Super-awesome fashion illustrator (and super-awesome all-around human being) Jennifer Lilya was kind enough to contribute her fabulous take on Caryatid! I strongly suggest you check out (and like) her Facebook page. She is always posting chic yet adorable drawings, and though I aspire to a kind of half-assed originality, I must confess that I lifted the idea of naming my dresses from her (her gift for witty wordplay is second only to her gift for art).
Her work will also be on display at the Fashion Illustration Exhibition at the Brooklyn Public Library; you can sign up to receive the details via email as they develop.
Caryatid is a relatively recent purchase; I picked it up at the Thrifty Hog, a "resale boutique" on West 25th Street. All proceeds, by the way, go to helping homeless mothers and children, if you enjoy donating to worthy causes while picking out a little something for the weekend.
As I was trying it on, I chatted with the salesguy. "Do you think it's a little tight?" I asked. Assessing it with purely professional interest, he said, "Do you have a boyfriend?" I held up my left hand to show him my wedding ring. "Three boyfriends?!" He hadn't picked up on the ring, just the number of fingers I was holding up. Faced with an objective observer's opinion — I could have three boyfriends in this dress if I wanted! and if the whole thing didn't sound like way more work for way less payoff than having one husband! — I had to take it home. It's Trina Turk, by the way; I got it for about $75, which I later found out is a pretty good deal.
Something about Caryatid seems Grecian to me. Maybe it's the Greek key design on the bodice.
Or the slimness of the silhouette, like a marble column.
I feel like I should be holding up a temple in honor of Athena.
(She is clearly the most badass of the Greek goddesses; Artemis is too obsessed with her own virginity to qualify, and Hera is a little crazy.
Aphrodite isn't really a badass at all, in my opinion.)
The print, which Jenn captured so brilliantly in her illo (that's insider-y fashionspeak for "illustration"), might look a little familiar.
I freaked out a little last week when I saw it in the window at Banana Republic. How is this possible? I thought. Banana Republic can just rip off a well-known designer? Maybe fashion should be copyrightable! I went inside to investigate further and saw the totally obvious explanation. Mainstream brands only rip off no-name designers. (Note on that link: as someone with a state-shaped pendant, I'm not arguing that they stole the very idea, but those designs are just way too similar for plausible deniability.)
On the downside, Caryatid is no longer quite as unique as I thought it was. Unique clothing is one of the reasons we shop vintage, right?
On the upside, Banana Republic's little strapless sheath dresses are going for twice as much as Caryatid. And that's one of the other reasons we shop vintage, right?
P.S. Here's the photo that Jenn was working from, in case you're interested.
All photos by Claire Loeb!
No comments:
Post a Comment