Casual Viewing - Vol. 2
Little White Dresses 👀
A white dress for summer may not be groundbreaking, but it’s your closet’s most wonderful canvas and a Swiss Army knife in terms of utility. I love it when it’s a little unexpected. Meaning, less for event dressing and more for running errands or a casual lunch date. If it’s something you might wear jeans to from September to May, consider a LWD.
Some additional notes:
White dresses (IMO) can’t handle a ton of accessories the way a more structured look can. I like to pick one standout piece and keep everything else super simple.
Fit is always important, and I’d say especially important here. I’m in favor of hemming it as short as you’re comfortable, Catholic school be damned, and tailoring (or getting lucky the first time) so that it skims without clinging.
Consider an “undone” or unexpected element like unstyled hair, clunky shoes, or a fun bag to avoid veering too much into “Muffy at the Shore” territory.
Since you’re basically wearing bedsheets, make sure they’re the best quality you can afford. And don’t buy anything that’s dry-clean only. The number one LWD rule is ease.
As with Casual Viewing Vol. 1 I’ve dreamed up some fictional characters to show and tell magic of the LWD, along with some intrigue. Rebecca is back by popular demand along with her rebellious sister, Virginia, and a mysterious new neighbor, Stella.
Happy Saturday and Casual Viewing.1
Rebecca is hosting an (allegedly) simple brunch for all the Kindergarten moms at her daughter’s school. At 9pm last night she shuffled the deck entirely and decided that her dress (Zimmerman, complicated) was too much and her menu (buckets of friend chicken, Ina Garten’s Panzanella salad) was not enough. Her husband sighed as she texted her caterer friend-of-a-friend for a third time (mini crab cakes, cucumber-wrapped tuna, keep the salad and tiny strawberry & cream cheese cupcakes- got it!). She wonders vaguely if the new neighbor will make an appearance. She thinks it’s sweet that she thinks no one can see her watching the street from her second-story window.
Rebecca had worn the white J.Crew shift dress to a fundraiser in April, but who cares? The Prada sandals that her kids “picked out themselves” and for Mother’s Day were the obvious choice as was the Madame Grey hair fragrance that she ordered the day it launched. Her bracelet always raises questions like “heirloom?” or “Adina???” nope it’s just $40 at Anthro. A low-bun, minimal makeup and a last minute peony in her hair makes her feel like the Class(y) Mom of the Year. When in doubt, throw $2k at catering, light your best candle and call it a day.
Virginia wakes up with the sun glaring into her eyes and glances at her watch. Shit. She’d promised her sister she would come to her party and take “well lit, but totally candid” photos of the kids. Plus all the moms.
In town only briefly to catch her breath from a year-long photo expedition she’s running in Mexico, she eyes the only dress she packed and pairs it with her Levi’s denim trucker jacket and shoes that she either stole from Rebecca or doesn’t remember buying (but loves). The only decor in her tiny studio is the Hermès ashtray that her on-again, off-again boyfriend had given her for her birthday in April (Aries sun and moon, Scorpio rising- lookout). She stacks her wrist with new and old Dorsey bracelets, grabs the TOTEME bag that she bought before everyone else could, and hopes her sister doesn’t notice how late she is. I mean, she’s doing Rebecca a favor, right? Unless she charges her, because Virginia is nearly broke.
Stella watches luxury SUVs fill up Rebecca’s driveway and spill down the street. She can see everything in secret from the vantage point of her son’s upstairs nursery. She’s been ready for the party for hours, wearing a pretty eyelet dress, some major wow-factor high heeled sandals, and a bag that she’d casually set aside for herself when she was sorting estate donations in Richmond last month. Her fingernails were ragged and dirty, so she filed them to the quick and layered on two coats of blood-red polish.
Multiple times a day she checks the false bottom of the bathroom drawer to ensure her passport and jewelry are where they’re supposed to be. Ditto for the other items she’s hidden inside a coat at the back of her closet, along with the cryptic note on thick ivory stationary and no signature. She sighed and dabbed on some perfume when she noticed a familiar figure cutting across Rebecca’s lawn wearing funny little striped shoes and carrying a camera. Stella froze in the window, pulled gently on an earring, which suddenly felt too heavy, and realized she wouldn’t be attending the party after all.
To Be Continued…
Casual Viewing will be back in July.
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WHAT IS GOING ON WITH VIRGINIA?! I’m dying!! Also, I want to be Stella so bad, just casually wearing an Hermes watch and looking really f**king cool. Sighhhh.
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Ooh, this is fun. Virginia sure has some nice stuff for allegedly being broke. That + her immediately turning off Stella makes me think there's more to this story.