my grandmother (who i called "nan", but let's go with grandmother to avoid confusion-- whenever i say "nan" people think i had a nanny, which is baffling. maybe it's because i live in lalaland) my grandmother used to take me shopping at least once every two weeks. we'd climb into my mom's car or take the bus, a straight shot up a curvy hilly avenue, and we'd stop in EVERY STORE THERE. and if i found something i liked, she would be sure to buy two, hopefully in different colors. come my 8th grade graduation, i was used to finding exactly what i wanted in the legend that is the New. Jersey. Mall.
my obsession with everything prince started the search for the graduation dress of my dreams. i had just forced my mom and brother to accompany me to the unveiling of prince's masterpiece, under the cherry moon. (dad was at work, probably one of the few times he was grateful for the diversion.) it was absolutely terrifying. it was even more nervewracking than the listening session i forced my family to sit though when the great one released his follow-up to purple rain: around the world in a day. (dad was home for that one, he got lucky.) would they accept the dramatic falsetto of "condition of the heart"? would i have to leave the room during his talk with god in "temptation"? i was sure that due to my level of adoration, i had everything to do with the success or failure of any princely venture. and this time, he had really gotten himself into a mess. you see, prince fired his director halfway through shooting under the cherry moon, and was steering the ill fated ship all by his diminutive self. and it would be ALL MY FAULT if it didn't work out.
well, it did not. surprisingly, i didn't die. (prince, however, did, in the last scene of the movie, where an often delightful and very eccentric romantic romp goes completely awry in one of the most misguided death scenes ever filmed.) but the costumes were FABULOUS! kristin scott thomas wore this gauzy sheer polkadotted crisp kiss of a dress that i HAD to have. she stood on a yacht while "alexa de paris" played in the background, the wind whipping the fabric around. this dress was so perfect, i was sure that said wind would accompany me whenever i wore it-- a breeze would just want to be near it that badly.
nothing else than this marie france creation would do for the departure of a middle schooler, and the debut of a High Schooler. but after three malls (that's a LOT of shops, mind you), no luck. i had to settle for a white lace dress, floor length, that in hindsight was a bit child-bride.
i loved shopping with my nan. it was one of my favorite things to do growing up. but now that i'm sewing, i've found i'm tired of shopping. i'm tired of walking into stores and finding things overpriced and poorly made. not to mention wasteful trends that end up in the garbage. (please let's don't mention my errors in sewing that also end up trashed. thank you.) and now! without the aid of a mall! thanks to burdastyle and my moth-in-law... I SHALL HAVE THE LONG AWAITED DRESS!
as an early birthday prize, i got EIGHT YARDS of black and white polka dotted loveliness (at top). eight yards! i feel frivolous buying three. but i'm going to cut this on the bias, which means i need a lot. it also means i won't be making many garments on the bias (see previous comment about being wasteful. hypocrite much?). and burdastyle's jonny pattern is even more glorious than the original.
what??? more glorious than prince's version? i must be grown up now. and soon i'll have the prepubescent prize to prove it!
