Up

I so rarely get to use the word "antepenultimate"—usually by the time I remember that it exists, I am already on the penultimate thing I was going to describe as antepenultimate if I had thought of it sooner.

This is my antepenultimate post!

I don't know if I can refer to Up as my penultimate dress, since I will most likely go on to buy new dresses, but it is the last dress I bought before I bought the last dress I bought. (But I will, since I so rarely get to organically drop "penultimate," "antepenultimate" and "perendinate" in a sentence, let alone my other favorite words: "callipygian" and "borborygmus.")

You feeling okay? I thought I just heard some borborygmus.

Up origin story: It was the day after August's best shopping day ever, when I scooped up four frocks from one fashion plate's closet at Another Man's Treasure.

I just knew I hadn't cleaned them out, or that if I had, it was only temporary. Up practically leapt into my arms, and as I chatted with Warren, one of the store's owners, I told him about my haul from the day before.

Turns out, Up belonged to the very same lady. Such exquisite taste on this woman! First of all, obviously, we've got the bright, happy abstract print.

You pair a print like this with a silhouette this loose-fitting:

...and you're edging into muumuu territory. But not only is muumuu an adorable word (just look at it!), it is also, pretty clearly, my future.

Bring it on, I say! Mrs. Roper is an underappreciated fashion icon. Just check out her accessories.

So far, I'm just practicing. But before I go full muumuu jacket (muumuu jackets! Now there's an idea), let's talk about this neck panel for a second.

How many different necklines can a girl decide is her favorite? I'm asking for a friend. The best thing about this one is that it takes care of your shoulders and everything in between, while being all drape-y in a way that complements, yet is distinct from, the drape-yness of the rest of the dress.

Up! I am so sad I only got to wear you a few times before it got too chilly. We'll hang out a lot next summer, I promise.

In other news, I just found out that my dear callipygian friend S. has a blog, and I am a little in love with it. She lives in Alaska, and is the one who introduced me to the aperçu about the skewed gender ratio up there, as it pertains to dating: "the odds are good, but the goods are odd." Nice one! 

It's the circle of blog life: as some reach their antepenultimate gasp, others are just getting revved up. And you never know—I just read about the blogger behind Smitten Kitchen, whose original idea was for a blog about her terrible dating life in NYC, but then she almost immediately met and fell in love with a guy who commented on her blog. So she started writing about cooking instead.

S., if you start posting pictures of finished dishes instead of cashew bins, I'll know something is up.


All photos by Claire Loeb!