You know how it is – one of your friends catches it, and then everybody comes down with it. The signs are everywhere. Moaning on Facebook, red lipstick, inability to get too much cherry-printed fabric.
At first I thought it was a stronger than usual case of the PUG bug – that’s a sudden-onset addicition to clothing from Pinup Girl Clothing, fondly abbreviated as PUG. But it’s more widespread than that. Wellington’s femmes are in the grip of an epidemic of Spring Dress Fever.
The awful Wellington spring weather has made this round particularly contagious. How bad is it? 140 kph winds topped off with horizontal rain bad. Multiple flight cancellations bad. Two new spring dresses await in my wardrobe – a deep-magenta cowl-necked charmer and a full-skirted cutie sprigged with coral-hearted daisies. Did I style one of these for work today? No. I wore a sweater, and hermetically sealed myself inside my Arcteryx shell.
Really, it’s this terrible. Photo courtesy of NIWA.
Still, the vision of one of Wellington’s “good days,” when a cotton frock is just right, is too tempting. Let me set my soggy Arcteryx, and any chiding about wardrobe practicality, aside. Take my hand and we will ESCAPE into the dream of late spring and summer dresses.
PUG is popular here, prticularly because their dresses’ fabric weight works well in the Wellington climate, and because their international shipping is insanely fabulous. NZ customers have been known to order a dress on Monday and have it in their hands by Friday. (A Trashy Diva dress, in contrast, took a month to get to me…and the shipping was $10 more than PUG’s. Ahem!)
Bettie Paige Clothing pleased a friend of mine last year, I had a lovely visit to their store this past May in Philadelphia, sizes go up to 3x, and their sale page is smokin’!
To soothe your retro spring dress fever without going overseas…
Cherry Bishop has a sweet selection that has better sleeve/shoulder coverage. Sizes up to 18, too.
Trelise Cooper is expensive but her sale section, especially for the Cooper line, has some 50% off treasures. Her shipping is free, her sizing goes up to a forgiving 18, and there’s an ancillary “Workroom Sale” on.
Trelise Cooper dresses left to right: Violet Crumble, Rockin’ Doll, Pucker Up, Summer Breeze. All of these are on sale and available in a range of sizes up to 14.
