Va Va Vinyl

People can surprise you.

I received Va Va Vinyl as a hand-me-down from a woman you would not expect to ever see wearing it, though it is quite well made (note the red piping, and there's lining to match).

I've only experienced one occasion to really wear Va Va Vinyl out on the town: a friend was celebrating her birthday at a midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. My new boyfriend (now my husband) and I went out to dinner beforehand, and I noticed a woman at the next table giving me the stinkeye. She was probably in her late fifties or early sixties, nicely dressed. It irritated me—who was she to give me the stinkeye, just because I happen to be wearing something that's a little out of the ordinary? And in New York! And in the Village!

Come on!

As we got up to leave, the woman finally spoke. "Excuse me," she said, and I whirled around, my soon-to-be-unbottled righteous anger tempered by the nagging thought that she was about to helpfully point out a scrap of toilet paper on my shoe.

"I just love your dress. Where did you get it?"

Gosh, I love it too! Thanks!

Here is what I love about it: material (and length) aside, Va Va Vinyl is almost aggressively unsexy. Its fit owes much to garbage bags and an abstracted idea of the female form.

There are right angles all over this thing, including, atypically, the armholes, and the neckline gapes if you gesture with your arms.

It's almost like a robot designed it.

Beep boop boop beep! Powering down.

But it's great for catching up on one's reading.

(Note: That's a prop. I have not read Fifty Shades of Grey, nor do I plan to. Please stop asking!)

Also great for plotting world domination and reapplication of eyeliner.

All photos by Claire Loeb!