Say what you will about shopping and mall culture, but where there are stores, there are often store windows, and occasionally these days you can still find one that earns a second glance.
The one that inspired this sketch belongs to a Cleveland-area boutique called Lisa Moran. Honestly it was THAT DRESS that stopped me mid-stroll. Friends, the fabric alone is worth a thousand words, but the tailoring on this number is simply exquisite. Every last seam is perfection. The dress is loaded with shape-making structure that gives it its gorgeous, timeless, ladies-who-lunch elegance at which my little drawing only hints.
All this makes it great for a Magnificent Monday celebration.
I attended a wedding last spring, and before that it been five years since I’d put on a dress or a skirt — I’m just more at home in pants — but this window made me want to try on this dress immediately. Which I did not, both because the store was closed and because the design and craftsmanship suggest it would be more ex$pen$siv$e than a person who wears a dress every five years could justify.
So be it. It cheers me to consider that somewhere today, the person, or perhaps a little team of people, who invested so much thought in this perfect dress is probably making something new.
P.S. I also loved the rest of the window, which had a big heart made of faux flowers and a simple rack hung with other sartorial signs of spring. It isn’t Manhattan-at-Christmas elaborate, but it lifted my spirits, and I’d like to think that Rhoda Morgenstern, who had a great job dressing windows on the Mary Tyler Moore show, would approve.
Here’s a link to MTM Season 1, Episode 1, where Mary meets Rhoda for the first time.
I love the possibilities that lovely dresses present.
Window shopping is about all I do these days--no need for fancy things. But yes, there's a retailer whose clothes I love, but they were not made for short old women. So I move on, and now I will try to rejoice in the craft that makes those gorgeous pieces.