Oslo and Behold

    One of my earliest posts when the blog began in 2014 was titled Scandinavian Inspirations followed roughly a year later by Nordic Love.  I can't exactly recall, but I can almost guarantee that this Oslo and Behold dress by Bea & Dot was somewhere in the mix on inspiration since it debuted several months earlier around September of 2014.  I gotta say, it feels pretty good to get back to my roots on posts like this that explore both my love of colors and my love of Bea & Dot.   I wanted to buy this dress at the time, but as always, I was on a one dress per month budget and this one didn't make the cut.  I found it recently on Poshmark and decided to thrift it since I still love it just as much a decade later.  Also Lent was over and as I mentioned, I was ready to have a shopping feast after 40 days of fasting.

    I cannot sing the praises of this dress enough.  They really knew how to make a $100 dress worth every single penny back then.  Now, there are so many vintage sites whose dresses I cannot breakdown into a cost analysis.  No lining, thin fabric, poor fit.  Ugh!  ModCloth really set a high bar and I fear I may never find anything I love so well as O.G. MC.

    For today's post, I decided to take a few yard photos in front of my blooming blackberry bushes.  A storm was rolling in and somehow in my haste to avoid a downpour, I lost the first dozen or so photos in this dress.  I didn't realize it until I thought I was all done and had changed my make-up.  I went back out to re-take, but didn't change my makeup back, so you're getting a mix here, but I think it shows how well the dress looks with different makeup moods.

Outfit Info:  Oslo and Behold dress from ModCloth circa 2014

High Socie-tea: A Brief History of Tea Dresses

I never heard of Tea Dresses growing up, which is surprising given how much I loved dresses.  Guess my family traveled in the wrong circles; not a lot of farmer's wives sit around drinking afternoon tea in pretty frocks.  Manure spattered overalls were farm couture for all the women in my mother's circle in the 1980s.  Regardless, the concept of a Tea Dress has been around since the 19th century and originally referred to a sort of dressing gown that one would wear while lounging in style and sipping tea.  

As time progressed, a tea gown became a dress somewhere between the casual style worn-around-the-house and the fancy-style worn for an evening out that was worn when entertaining guests for afternoon tea.  It can be dressy or casual or dress casual, but what really distinguishes a Tea Dress from any other kind is the length. 

According to ClosetCachete.com  a tea dress must have "a skirt hemline that stops below the knee and typically hits halfway between the knee and the middle of the calf muscle," and be "35-39"/90-100cm in length."   Beyond that, a Tea Dress is a timeless style that should be lightweight, playful and pretty.  Something you could wear nearly anywhere and anytime.

For much of my life I've always felt that for me, the perfect length was right at the knee.  I am a little on the tall side and I don't want anything too short (you know those breezy days can reveal too much) or too long that swallows me up.  And I felt that way for all of my 20s and 30s.  In my 40s, something interesting happened, my knees suddenly started sagging and it seems like it happened almost over night. Most of the time, I don't think too much about it, but every now and then I feel a little insecure, and want some coverage.

Back in the mid 20-teens, ModCloth released a series of dresses called High Socie-tea.  There were at least four different prints that I recall from this series and I bought two at the time, the Par Avion and Macaron prints (first two on the left below) and as much as I loved the the rich colors of the floral (far right) these dresses were so long I had to take them all up about six inches to get to my knee and it was an arduous process for a beginner at sewing like me.  

Although I loved the two I bought, I decided not to buy any more.  I also made sure that the alterations I made could be undone should I ever change my mind and want a longer dress...which I now have.  Yes, that's right, I restored these dresses to their former tea-length glory and even managed to snag the floral print on Poshmark in the process.

Since buying the original two dresses, I have had some changes to my complexion.  My hair is very cool on my very cool skintone and now has gone very gray, so I tend to favor warmer colors like this floral version so I don't look like something dredged from the river.

It also occurred to me in all this that I never took any photos of the Macaron print.  It's difficult to capture because the lines in the print create a weird optical effect, but it's one of my all-time faves, so I will see to that directly.

In the meantime, it's high time for tea in this pretty tea dress that is just the perfect, timeless length for all ages, and fits my lifestyle at this age and season to a T.  (Oh my gosh, I totally just worked TWO puns into the last paragraph.  AMAZING!!)

Outfit Info:  High Socie-tea Dress is old from ModCloth/Bea & Dot/Poshmark.  Qupid Heels are old from ModCloth.  Crop Sweater is new from YeMAKCrop Sweater is new from YeMAK

Just Roll With It: ootd

You can never really go wrong with a Bea & Dot dress and, if you're lucky enough to come across one in new condition for only $30 you pounce immediately and without hesitation.  That's what I did when I saw this Just Roll With It dress on PoshMark.  It's an oldie but a goodie that I've been looking for for....years, maybe.  I know you may be thinking, "if you've been looking for it for years, why didn't you just buy when it came out?"  

    The answer to why I buy so many late model ModCloths is that  sometimes when I look at the price tags all I can think is, "eeesh!  I have kids to feed!"  If it's not that rare wow-I-must-have-this kind of dress, then I can wait a while until like this dress the price goes from $124 to something much more reasonable for my budget.  I think I'm also a little addicted to the thrill of the hunt.  I love looking for bargains almost as much and maybe even more than finding them.  Although there are times like this that the persistence has really paid off. 

Shop the Look:

Just Roll With It Dress by Bea & Dot

Qupid Heels from ModCloth

Earrings are handmade by me, but I love these from Peachtree Lane

Bow Belt is vintage

Confectioner's Dream Dress Pastels

Bea & Dot, another of those lovely labels that make even lovelier dresses.  I purchased this dress last year for our family photos among the cherry blossoms.  I had to do some tailoring to the bodice to give it a great fitted look, and after all that effort I didn't want it to be a one-time-occasion dress.  So, every now and then I take it out of the closet and try something different with it.  In this case, the outfit is new, but all the pieces are old.  I have a weakness for pastels especially pale pink with pale...anything else.  So, the challenge I set myself for this outfit was to use only pastels.  I think I achieved my goal and now I have a new favorite look.

Shop the Look:

Confectioner's Dream Dress from ModCloth

Dolce by Mojo Moxy Heels

Pink Cardigan is old

Peach Purse by Nila Anthony from Shopjeen.com

On a Barrel Roll Dress: ootd

    I'm still thinking up ways to wear this Bea & Dot dress, and of course I love to pair yellow and blue.  I've just found a shop here in town that I'm pretty excited about.  It's called GU and my first purchase was this lovely yellow skinny belt. 

    I had some left over yellow fabric from the shoe clips I made a few months ago that matched the belt, so I made this yellow bow and attached a brooch clip to it so I can wear it with different tops.  Under the dress I wore a sheer white peter pan blouse by Forever 21 and I think this completely changes the dress.

     I'm also doing something different with my hair color this month.  I only use semi-permanent hair color because I'm kind of commitment-phobic when it comes to my hair. 

    I usually use Natural Instincts brand because...it's the only semi-permanent dye available here.  So, it will be dark red for a month and then back to brown. 

Shop the Look:

Natural Instincts 23R

Cover Girl 307 "Seduce"