Craving: Floral Sundresses

I have a very specific type of shopping problem. Mainly, that I get too specific when I go shopping. I fixate on one exact item of clothing, which may or may not exist, and then I search it out. Endlessly. I'm like a bulldog. I try to avoid getting on these little tangents because they're really, really time consuming and often really depressing because I never find EXACTLY what I want. Does that happen to anybody else? Or am I the only crazy one? I shouldn't have asked that.

Anyways, right now I want a sundress. Specifically, a southern-inspired, slightly retro sundress. Random, I know. It all started with that picture on the left, from Lucky's Beauty Blog. Cat (one of the Lucky staff) was in New Orleans, and stumbled across those adorable tie dye dresses, which I immediately freaked out about. But tie dye is a little on the hippie-tastic side for me, so it turned into batik sundresses, which turned into floral sundresses, which turned into retro sundresses. You didn't need to follow that. So I went from the pic on the left to a sundress from True Blood, which I've been catching up on and you must, must, must watch.



Stella's Dress in Sunshine, $47.99 at modcloth.com, Orangerie Dress in Crystal, $44.99 at modcloth.com, Fraulein Dress, $54.99 at modcloth.com: All three of these are from Mod Cloth, which is a great site that specializes in vintage reproduction clothes that don't look overly vintagey, if that makes any sense. The first dress is the most obvious. It's very '50s, very festive and cheerful, and it just makes me happy. Plus, the shape is extremely flattering, and florals are huge right now, because the '90s grunge thing is back! The second dress is a bit more subdued, and a little more '70s than '50s, but is also very cute. The simple shape works really well with the high-impact print, and it work look adorable with a brown leather motorcycle jacket. I think the last dress is the most grunge/hippie-inspired, and probably the most wearable. The juxtaposition of the dark, moodier print is so cute with the chiffon and ruffles. Love!


Vintage '80s Sheer Purple Floral Accordion Pleated Dress, currently $9.99 at ebay.com, Vintage '70s Pink Flower Print Sundress, currently $9.99 at ebay.com, Vintage '80s Revival Floral Tux Pleated Sheer Mini Dress, currently $11.50 at ebay.com: eBay is a really great place to scout for high-quality, on-trend vintage items (try Etsy too. They have a huge selection and some great custom-order stuff, but the search process is a bit more labor intensive). I found this great eBay store, Noirohio, and I want all three of these dresses. The dress on the left is the most laid-back, easy-going, '70s inspired. I have one like it and I wear it ALL the time. That middle dress is my absolute favorite. I love the shape, I love the peony print, I want to wear it all summer and put in on a mannequin and frame it. Don't know where I was going with that. But, it's too small for me in the chest region (welcome to my life), so I'm posting it so it can find a nice home with somebody else. And because I found an alternative that would fit me, and I'm too selfish to post that one. Hehe. And the last dress isn't exactly sundress-inspired at all, but it's very Balenciaga Spring '09, very grunge, and just very cute. Did I mention that all three of these are currently under $15?


Image Sources:
Cat from Lucky: luckymag.com, True Blood still: forum.purseblog.com, Stella dress: modcloth.com, Orangerie dress: modcloth.com, Fraulein dress: modcloth.com, Purple Pleated dress: ebay.com, Peony dress: ebay.com, Floral Mini dress: ebay.com