I think I was being channeled to work on today's piece for some reason. I had all these hidden and subliminal messages that kind of just pushed me in the direction that I went. FIRST: A viewing of Summer School (because I can't ever turn away when it's on TNT, even midway through) and Kirstie Alley in a denim top. Yeah, 1987!!
SECOND: Some scouring on the Urban Outfitters site (because I'm always scoping out the virtual sale racks) which led me to this click.
THIRD: Skimming over the tag of this dress just made a certain someone pop out who has been all over the news (more than the usual) for the past week it seems.
I mean, he's been all over the place because of his giggle fit and well, the fab Gloria is his mama...
...so this triumphant piece of light denim deliciousness, sent from Jessica in Fayetteville, NC, was what the signs were pointing to, or at least what I thought the signs were pointing to in my magic-filled head.
"I'm obsessed with denim and it's everywhere now, except it just doesn't look like this dress! Haha! This piece had a moment thirty years ago (and still managed to find a home in my basement) and deserves another shot. It's Gloria Vanderbilt and needs a bit of a 2011 makeover which you can most definitely handle."
I love the essence of this piece - jumper-y, cute bows over the pockets...
...snaps on top, so I'm going to make a few changes to update it, but keep it similar-ish looking!
First off, some taking in needed to be done. I tried it on and pinched about two inches on each side of the top of the dress and then brought in around four inches on the skirt. Everything got pinned...
...and then stitched in place.
I wanted to make this look similar to the Urban version, so short time it is. I took off the length...
...and cut the excess into two rectangles and two little strips. Thoughts on what this'll be??
DIY bows!! I pinched and cinched with a pin...
...then tied the little strips around the center (with the pin removed) into a knot to keep the bows looking bow-y :)
I wanted to tie this bow theme in more, so I began to stitch the bows in each armhole. Even though this area was brought in, there was still room to add these puppies - I pinned and stitched and had the arm areas all good.
Once those elements were tweaked, I grabbed a grey slip, a natural/straw colored belt, some red sandals and put the dress on!!
My newly updated Gloria Vandy number...
...would hopefully make Anderson proud!
I gathered some goodies and met up with the gang for a night of Fantasia accompanied by live strings, horns, and drums, oh my! It was a trek up to the Hollywood Bowl (yet again) and I prepped my feet before the hike with oodles of band-aids. My feet took a beating in Chicago, so I wanted to avoid any more blisters!
It was also a little birthday celebration for SPR, so we got a cake...
...and enjoyed grape flavored Red Vines, which should be called 'Purple Vines', yes? (I have to say as a tried and true Twizzler-er, these were actually not too bad - better than regular Red Vines and they smelled like grape Hubba Bubba gum, no joke. It brought me back to 1991!!)
I hung with my gal MM as we shared grapes and searched for the moon...
...before the show got going. I took a quick pic with AM and JMT because we all were wearing shades of red.
The show got startes and even surprised us with a fireworks spectacle that couldn't have been more perfectly executed - the colors in the sky matched the ones on the screen, the music coordinated with the blast sounds and the schnozzberries tasted like schnozzberries!
The orchestra played Debussy's Clair de Lune along to a heavenly clip (with an animated egret!!) that wasn't in the final version of the film, which was the best present of the night. It's one of my favorites - dreamy and whimsical - and put me in the best mood.
We tried to touch the stage, and even asked security, but we were given the big no...unless we wanted to get handcuffed.
Since we weren't thrilled about taking a trip to the slammer, we obliged, even if a birthday was being celebrated.
Through the amazingness of YouTube, I found a clip of the deleted scene that we saw above. Enjoy...if you're a Debussy fan, this might just make your day. I'll be having dreams tonight with this as the soundtrack.
