Slip stream

Now that it's warm and lovely (and, on certain days, hinting at summery) I've been thinking about slip dresses. The kind that are, indeed, actual vintage slips worn as dresses.

Image from lauralevine.com

Here's my story: The summer I graduated from high school I borrowed a knee-length off-white cotton Victorian slip to wear under my acetate graduation robe. The slip was my mother's — at the time she was an avid fan of estate auctions where she sought out Victorian relics. Kid gloves, high button boots and the like. The slip likely came in a grab box — a cardboard carton full of random ephemera that the auctioneer sold for a few dollars. Mom bought those, hoping for hidden treasure.

Image from syriekovitz.com

I might not remember that slip at all, except that 1) the acetate robe was so horrific that the vintage cotton and lace was all that saved the say. And 2) my fashion hero Michael Bastian was there. At the time he was yet to become a designer. He was probably 25 and still mainly just the big brother of my classmate. But he'd always encouraged my enthusiasm for clothing and that day he commented on the Victorian slip. And so, there it is.

Image from weardrobe.com

That's my slip story (indeed, it's recently worked its way into the story of a vintage-obsessed character I'm working on in a novel-in-progress); I hope this summer many other vintage-obsessed fashionistas write their own stories in slip dresses. One more picture for inspiration:

Image from houseofvintage.net