Am I starting to sound like a broken record to you? Each season I swoon over some dream jacket or dream bag or I go on and on about some fabric concoction that I can’t live without.
But today I’m going to tell you a little story about how dream dresses can happen to a simple girl like me. Remember a few posts ago I mentioned falling for this dream dress from the Chanel 12P collection (runway photos courtesy of style.com)?
It was seen everywhere, in every boutique window, on every celebrity deemed photo worthy…
I even bought shoes to match it because chasing after dreams in high heels is the only way to do it:
I was all set for the day I’d (a) find this dress on sale, (b) step into it, and (c) wake up. But wouldn’t you know it, something else popped up in an email before any of the above happened:
Chanel. Black tweed. Black pearls. Could this not just take an already dream dress to an even higher level of fashion Utopia? Oh yeah.
Well, it took some scouring to finally locate the black version in my size and had it fitted and refitted. But here I am, wide awake in my dream dress:
A long time ago when I was a grad student with very little in the bank and even less conviction about what I wanted to do with my life, my escape was always in the pages of Vogue magazine. Dreams materialized month after month between these pages, but they were just that. Chanel was no bigger a dream than the thought of paying off my mounting student loans. Chanel was not quite entrenched in the fashion vernacular back then, but even then, the creative ways with which the Vogue editors would play up a Chanel jacket would tickle my imagination to no end. One day, I would tell my very young and lost self while flipping through the pages, one day you’ll wear a Chanel jacket and know exactly where you’re going.
It’s somewhat ironic to me that now, all these years later, when I have finally harnessed all my restless energy to go not in a million directions (that my impulses still want to do) but rather down a constructive, successful path, my favorite way to de-stress is to drop my bags in a city I’ve never been, among people who speak a language I do not, and simply have no idea where I’m going. But this time, I get to wear Chanel.
So what’s the moral of my story today? Dreams are free. Student loans do get paid off. And dream dresses are real.
Hi Annie, thank you for this comment–it really made my day :D. I, too, had trepidations about turning 30, then 40, but all we can do is look forward. i’ll be fighting gravity all the way to the end, but i wouldn’t give anything for the life experience that has come with age. I wish for you, on your 40th bday, a sense of empowerment that is sure to arrive. enjoy the rest of your 30s but the best is yet to come!!
I just love this blog! Love how you wrote about the dreams in the younger years. This reminds me of a random conversation I had with my OBGYN. She asked me about my age. I said I am turning 30 soon and with a bit sadness on my face. She said 30 is a wonderful age. I would never wanted to go back to my 20’s. I did not believe her at the time, and now I am turning 40 in a few years, and I did realize the truth to it. In the 20’s, I had dreams, and dreams only, but now, I still can dream and the dreams are a bit easy to be realized. Love your blog! This is my go-to place when I need a little lift in my spirit. 🙂 Keep writing…
it also surprises me how sentimental i get in writing about fashion. i just hope this soft spot i have in my heart for it won’t ever go away…that every new bag, every pair of shoes, every dress will always be as special as the first one. that’s love, right?
I also wouldn’t have thought I would end up actually buying a (vintage) Chanel bag after drooling over them all these years. But it is your money and you deserve to reward yourself however you see fit. I went off the path and am exploring another one. I hope Chanel RTW is at the end of it!
xoxo,
Chic ‘n Cheap Living
the way you wrote the post was very sentimental and inspiring!
Congrats on the purchase
thanks, my fashionista sisters! i’m slowly weaning myself from the chanel bags but the rtw…tsk, tsk, tsk, looks like there’s no cure for that addiction :D!
Hi Larkie! Long time no talk and the dress looks fab and it looks even better on you! You are so lucky, you can easily rock that dress! Btw, i am also in love with that sick sick sick post, so funny, every time I am thinking about getting a different size of a bag that i already have, i think about your post and then tell myself, it is sick, you sick, stop buying duplicates hehe….
Hey Larkie! That dress is breathtakingly gorgeous! I haven’t visited your site in awhile and so far I love the new additions and travel posts.
I been looking for the Alexander McQueen praying mantis cape ever since you posted a picture of it 2 years ago and I been kicking myself for not getting it ever since. I just couldn’t justify paying $500 on sale for a cape but who knew my shopping habits have gone beyond that for LV stoles. Anyway, I came across an eBay listing for it and it looks like it has your pictures on it and I’m pretty sure it’s not your listing. Here’s the listing. Take a look at it to see if it’s your pictures.
http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=280957726441&index=20&nav=SEARCH&nid=53261397297
MissL! I thank you for continuing to share with us glimpses of your fabulous closet. In doing so, you’ve generously allowed us a peek at a life less ordinary by many standards. It’s an exciting, exhilirating treat I look forward to reading, pleasurable to the eye and soul both. Keep on traveling, keep on writing, and keep doing ’em all oh-so-stylishly.
PS…that you bought the heels to chase the dress in, the conjured image totally cracked me up 😀