Thrift Off #1: Laurie's Defense

Ha! Holly has played directly in to my hand!

Sexy this, sexy that, as though sexy dresses are something that are hard to come by. I can walk out my front door, walk four blocks in any direction, go in to any old Rainbow or Strawberry, swing any old dead cat, and hit fifty "sexy" dresses. Hardly an accomplishment.

A dress that is truly worth celebrating is like a woman that is worth celebrating; one that plays many roles and wears many hats, effortlessly and gracefully. Holly's dress is like a real housewife who thinks that her life is soooo hard because managing her vacation staff and her household staff at the same time is just TOO HARD. Rather one dimensional, is what I'm saying. My dress is like the one real housewife that actually works for a living, and is still the hottest housewife at the party, because she is confident and not trying too hard.

Would you go braless to the office? To deliver a closing statement or negotiate a merger? I think not. Holly's dress is strictly for the club. My dress, however, is totally appropriate for both. How? Not to utilize a well worn cliche to describe and ironic, overly parodied hairstyle, but it is indeed business in the front, and party in the back. Throw a blazer over the dress, and no one is the wiser about your bare back. The front, with its "long arms" (or long sleeves, as they are more commonly known, I didn't learn that in fashion school), mock turtleneck, and just above the knee length are sure to be taken seriously. After work, when it's party time, take off the blazer, and a seamless transition is made. You can even keep your bra on without your strap being exposed. This feature may seem "lame" to small chested women, but feminist or no, this is actually a totally amazing design feature if you aren't endowed in such a way that bralessness is always an option.

To address the print issue. The multi cat print is indeed flashy and fun, but it is in fact just that, pigeonholing the dress for party time. On my dress, what Holly refers to as "essentially a mash-up of nondescript scribbles and shapes", is actually a reference to the highly sophisticated, often marginalized, geometric designs of traditional Malian mud cloth, which I find to be some of the most astonishingly beautiful textiles out there. But that is just me.

Also, it is hard for me to be all that impressed by Holly's cat print, because I found this printed silk tank two years ago thrifting in Pennsylvania.


Been there, done that.

That's it! Now VOTE!