Beach Belle

I was so excited when I first bought Beach Belle.

It was summery, it was fresh, it was bold, it was supercute. What could possibly go wrong with a dress such as this?

Unfortunately, folks, this is a cautionary tale. I was young and stupid — if you are young and stupid, maybe you can learn from my mistakes.

Listen up!

When you buy vintage, it is the height of stupidity to just toss your vintage duds willy-nilly into the washing machine with everything else.

See the sort of faded quality of the print here? This used to be bright and saturated!

If I knew then what I know now...

I had to stop wearing Beach Belle as a fancy festive frock, and instead repurposed it as a beach cover-up.

I don't wear vintage swimsuits (ew), so it's a way for me to assert my style oceanside, while not worrying about ruining anything that I haven't already ruined.

Adémas, faded as they are, I still love the colors on this one.

I'm not saying mermaids do exist, and I'm not saying they don't.

But if they saw me in this dress, I think they'd give a little mermaid nod, and I hope they wouldn't just drag me down to the watery depths to steal it off me and leave me to drown.

Mermaids are mean.



All photos by Claire Loeb!