dress quest: the white maxi

I’ve been searching for a great white summer dress for decades now, it seems. Somehow it’s eluding me.

I’m imagining a drapey (a heavy silk-like cotton blend, imagine) white maxi dress with a casual Grecian look. Something like this, though this dress only looks the thing from the side, and upon investigation is no good.

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Last year I picked up this ‘Goddess Maxi’  from Victoria’s Secret. No longer on their site but you can still find it around. It’s a bit too formal, though, to meet the criteria of the quest. The fabric itself is a little fussy, heavy and stretchy with a slight slickness, and the gathering detail in the front also feels fancy to me. Pretty, but not the one.

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I considered their knife-pleat maxi, too,* but decided it’s better in color (I like the navy), and anyway it doesn’t come in white.

*I usually find Victoria’s Secret hopelessly tacky but once in a while I really like a piece of clothing, and I like their bikinis and their simple cotton underwear, too.

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Anybody have a recommendation for me?

I could also happily turn in the direction of a 40s midi dress, I think.

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If you see one like this, tell it I’d like to meet it.

images via pinterest

shopping: hand painted python

I stumbled across this wonderful Etsy shop of handmade and hand painted leather accessories that specializes in python designs, linmade, and, after a few months of deliberation, recently had a bit of a field day.

Welcome to my alley.

Here are the pieces I picked out, which will have to have proper showings once they arrive. I’ve been wanting an oversized envelope-style clutch for a while, and found a couple of pleasing candidates, this simple fold-over design being one.

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The primary goal was finding a clean shape with interesting—preferably organic—texture and, above all, a stunning color.* Love this dark, muted teal.

*A few weeks later I completed the quest in a second and completely different way, which will also show you soon.

The second bag I got was a small zippered pouch. This lavender-tinged brown/white/turquoise combination is irresistible to me. Though there are a lot of other nice ones in the shop, the other color combos didn’t stand a chance.

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I was going to stop at this but the shop owner, Lina, responded so nicely to a query about shipping (she is based in Indonesia) that I decided to get one of her makeup pouches, fairly squat and wide, and just the capacious-yet-structured style I like for a makeup bag.

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And a belt…because actually I’ve been looking for a python belt like this for months now!

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Here are a few other items that caught my eye, to give you a better sense of the shop and the great use of color she has:

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(gorgeous)

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(ultra gorgeous)

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Awesome, no?

images from Etsy shop linmade