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The Dress That Changed My Life

This is my humble take on the Harper’s Bazaar articles that I love in which a featured writer describes a dress that made a lasting impact on her life (Iman’s article is especially lovely and touching: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/models/a13586302/iman-dress-that-changed-my-life/ )

The dress that changed my life is an obvious choice and without any challengers, because (a) I’m not walking red carpet events (unfortunately) and (b) even so, nothing in the world could ever compare to marrying my husband. 

Picking out a wedding dress is a special, once in a lifetime shopping experience, so for someone like myself who literally dreams about shopping, finding a real dream dress was, in fact, a dream come true.  While no, I did not find it hanging from a chandelier on a cloud-painted ceiling, it did appear rather magically on the last little rack on the way to my dressing room.  As I mention “the rack,” I have to admit, I was initially a tad worried about the vast disparity between my relatively modest budget and my couture tastes and knowledge.  I knew this dress had to represent me through and through, but I also couldn’t break the bank.  I was happy to discover, as I hope every bride is, you really can find your perfect dress at your price.  Once I found my dress, even the ones on the high fashion bridal runways couldn’t compare in my mind.  In addition to seeking something unique and unequivocally me, I also knew this was probably the only time in my life I could go BIG- like literally, physically big- and I’m so glad I did because it was SO much fun to wear! This dress was the first one I put on, and despite loving and enjoying all the others dresses to follow, there was no hesitation every time I came back to my dress.  In keeping with the way I fell for my husband- suddenly, like a ton of bricks- this dress was undeniably and irrevocably the one for me.    

The work that went into this dress after buying it was not as simple as choosing it.  I lost track of how many fittings I went to with my talented and devoted seamstress and family friend, Joyce Eubanks, who spent over 20 hours sewing this dress to perfection to fit my body.  Then on the big day there was the forty-something delicate buttons trailing all the way into the english net and over twenty hidden loops for bustling!  

Friends and family, and even my fiance, tried to make predictions about what I would get married in and expressed their anticipation and excitement, while I coyly refused to disclose a single detail.  This dress demanded a grand entrance and surprise!  Suddenly, there I was in the moment I had been dreaming of and planning for so long, staring at the closed doors and clutching onto my big brother’s arm.  The double doors opened, the notes of Moon River began to play...and there he was.  The amount of emotion wrapped up in this moment made it all a blur, but I will never forget when we first locked eyes and everything felt complete.        

My husband’s reaction when he saw me for the first time walking down the aisle, my little four year old niece and I dancing and twirling on the dance floor together, my sister dutifully carrying my long train all around downtown Columbus, my veil blowing in the wind, getting caught kissing in the rain...all of these unforgettable memories and so many more are forever wrapped up in this one dress.  My husband laughs at me that I always remember the exact outfit I was wearing on random specific dates, but this time, I think I wont be alone in that.  

This dream dress of mine painted my skin with exquisitely detailed beading on sheer fabric, sparkled to the heavens, and twirled as madly as I am in love.    

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new discoveries every day🌺thanks for the pic, @davidetters 😘 #streetart #streetstyle (at Saint-Roch)

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Academy Awards Fashion Favorites

When I picture The Academy Awards Red Carpet, I see drama.  Drama via volume, texture, structure, fit, color, sparkle, and maybe just a touch of magic.  I want all of the drama, art, emotion, and surprise from the silver screen rolled up into a dress- that’s not too much to ask, is it?  There have been many beautiful dresses and beautiful women who wore them to walk the red carpet, but these are my all time favorites that took full advantage of this perfect stage and delivered an unforgettable fashion moment that still replays in my mind.  Here are my top 10 in chronological order (not ranking order, because please don’t make me choose!)     

1. Marilyn Monroe: 1951, 20th Century Fox wardrobe department

2. Audrey Hepburn: 1959, GIvenchy Haute Couture 

3. Reese Witherspoon: 2006, in vintage 1955 Dior 

4. Penelope Cruz: 2007, Versace

5. Sarah Jessica Parker: 2009, Dior 

6. Zoe Saldana: 2010, GIvenchy

7. Cate Blanchett: 2011, Givenchy 

8. Salma Hayek: 2013, Alexander McQueen

9. Lupita Nyong’o, 2015 Calvin Klein Collection

10. Janelle Monae: 2017, Elie Saab

2018: ?!?

Here’s hoping for a dress to walk out of a dream and onto the red carpet tonight!  

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An Ode to Elsa Schiaparelli

Happy Birthday to the beautiful genius that is Elsa Schiaparelli, the designer who inspired my blogging alter-ego, Girl On Wire: 

“Fashion is always on a tightrope of bad taste.” -Elsa Schiaparelli

Thank you for being fearless in your designs, for turning fashion upside down (like when you literally made a shoe into a hat), for putting the art of Salvador Dalí into my favorite medium, and for rivaling Coco Chanel and everything that was dominant in fashion at the time.

I was thrilled to see the latest imaginative, surreal designs that came from Bertrand Guyon in the Fall 2016 Schiaparelli couture collection with obvious connections to the archives.  The legacy lives on.   

“In difficult times, fashion is always outrageous.” -Elsa Schiaparelli

Left: A model wearing a design from Elsa Schiaparelli’s 1938 Circus Collection.  Right: Model Saadi Schimmel walking the Fall 2016 Couture Schiaparelli runway, photo courtesy of Yannis Vlamos

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Weekend vibes 😎 I love this park. #topiary #ootd #whatiwore #styleblogger #fashionblogger #zara #topshop #asos

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Girl On Wire Styles The Blonde Salad by girl-on-wire featuring Prada

Miu Miu yellow sweater, $295 / Prada skirt, $1,490 / Chiara Ferragni slip on shoes, $295 / Vivienne Westwood handbags purse, $770 / Dolce&Gabbana clip on earrings, $1,200 / Miu Miu accessory, $265 / Christian Lacroix scarve / P A R O S H wide belt, $91

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But sometimes, more is more 😜 Piling on colors, prints, textures, and accessories is always fun. Thank you @toolegittoquilt for this amazing skull patch vest!! Photos by @deadbanana #fashionblogger #styleblogger #614artists #maximalism #asosdress #asseenonme

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Sometimes less is more...Playing around with some minimalism with the creative brilliance of @deadbanana #styeblogger #fashionblogger #photography #minimalism #minimalist

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Down the Rabbit Hole

Top photo by Eva Boros, Bottom photo by Jacob Pierron 

I have always been drawn toward whimsical themes in my personal style.  I am a teacher of tiny humans after all, which allows me to continue to play and imagine and see magic in things as an adult, and vicariously through the eyes of a child, on a daily basis.  As summer approaches, the desire to add bows, patterns, and glitter to my outfits grows, along with the urge to go running barefoot in the grass or make wishes on dandelion seeds blown into the wind (sorry for all the weeds).

Black and white film photography by Jacob Pierron

A friend recently asked me if I ever get style inspiration from my students and it really got me thinking.  Models, bloggers, and street style stars of all arenas have been blowing up the internet and magazines with fashionable sneakers for quite awhile, but it occurred to me that it wasn’t until I saw a first grader proudly rocking her new pair of high top Adidas that I just had to get on board.  There is something about a small child’s fashion choices that inspires me because they have such fewer choices in life to make for themselves.  As they are fighting to become autonomous individuals, this is one of the first choices they can make to explore and discover who they can be.  I will never forget a smart, spunky little two year old girl who insisted upon wearing tutus every single day and had quite the knack for mixing prints (her parents assured me that she did this all on her own, as she would have it no other way).  She also had a great pair of sparkly, pastel shoes that I once complimented, to which she replied, “They’re Tiny Tom’s!  You should get a pair!”  A definitive personal style and a budding fashion correspondent at the age of two?  I was impressed.

“Your jewelry is weird,” a student tells me with a smile when I’m wearing tiny, antique-looking spoons hanging from my ears. I smile back, knowing that the style inspiration is mutual.  “You look like Cinderella” another student gushes to me when I’m wearing my hair up in a top knot with a choker (who knew Cinderella started those trends?!)  Fairy tales and other classics of children’s literature have captivated children- and adults- for many generations and will continue to provoke new fashion interpretations again and again.  A favorite of the fashion world, and probably the most whimsical of them all, is Alice in Wonderland. There is curiosity, humor, love, fear, and a good dose of madness that makes it a perfect depiction of human nature to which we can all relate.

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.  Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.” -Dr. Suess

Photo by Mert Alas & Marcus Pigott for Vogue, December 2015

Photo by Annie Leibovitz for Vogue, December 2009

Photo by Jacob Pierron

Fairy tales are by definition filled with elements of fantasy and happily-ever-afters but they also have some pretty terrifying (and real) elements too- ones that are often down played in todays versions for children.  However, in recent years, film, theatre, and fashion have revisited these stories for a more adult audience and have highlighted, rather than hidden, the scary parts.  There is a lot of beauty to be found in the darker side of fairy tales that goes far beyond royalty and beautiful gowns.  The blurring of the lines between good and evil is what makes retelling these stories worthwhile… finding the flaws within the perfect and the beauty within the beast.

Photo by Marcus Tondo, Alexander McQueen Fall 2014 

Photo by Steven Klein, Alexander McQueen F/W 2014 Ad Campaign 

I will leave it to Lee Alexander McQueen to perfectly sum up the hidden depth in this inspiration from children and fascination with children’s stories: 

“Life to me is a bit of a Grimm fairy tale.”   -Lee Alexander McQueen

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Ooh Baby, It’s a Wild World

“I’m not a model.  I have no idea what I’m doing.  I HATE having my picture taken.  I am so awkward.”  I must have said this a thousand times before conceding to the fact that if I really wanted to write about and share my style and point of view, I was going to need some fresh material to work with.  So I reluctantly worked up the nerve to ask a good friend and talented photographer, Jake, if he would take some pictures of me (followed by “I’m not a model.  I have no idea what I’m doing…” other self deprecating things, blah blah blah).  The first photo shoot with Jake happened completely spur of the moment. It was Saturday afternoon, and I was getting dressed for a hip-hop show to see Evolution of Mind perform later that night.  I was just swiping some purple gloss across my lips as I saw my phone light up out of the corner of my eye.  It was nearing sun down.  The lighting was perfect.  It was Jake.  “What are you doing?”  Within fifteen minutes I found myself in an unfamiliar empty back alley parking lot with vivid, colorful graffiti- literally matching the setting I had imagined for my outfit as I had described it to Jake to a tee.

Photo by Jacob Pierron, Instagram @yaboypierron 

After looking at the first couple of completed shots, my natural instinct was to find a million things to critique about myself and what I should have done differently to make the shot better.  I might not be a model myself, but when you’re a fashion junky and have devoured the amount of Vogue editorials as I have, you know what it should look like.  I was totally Tyra Banks-ing myself a la America’s Next Top Model when I reminded myself:  “I'm not a model and I’m not trying to be.  That’s not the point!”  When I looked closer (or maybe less closely?)  I saw the point right in front of me: without doing any modeling at all, my face was somehow telling the story right along with my styling. When Jake picked me up, my hair was pulled tightly into a bun, locked up and hidden in a golden cage.  I was wearing my new favorite oversized t-shirt with the lyrics from a Cat Stevens song written down the back: “IT’S A WILD WORLD.” 

Photo by Jacob Pierron, Instagram @yaboypierron

It is a wild world.  And I was a girl ready to face it in my guarded, carefully calculated, hard exterior.  Lightning storm on my leggings, jungle cat on my heels, and the Eiffel Tower hanging proudly from my ears.  Later, Jake suggested I try wearing my hair down for some shots.  My first instinct told me taking down my wet, naturally wavy (read: frizzy) hair with no product in it to get blown around in the wind was a terrible idea…but I was already so far out of my comfort zone, what difference did it really make?  Why not?  And why not shed the t-shirt while I’m at it?   So I did just that, revealing my lace button up, a little more skin, and a much more vulnerable girl.  Both girls are me.  Both are truths.  And fashion allows me to express that in ways I didn’t even realize.  

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I’m So Reckless When I Rock My Givenchy Dress...

Film still from Funny Face, 1957.  Audrey Hepburn in Givenchy.

Long before Beyonce was slaying in Givenchy like the nude latex creation this week at the Met Gala, there was another muse of Hubert de Givenchy himself who was every bit as fierce…and though I imagine her to be much too polite to say it, she wouldn’t have been out of line to say in the words of Beyonce: “Bow down, bitches.”

Happy Birthday, Audrey!

I recently watched How to Steal a Million (1966) and I was captivated by Audrey’s eyes covered in silver glitter, dramatic lashes and liner, and this Givenchy face mask.  I wondered, how on Earth does one pull off a look like this? Shortly thereafter, Zoe Kravitz solved that puzzle for me in this daring and spectacular Valentino look at the Met Gala.  This is just one little example of how Audrey’s style icon status continues to be every bit as relevant today as it was when she first hit the silver screen in 1953...or in the case of my memory, around 1995...

I will never forget the first time I saw her. 

I was a little girl and my mother took me to a beautiful old theatre in Columbus, Ohio called the Palace Theatre. The theatre was featuring classic films, and we went to see Audrey Hepburn’s debut, Oscar-winning performance playing a princess in Roman Holiday.  I instantly became enamored, just like audiences did in 1953. I loved the style and the romance of the film of course, but I think even more than that, I connected with her vitality and best of all, hilarious stubbornness.  You can see these traits in her again and again, both on-screen and off.  Although our styles are vastly different on most days, I like to think we have that in common- along with the obvious obsession with clothes:

“I love clothes to where it is practically a vice,” she once said.

How about this for a (stubborn) vice:  I once stripped down to my undies on an airplane when I was three years old because I didn’t like the lace trim on my black leggings with the tiny white polka dots.  I remember them vividly.  Apparently even back then I had a personal style- and it was not to be fucked with.

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I want to empower women.  I want people to be afraid of the women I dress

Lee Alexander McQueen

While looking back at Alexander McQueen’s awe-inspiring designs I might not always get him...but somehow, he always seems to get me.  Even the most perplexing of his designs move me and there is an infinite connection that I will forever be drawn to in his work.  

Alexander McQueen Fall 2006, Photo by Marcio Madeira, Courtesy of Vogue Runway

While I will always wonder what might have come next in his revolution if he were still alive, each season since taking over the house, Sarah Burton has continued to impress me and make me breathe a sigh of relief to see his legacy is being continued in beautiful, innovative, and even awe-inspiring ways. 

Alexander McQueen, Fall 2016, Photo by Kim WestonArnold, Courtesy of Vogue Runway

A combination of fantasy and ferocity. A dichotomy of elegance and destruction.  Life, death, beauty and pain.  That is powerful...and yes, Lee, a little bit terrifying. 

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Who is Girl On Wire?

Photo by Jacob Pierron, Instagram: @yaboypierron

An Open Love Letter to Fashion

When I’m not lusting after haute couture in books, films, magazines, and dreams, I’m living fashion in my own little way, one little footprint at a time.  I like to tell a story when I am putting pieces together. Whether they are outfits, photographs, books, dishes, furniture, or anything else you can imagine- when you add style, they have something to say.

“You gotta have style.  It helps you get down the stairs. It helps you get up in the morning.  It’s a way of life.”  -Diana Vreeland

Photo by Louise Dahl-Wolfe of the lovely Diana Vreeland

What I love about fashion is that there are infinite stories to be told…one piece can live in a closet for years, getting reimagined into a new chapter each time it is worn. Forty years later, a granddaughter can discover that very same piece in the closet, and provide it with a whole new canvas on which to display her story, told from her unique point of view.  While vintage fashion is a rich source for inspiration, there is also the constant influx of new creation. From designers to street style and vice versa, fashion is evolving at a speed that may seem reckless for a tightrope walker.  But maybe that’s the trick: if you slow down and think too much, you might lose your balance and fall.  Either way, good or bad, fashion is always new- even when it’s old- and that, to me, is simply exhilarating.

Love,

Courtney, Girl On Wire

Photo by Jacob Pierron, Instagram: @yaboypierron