lost building: autumn 2009

the princess dress

I don't know if it was Nancy who called it the princess dress first or me, but that was what my best friend and I said as we passed the dress back and forth in the early 1980s.

The dress wasn't an elaborate dress but it was so far off jeans and tee shirts that it seemed impressive Made surprisingly of spandex, it was a heavy double knit with the kind of weight that swings and drapes just the way you want it too. The color was plum edging toward purple. And it had star dust (kind of AB glimmer).

Cut long with a round scoop neck, it was simple enough to be almost a very nice Danskin. It reminded me of ballet dancers and Audry Hepburn. A great dress. Not that we wore it a lot. It always seemed a couple notches above any occasion.

Taking a break just now from blogging, I pull the princess dress out of the very back of the closet. It is still a special occasion dress. Still glimmery. Still silky. Nostalgic yet at the same time something I might actually wear now that my life has opened up a little. And because the dress is magic, it still fits.