What is it about Spring that makes you want to put on a new dress? Maybe it’s the way the sun wakes up the fl ora, releasing a wash of color across the city. Maybe it comes from within, when your skin is itchy and dry from winter and needs a stretch and a bit of fresh air.
Whatever it is, now’s the time to go girlie or go home. The past few months have been rough, so why not
look to ruffl e and twirl? The right dress on the right girl can create a mood, a moment, a story. It can make an entrance, steal the show, and change everything with the fl ip of a hem. You can wear it for an hour or a night and be transformed. A suit of armor, protecting and enhancing simultaneously.
My closet bulges with the dresses of my past. Some are so dated—cohorts to shoulder pads and perms—but I can’t seem to give them the righteous burial they deserve because they still bring a smile to my face. Some still vibrate with energy, yearning to fulfi ll their promise of a perfect night with the perfect hair and perfect laughter. And others, the go-to’s—the favorites that always slide on, buckle me in, do their job, and get me through— hang a little tired but unwilling to surrender. To these I pay homage, as their histories are not just that of one evening… they are novels with jokes and tears stitched into their layers.
In that spirit, I give a special nod to LA-based designer Katy Rodriguez, whose clothes (particularly her dresses) always have that extra little spark that takes the ordinary and makes it extraordinary. Mixing vintage elements and sometimes fabrics with contemporary shapes that play with proportion and style, Rodriguez can take what might just be a casual day dress and spin it into something special. And what’s even better about her clothing is that you wear the dress; the dress never wears you. It only comes to life on the girl, guaranteeing that even if another lady has your frock on, she’s defi nitely not rocking it like you.
So, to the Marc Jacobs black satin with tulle underskirt that’s sashayed through more weddings then I can count, the sexy brown Rachel Roy that always makes me stand a little straighter, and the raspberry-pink, Indian-inspired silk Tracy Feith that got me through my fi rst book tour, I raise my glass and toast your inspirational assets.
