Ok, ok…I know what you’re thinking…this outfit isn’t new. In fact, it’s the exact same outfit as I’m wearing here. The only difference is I’m wearing a little white dress (LWD), instead of a little black dress (LBD). But before you send me into style blogger time-out, let me explain…
Not usually a chick-flick kind of girl, I’m a bit smitten with a little film called Under the Tuscan Sun. No, no…it’s not the story line I love. It’s the clothes!
The movie follows a newly divorced American (Diane Lane) as she navigates a new life in beautiful Tuscany, Italy. The cinematography is beautiful, but really, anything filmed in Tuscany has to be beautiful, right? The American expatriate characters take on very romanticized wardrobes, and I only hope I would traipse around in Italy wearing something similar (probably not, because I’m a frumpy American…but whatev.). *digging around for my fanny pack*
If you’ve ever seen Under the Tuscan Sun, you may remember this scene filmed in an Italian sea-side town. Diane Lane runs around in a simple, but impeccable little white dress, finished with a black belt and heels. This dress drives me crazy, and my thoughts the first time I ever saw this scene was, “must…have…that…dress!”
So, I searched for a little white dress…and searched…and searched…
This was before the wonderful petite community…before the Alterations Needed Forum…before the Alterations Needed blog…I was searching all by my lonesome, and out of desperation, I purchased a size xxs white linen wrap dress from Calipso St. Barth on final sale…
And it was wrong…so very wrong. It was too long, and the sleeves were puffy, and it was just “off”. The internet told me linen shrinks…so I repeatedly fried the heck outta this dress in the drier. I took it to a tailor and had the length chopped off. I asked the tailor to fix the puffy sleeves, but he made them worse. I took it to another tailor (my beloved West Los Angeles tailor), and she made the fabulous decision to remove the puffy sleeves altogether.
But it’s still off. Because it’s a wrap dress, I can’t wear a contrasting belt with it like I want to. And because it was not made for petite women, the waistline is too low. It’s see-through, so I need to wear a full slip underneath, making sure nothing moves around or peeks out. It has sat in my closet, worn only once, and it makes me sad.
So, when I discovered seersucker jackets go well with LBD’s, I had the epiphany to see if they go well with LWD’s. Long story short, they do!
And it hides the funky waistline, and lets me hide the wrap-around tie so I can wear my chic little black belt!
This may be the year this LWD finally gets some wear..
What items are sitting, unworn, in your closet? Maybe it just needs some seersucker! ;)
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