Today's puppy was something that I came across recently, however I had full intentions of holding on to it until the summer. There are boats on it and it looks pretty nautical so I though perfection for a summer beach day in Venice with a pair of my vintage navy Dr. Scholls! Slight change of plans though, as I had a "winter in LA" vision that put me in this now versus a blistering 93 degree day in August!
As my sour face gives off, this dress was strugglin'. It was way too big, but the boat print and collar were awesome enough to make it work. I felt a little like Popeye wearing it, just sans a can of spinach, a corn cob pipe, an anchor tat, sailor hat, and well, juiced muscles, even though my guns are pretty impressive (thanks yoga). So, off to my sewing machine I went to tighten this puppy up. As you can see, there was tons of room under my arms and I had to take that in. I still wanted to keep it A-line which for those who don't know is a fashion-y term for a dress that looks like an A or an upside down martini glass. (Y'all see where my head's at.) It's more fitted on top and increasingly widens as it goes lower. Shout out to Mr. Dior for introducing this style into our world as it's a shape that looks good on everybody!
Now it's warm in LA, but it's no July, so I couldn't really wear this solo. I got to thinking and decided to wear it backwards. Yes friends, I decided to turn this newly-more-fitted dress around and wear the back in front. Want to see why? Check it...
The back of the dress had a zipper that went all the way down from the collar to the lower back which was going to work geniusly wearing it backwards. Angelina Jolie famously did this backwards trick last year at the SAG Awards and if it works for her...
The final layered look...
I put on a great, paper-thin, long-sleeved T (mine is American Apparel, but you can snag these anywhere from H&M to Target) before throwing the dress on top and layering. I unzipped it down to my navel (sounds way hotter than it is) and paired it with a navy elastic belt that was snagged from my mom's closet a few years back.
I was so excited with how this look turned out because my original intention was to wear it as a sundress months from now on a boat. Mostly because I wanted to sing along with Andy Samberg and T-Pain.
Sweet dreams friends - may all your love and prayers go out to Haiti tonight.
