has, it feels like a beautiful way to extend the longevity of an article of clothing. You just continue to make it what you like in the newest/next season of your life.
This is going backwards in the wedding weekend but it was a dress I wore just last weekend and also made a small edit to – my afterparty dress.
Side note, it would have been a good guess to say I am the person to change into as many dresses as possible on my wedding day. (ie have a reception/dancing dress). But my friend Alli said it was more elegant and iconic to wear your dress throughout the whole evening, through dinner and dancing. I was convinced. (Alli, you deeply know me and manipulated me with those two words!! I know you did!).
Though it truly wasn’t even a question anymore once I tried on what Jeffrey had made, I wanted to stay in my wedding dress for as long as possible. But months and months before that, I had found a creamy 100 percent silk dress on eBay in perfect condition. When I timidly showed Alli what I’d found, she immediately loved it and said wearing it for the late night afterparty would still keep me in the elegant zone. (Phew).
Because I truly cannot stand a dress only being worn once (think of the dress! how sad it must feel!) last week I took off the original straps and reattached silk ribbon I found at M & J Trimming. I did two separate pieces on each side so it could tie in a bow at the shoulders.
^taken on the last night of our honeymoon, I found this dress at a rack during a vintage sale in Park Slope truly a week before our wedding. Thank you Edie!
Because we were going to have three weddings in a row in August, and I am SURE spurred on by how much I loved my afterparty dress, I went down a huge y2k cowl-neck-slip-dress WORMHOLE on used clothing sites to find some dress options.
I hesitate to share the two sellers I love on Depop because I feel like they have a trove of dresses I still want to buy, but all three of these dresses are by the UK brand “Monsoon.” So typing in “Vintage Monsoon dress” should get you started in the right direction. :)
(I’m really going to have to change it up for weddings next year and try a whole new silhouette!)
Anna and Jake’s wedding on September 1st led us perfectly into what felt like the last week of summer on the Cape. When I was in California this past March my mom handed down to me a blue linen dress she has had for decades, one I so deeply associate with her.
It wasn’t until I’d taken it home to Brooklyn and been telling her how much I loved it that she reminded me that it had used to have long sleeves. She’d taken them off only a few months before. I loved the edit, but wanted to know why.
“Oh I don’t know, now it’s easier to get into.”
more soon.
ella p.