The dress above is neither a wedding dress, nor a dress for the bridesmaid. Its official designation, according to LaBelle Fashions, is “special occasion dress.” However, if you can for just one moment ignore the totally cheap backdrop in front of which the model is standing, you’ll see that this dress, whatever you want to call it, is pretty damn sexy and would look smashing on a bride. Which, if you take a look at the rest of the dresses on the LaBelle web site (peacock, anyone? how about a pantsuit?), just goes to show you that sometimes you can find a true treasure when rooting through trash.
For those with a love of details, the dress is composed of a lace overlay, a strapless bodice, a sash detail at the waist, and a sassy hourglass skirt. It comes in champagne and what I imagine would be an…interesting combination of black and pink.
Odd comment, I know, but this dress looks just like a vintage Barbie dress I stole from another little girl’s Barbie case (the deluxe, double-wide one) when I was in kindergarten. I was using the bathroom, and she had placed the case in there for…oh, I don’t know…some reason. She’d probably brought it all for show-and-tell.
Of course, like nine out of ten kindergarteners, I had that thing open in a flash and was exploring, when what should I come upon but the most beautiful piece of Barbiedom I’d ever seen: a strapless, form-fitting, goldish brocade gown with a zipper. With a zipper, I tell you! (You can tell that it was old, because since when did Barbie clothes come complete with set-in metal zippers?) It absolutely took my breath away, and for reasons I still can’t totally explain I put it in the pocket of [what was probably] my favorite hot-pink double-knit slacks and took it home.
It sat among my Barbie clothes for years; and every time I laid eyes on it my stomach would lurch and I was absolutely consumed by guilt. It was beyond too late to give it back. But I always pictured in my mind a sort-of faceless little girl, opening her beloved doll case only to be crushed when she discovers that some mean, bad person had stolen her most beautiful, beautiful Barbie dress.
*Sigh.* Still makes me feel like a real stinker, even after more than 25 years…
Oh my word. I think that I just found a picture of that Barbie dress. Makes me cringe just to look at it. Thank goodness for repentance…
I have some old guilt like that, jenny. Always makes me wish I could track people down to tell them I’m sorry. Of course, they’d probably respond to my heartfelt apology by saying, “What? Who is this? What are you talking about?” 🙂
Either that, or “Back off or I’m callin’ the cops!”
Dresses like that are great for a destination wedding!