"Express Checkout" Challenge: Week 4 and end in sight!
Four days to go, through Sunday–almost out of the woods. On Monday, I'll joyfully tear into my stack of sweaters.
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| Cheat! |
I cheated once, for an unanticipated meeting with a new corporate client. I was not going in a sweater. But the black jersey skirt and cami under the jacket are on the list, so there. (Deep violet boiled-wool jacket. by Clothes by Muriel Dombret).
Two parties, not with the same guests, were handily solved by the black leather tee and pants or skirt, no need to try this-and-that.
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| Rosewood vee, big shawl |
I sewed copper sequins to several feet on both ends of the shawl; the twinkle pleases given such restricted choice.
Observations
1. Opening a Visa bill with a $0 balance, sweet! I always paid my balance each month, but haven't seen a blank page in years. I'd quit all discretionary shopping, an unanticipated outcome.
2. When my friend Lynne needs formal business drag, she calls a pal and borrows a suit for the day, then returns it dry-cleaned. She avoids buying what she rarely needs. I, on the other hand, will buy for what-if-I-am-invited to-a-Nobel-awards-ceremony.
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| Lisa's dress |
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| Feathers! |
If I could get it together to have a dress made, I'd pass up countless consolation items. In Barney's, I think, I can't have that dress, but what about a pair of shoes?
I love the detail on this Alice+Olivia LBD, the Marigay rosette feather dress. (Price, $495 from Netaporter.) Could a dressmaker create something this witty, or would I look like Big Bird in a dive bar?
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| Chain-striped wool dress |
It won't fit my Child-like body– that's as in Julia, not little kid: a large is size 10! (Price, $1,700; from Netaporter.)
4. I could easily pick twelve more items and re-up, but instead, will pare my closets. Getting down to Six Items is not gonna happen. One spill and you're going nowhere for awhile.
The unexpected benefit
On Sunday, I donated to a friend's favourite cause, Médecins Sans Frontières, as we agreed in lieu of Christmas shopping.
Giving feels more grounded and quietly satisfying when it is not driven by embarrassment or guilt about how much I've spent on myself.
I'd enjoy your comments, whether you've been experimenting or watching.
Comments
I love the idea of borrowing instead of buying and that zero balance? Wonderful. Congratulations on bringing some thought and reflection to fashion.
I can relate to buying things in lieu of items you can't have. It sounds like you don't own many dresses. Why not have just one made and see how your longings translate to reality, whether you actually do prefer wearing dresses?
I haven't ever had a dress made but I've got a fellow above my drycleaner who alters things for me and he's very reasonable. Offhand I'd think it should cost at least twice the cost of the fabric, but that's just a dart-toss.
Anyway, who wants to spend a fortune on a dress only to find out that it's been splashed across the media and anybody who knows about such things knows you raided your rainy-day fund to buy it?
First: you look marvelous! That jacket becomes you. And copper sequins, what a good idea.
I,too, have promised myself for years to find a clever tailor or dressmaker and HAVE SOMETHING MADE that would perfectly fit my petite-but-no-longer-gamine figure. If either of us actually does this, I think the key to success will be fabric choice: a great quality fabric that will move as the chosen dress shape demands, in a gorgeous, flattering color, with beautiful detailing = couture, no? As for those feathers--I have seen them used very delicately, keyed in to the color of the garment, to great effect. So why not? You can always remove them later if you feel too birdlike.
Speaking of color, am I alone in finding this year's colors remarkably drab, muddy, and depressing? They seem to announce "cheap dyes." I'm longing for a deep inky blue, rose petal pink, soft winter white, even a true black, but everything out there just looks washed out, grayed down, or dirty to me. It has made not shopping the past few weeks even easier!
Anonymous: Oh, that would be challenging, and feel free to comment when you do try later.
Nancy; Some of my coporate clothes no longer worked no matter what- I gave away all the matched suits, for example- just too staid.
Vildy: Look straight down from my chin and you will see a copper sequin. (They are scattered, not solid.)
Why not just have one made? Because I don't have iron-clad confidence in any dressmaker's skills that I have met so far.
What has worked very well for me is the trunk show of a designer who will add a couple of inches in length. That way I see exactly what I'm getting.
Pseu: Now, toward the end, the scarves have devolved to shawls to give a definite sense of change.(But they would swamp a petite woman.)
RoseAG: If possible, I *would* buy a Prada dress (or another designer who makes beautiful clothes) and wear it into the ground- not for status but for love of a beautiful dress. But in real life I buy from local or Canadian designers, many of whom channel Prada, Dries, etc.
I feel as you do about "It" handbags: just don't want one.
Pearl: Chapeau! I'll likely add 4-6 sweaters and an LBD, but not go back to the bloat.
Anonymous: Fabric choice is very important and so is dressmaker skill, but there is a third factor, the "design eye": will it look great on you? I have had some dressmaker debacles, that will be a post soon.
As for colour, I buy my sweaters from France (Eric Bompard, by mail) and that always yields gorgeous shades- but I know what you mean about the average dept. store offerings, especially grey.
I haven't participated but have been reading about your experiment with much interest. I still don't know my current body well enough to restrict my clothing; I feel one needs to really understand what looks good in order to have only a few pieces. I do wish that we, as a society, could move towards less Stuff, and less reflexive shopping-as-activity-to-fill-an-emotional/ spiritual-void (less eating in this manner, too!) You've helped me see that, for me, having a bursting closet is merely the lazy alternative to figuring out what looks great on me and works with my lifestyle, and sticking to that. Much food for thought...
Having sewn a great deal years ago, I know that there's always a risk that a particular style in a particular fabric will not suit once it's sewn up, and although alterations can be made, sometimes the item never truly pleases. Overall, though, you find success more and more often, knowing how to interpret styles and fabrics and how they work on your body. Just think of how many garments you love on the rack, are sure they'd suit, until you put them on and immediately know they're not for you.
So I think that working with a talented dressmaker or tailor needs to be a longer commitment than one dress, and I think that it has to allow for the occasional disappointment. I'd be curious to see how others with more experience feel about this, but I'd feel better starting with trying to get a favourite from my closet re-created first, in a similar weight fabric but perhaps in a print rather than plain, or in a different colour.
As for the borrowing, I've been on the lending side of that equation a few times (LBDs), but I found myself getting a bit cranky the third time, and have ignored subsequent requests (from the same person). If one's saving depends on someone else spending, it might be time to re-evaluate . . .
I am very impressed that you sewed sequins on your shawl...a personal touch that elevates a simple piece to stellar.
hostess: Did this while watching the entire boxed set of "Carnivale", enraptured by the sets.
Marguerite:
Veronique Miljkovich:
www.miljkovitch.com
Clothes by Muriel Dombret:
Link is in this post
Comrags:
www.comrags.com
Alexia von Beck
www.alexiavonbeck.com
ca va de soie:
Link is in this post
When we stop having to look at so many choices the part of our brains that work out decisions can relax a bit. Get out of spasm/over work mode. And then as that part becomes less stressed, the suppleness makes new ideas available. It is similar to taking a walk because you want to be outside and enjoy the fall colors and when you return you realize you have figured out how to deal with that bothersome whatever.
Wearing just a few clothes feels like a meditation to me.
I haven't participated in the experiment. It seems that I naturally wear about the same twelve items every season, although the items change with the season. They are in neutral colors, which forces me to use accessories for color, although not always successfully. I do love a good scarf and my DH likes to tease me because when we travel I like to bring back a scarf or two, especially if I can't find what I really want.
I'm with you in that I have never found a tailor that I have enough confidence in to make anything from an existing piece of clothing, let alone from scratch.
materfamilias: I've sewn too, little miniskirts and my husband's flowered Carnaby shirts, and I was good enough to know what it takes to make a dress on the Prada (etc.) level. And have some funny stories I will blog about re using dressmakers over the years, always short of the mark.
Kathy: Scarves are such perfect travel souvenirs! Yes, the items would change by the season but I am now a devotee of "fewer and finer".
While I haven't been part of the experiment, I have been paying more attention to which pieces I wear most often. I just noticed that I haven't been wearing skirts and dresses, not because the weather is colder (though it is), but because I haven't been able to find any heavy opaque tights that are non-control top. I seem to remember buying a bunch last year, so I guess it's time to dig around!
http://www.lafayette148.com/-strse-6986/Punto-Milano-Beaded-Dress/Detail.bok#
Note: I didn't buy it from the lafayette148 site, but rather from Neiman Marcus on sale for $173.00---a bargain compared to the full price.
I agree with many of the posters here that hiring a dressmaker to make a dress would probably end up with a disappointment.
I do love wearing dresses, and while it takes a lot of looking in this fashion climate to find one long enough for me (I'm 5'8"), I usually can find one in a line not made expressly for young women. I haven't tried dark tights yet, but think I should try them with a few of my dresses and skirts.
Susan: Interesting,it is as if the waist detail from the dress shown migrated to the neckline. Lovely.
I LOVE Duchesse's boiled wool jacket. I'm sure I've been to "Clothes" when it was at the Byward Market. Looking for sales there and at ça va de soi(e)!
I've taken three big bags to a charity shop recently, as I have a public transport pass this month so I can carry more than on my bicycle. Our society is badly organised for getting rid of stuff we don't use.
Terri: Not sure I would have anything new to say by repeating in a year, but do try on your own if interested.
LPC: As a woman usually sized out (14-16) of many designers I admire, compensation is a regular default.
I've tried your suggestion, which seemed to make sense. Few dressmakers will say" Oh, I can"t do that." So they give it their best, and while I got a facsimile, the indefinable deftness was missing. And I was out many hundreds of dollars. Inspecting their work is another way, but still not foolproof.
For me, the best results have been with true designers, who have models I can try on and then order longer, different sleeve length, etc.