The See Through Dress Trend: A Rant

Like most fashion trends it started with Marc Jacobs.

He and Beyonce wore nearly identical see-through, um, looks to the Met Gala.  It was like that 90210 episode where Kelly and Brenda wear the same dress to the Spring Fling. Except uglier. Waaaay uglier.




I think Marc was just being Marc: tongue-in-cheek, provocative, avant-garde and anti-tuxedo boring. Beyonce, however, was dead serious about that slutty muppet of a dress.  

Believe me, I wanted to like it because I like her. But from every angle, it just looked like a trail of feathered after-birth. Yuck.

I wanted to scream: "I GET IT, BEY!  You just had a baby. Yes, your body is bootylicious. You run the world. But WHY must you try to flash where that baby made its escape at ME?"

I was appalled to see her end up on so many best dressed lists for the night and Marc on the worst dressed ones.  IT'S BASICALLY THE SAME LOOK, people! 

Those barely-there dresses got Marc and Beyonce so much media coverage (pun intended) that this week Kristen Stewart's people made her pick up the crazy baton with this Marchesa madness.  My first thought:  "FINALLY, the perfect way to accentuate your ovaries!" Yuck. Hate everything about this look but mostly hated how it was wearing her.

Couldn't believe my big judgmental eyes when Charlize Theron wore yet ANOTHER loco see-through dress.  To the same premiere as Kristen no less! I think Charlize is one of the most perfect looking women on the planet so the illusion of nudity on her offends me less.  But still, what ever happened to leaving SOMETHING to the imagination? I mean I can see the outline of everything that isn't being flashed at my eyeballs.




Maybe I'm just getting old and prudish and fat but I think some trends should stay on the runway. 

 Plus, I thought the era of flashing your coochie for attention was over. But I guess Britney is about to make her comeback. God help all our coochies.




Rant over because I don't hate this spring's peek-a-boo trend completely. Here are some recent looks that I've loved. They prove you can flash a little something-something while keeping it classy, San Diego.

p.s. For all you fellow Bravo fans, all I could think about while writing this rant was Andy Cohen coining "nude illusion" dresses on his WWHL talk show last year. That cross-eyed genius is always ahead of his time

Tropical Prints: Forever 21 Palm Tree Dress

The Outfit

Forever 21 palm tree print dress

The Accessories

Forever 21 bracelet

H&M belt

Chanel sunglasses and purse

Tory Burch flats

The Grade

B

The Commentary

This palm tree dress is the perfect example of why I heart me some Forever 21.  Adorable print: check. Classic shape: check. Can dress it up or down: check. Easy and comfortable and flattering: check, check, check.  Plus, just $24!! I should have bought two. 

 That Alexa Chung for Madewell dress that I wanted a few months ago cost nearly 10x as much.  F that skinny b.  I'm glad it sold out before I could shimmy my butt into it.

Was worried that this particular print might feel dated.  But then I remembered Stella McCartney also did palm trees this season. This look on Diane Kruger was one of my Cochella favorites. 

And I'm still in love with the palm trees and seascapes Prada did a few seasons back.

My theory: palm trees are here to stay. They've come a long way from the gaudy Hawaiian shirt variety and become part of the tropical prints trend that cycles into vogue every few seasons.

Perfect news for a California girl in desperate need of a tropical vacation  ;)

The Inspiration

Happy Mother's Day!

Just a quick note to say I miss blogging, I miss fashion, I miss this.

Life's been a roller coaster and I'm exhausted but surviving. Mother's Day was incredibly hard yesterday. First one without my grandmother. My mom and I spent it at the cemetery which was both depressing and healing.

Life and love and death are so strange. Thank god for kisses from the people who love you. Hold them close to you. xo

What to Wear to a Spring Wedding

The Scene

Jean Bean and I weren't the type of little girls that dreamed about big weddings. I wrote about that four years ago when we went wedding dress shopping (rather awkwardly) after she got engaged.



Sure, boys were cute and all but Bean and I were more the type of little girls who loved us some books. We dreamed about writing them some day. We still do.




So on her wedding day, the sight of her slipping into her wedding dress while her nieces intently read their books, made me smile as I choked up.

It was an incredibly intimate, low-key wedding---the best kind if you ask me.




It was also incredibly emotional. The father of JB's fiancee lost his battle with cancer just two weeks before the wedding. He was to be Texas Cowboy's best man.

The minister, a high school friend of Bean's, did a BEAUTIFUL job of weaving TC's father into the celebration of their love.



Reminding us all that at times our saddest moments converge with our happiest. That's just life.

Commitment is about supporting each other through the bad, cherishing the good and surviving everything in between. Jean Bean and I are blessed to have found two men who have stood by our sides through it all---through our greatest triumphs and our greatest tragedies. 

That day, I realized just how much these men have shaped who we've become.  Helping them through their darkest moments, handing them the best part of ourselves has changed us.




It's made us stronger and wiser and more giving. It's transformed us from the girls we once were into the women we are today.

I was 18 when I met Mr. Diabolina and Jean Bean.
And I was 30 when I met Texas Cowboy.




Yet, I can barely remember a time when they weren't all a part of my heart.




I can't wait for the next chapter of our story.


The Wedding Outfits


The bride of all brides wore Carolina Herrera. After all, this is a woman who has spent most of her career on Paris runways. It's her job to know an exquisite dress when she sees it ;)



With sparkly Manolos underneath





The Herrera was perfect. Simply stunning.

Delicious from every angle.





Best of all: scored at a sample sale for mere pennies.
One of the benefits of being tiny and working in the fashion industry

Another benefit: getting your gorgeous make-up did at Neiman Marcus for your wedding.






Her Dior lips and lashes were KILLING me all day.

Also killing me: these baby dolls. JB's nieces.  Best dressed guests.

Learned it from their STUNNING mama---Jean Bean's sister.

Who learned it from her momma---the only tiny momma who rivals mine in cuteness. Adore.her.face!



Best dressed non-family guests: JB's college besties. Perfect floral and Missoni prints for a spring wedding. The three girls became friends when they all studied abroad for a semester. In Paris. Obvi.

 I wore BCBG to my best friend's wedding. Asymmetrical neckline, drapey, floral, easy. Stella McCartney emerald clutch and my nude Louboutin heels, Neiman Marcus purchased (duh!) 

Loved the necklace. A little LA Fashion District find.  Made the whole afternoon-wedding look less precious, more fierce.



Had to bring it for my favorite fashionista.




The Wedding Guest Inspiration