Victor Costa SATC2 dress

Victor Costa SATC2 dress, originally uploaded by retrogemkitty7.

Yes, I did it. After a year of searching eBay & Google, I've tracked down the Victor Costa dress that Charlotte wears in the second SATC movie, & I've managed to do it at a price that fits my recessionista budget.

I don't usually buy clothes I've seen in films or on celebrities. Most "it" items have little or no appeal to me & I think many celebs should have their stylists publicly flogged. There are some famous ladies whose closets I'd happily raid, including Debi Mazar, Lulu Guinness, Diane von Furstenberg, Dita von Teese, & Sarah Jessica Parker, but I don't want to be a carbon copy of anyone. I can't think of any present-day films whose wardrobe departments I'd like to ransack, unless we go back a few years to "The Devil Wears Prada." Most contemporary flicks simply do a brilliant job of illustrating why I dress retro.

This dress, however, is not just any movie dress. It's pouffy, it's strapless, & it's by Victor Costa, my go-to label for vintage special occasion frocks. When I saw Kristin Davis wearing this dress in an SATC2 promo pic, I gasped. I knew who it had been designed by & set out to find it.

Needless to say, once the film came out, eBay sellers & other vintage clothing dealers saw an opportunity to make big money on this dress. I saw several examples of it online & for a while, the going price was well over $200. I do a bit of eBay & Etsy selling myself, so I can't say I wouldn't do exactly what those other sellers did, but I also couldn't shell out that kind of change for a semi-formal summer dress. Even we don't get gussied up as often in the warmer months as we do in the winter. So, I kept searching.

Finally, about a month ago, this popped up on eBay & the seller apparently didn't know it's a "movie dress." I got it for $22 + a few bucks for alterations (it was too big in the bodice.) I wore it to the symphony last night & got tons of compliments, both from friends & complete strangers.

A very late-to-the-party note on SATC2: I enjoyed it. I went with DC-area girlfriends, did some shopping after, & treated myself to the most enormous falafel sandwich in history before driving home (yum!) The movie is incredibly silly, but a feast for the eyes. I do wish more of it had taken place in NY, but it's good fun. I never watched the TV show until it was in syndication - J & I watch almost no TV - but I love the episodes I've seen. Apparently there's an SATC prequel in the works, using younger actresses to play the girls earlier in their NY lives, & I am less than excited about the prospect. The four actresses who starred in the show & the first two films embodied their characters so beautifully that I can't imagine anyone else doing them justice. Maybe I'm just old & crotchety, or maybe the later "Star Wars" movies (I saw the first two in that series & stayed away from the third like the plague) have put me off prequels for good. I think I'll stick to catching the occasional episode of the show, perhaps seeing the films again if they pop up on TV when I'm not busy, & wearing this amazing dress whenever the right event comes along.

Betsey Johnson dress, Michael Antonio shoes, Chanel bag

Betsey Johnson dress, Michael Antonio shoes, Chanel bag, originally uploaded by retrogemkitty7.

Hey, look, I have a bouquet growing out of my head. Actually, I'm standing in the lobby of the Belvedere Hotel, home of The Owl Bar, one of our favorite local watering holes. It's a gorgeous old room with a storied past - apparently, during Prohibition, the Owl was a notorious speakeasy. If the owl statue's eyes were blinking, patrons could imbibe without fear of getting busted. If the owl was staring straight ahead, that meant the feds weren't far away & a "wise old owl" would "say less & hear more", to paraphrase the bar's slogan from those days. Presumably, he or she would also need to get rid of the liquid "evidence" in a hurry. If the Owl's bartenders were as generous then as they are now, the resulting speed-tippling must have led to some interesting nights, not to mention mornings after!

I've been a Betsey Johnson fan since the 80's; found this dress at Loehmann's several years ago. I still peruse her stuff online & in stores, although not all of it fits my style (or, alas, my budget) at this point. Have Betsey's designs gotten younger, or am I just reluctantly admitting to getting older? I still wear lots of strapless dresses, pouffy skirts, & the occasional ruffle, but I don't always feel comfortable combining all of those things in one item or outfit, especially if there's a micro-mini or pastel color involved. There's a fine line between "still looks good enough to wear that" & the dreaded MDAL, or "mutton dressed as lamb."

Recently, I blasted a famous fashion house (okay, Prada) on a certain Very Popular Social Networking Site for releasing a scent that not only smells like candy, it's actually named after it. I know many people love sweet fragrances, but do we really need another foodie/gourmand spritz in the world? Prada's previous perfumes have been plenty sweet IMO, so much that they turn into hideous, sticky monsters on my skin. A true shame, as I am a fan of many of Prada's clothing & accessory designs & would love to express my admiration for the brand in a way I can actually afford, maybe without even snagging it on eBay. I can't even imagine what "Candy" would smell like on me. Perhaps a cake that's been left in a Baltimore trash can for about a week, in late July? *shudders*

My remarks provoked a most unexpected reaction: I got trolled. Really. I would have been fine with someone saying my ideas about fragrance are silly & old-school - that happens all the time, yawn - but some bozo took it upon himself to click on my profile pic & attack my fashion sense as... MDAL. Them's fightin' words, dude, but I didn't diss his wardrobe in retaliation, even though that would have been ridiculously easy. Who wears "muscle" shirts in 2011...? I refrained from commenting & simply blocked him, which apparently means we can't see each others' posts, etc. from now on. That's more than fine with me. What makes the incident even weirder is that this guy apparently thought the perfume sounded icky, too; he just needed to pick on a complete stranger (preferably a female?) online. Nice.

I see all sorts of similar negativity on the 'net, of course. Some people seem to truly believe inane slogans like "it's the internet, wear a helmet." Of course, they're the same ones to post all-caps rants or leave discussion boards in a huff the moment anyone dares question the veracity or wisdom of something they've posted. To me, a bully is a bully, online or IRL. If you can't treat others, including those who disagree with you, in a respectful manner, please step away from the keyboard, and don't expect the mods of any site to give you carte blanche to violate their TOS, no matter how frequently you've posted there. I love the internet, but it has a very ugly side, one that reflects & quite possibly even contributes to the decline in IRL civility.

Whew. Rant over. Now I'm off to put on whatever I damn well feel like wearing. Haters gonna hate. Have a great Saturday, all.

This kind of sums up the past week.

This kind of sums up the past week. , originally uploaded by retrogemkitty7.

Along with J's job-hunting stress, financial worries,& summer cold issues (I've been fighting the nastiest warm-weather bug I can recall for over 3 weeks, & I think it's finally gone - whew) we had to deal with this mess when we got home on Thursday afternoon.

J & I are faithful recyclers. Every Thursday morning, he takes bags &/or boxes of recyclable items out to the alley behind our house & leaves them for pickup. It seems the workers responsible for carting away our recycling were in a bit of a rush this week, so when they spilled a good bit of what we'd set out, it was too much trouble to pick it up, & they left a huge mess for us to deal with. Grr. I've emailed our city council rep, who is fabulous, as well as the head of public works. I am doing my best not to be one of those Baltimore residents who bashes local government or says "What can you expect? It's the city..." every time something unpleasant affects them. This sort of thing happens everywhere; it's just very annoying when it happens to you.

There have been many negative stories about Baltimore in the news lately. Okay, there usually are. Crime grabs headlines. "If it bleeds, it leads." Don't get me started on the kinds of comments that crime-in-Baltimore stories generate online. I have to keep my reading of such nonsense to a minimum or I risk damage to my health, my computer, or both.

I'm not saying the media shouldn't keep the public informed, nor am I insensitive to the very real damage that crime does to our city & many others. Having been the victim of a violent crime myself, I know all too well how hard it is to recover, emotionally, after such an incident, & I was lucky enough not to be physically harmed. I can't imagine how horrible it must be to lose a loved one to street violence. Still, city-bashing really gets on my nerves, especially when it comes from people who have never lived here or think that Baltimore's problems (mainly crime & poverty) mean that when visiting, one can act like the trash that litters far too many of our public places. I've actually overheard suburbanites saying it's okay to get drunk & vomit all over Fell's Point, Federal Hill, etc. because "like, it's the city & like, no one CARES about the city." Uh, except those of us who call Baltimore home. Not all visitors are like this, of course, & we're glad to show our hometown off to anyone who wants to visit, provided that they treat the city with the same respect they would their own town or suburb. If you're going to come into town & act like a yahoo - destroying people's property, using the street as your bathroom, or just catcalling & making disgusting remarks to women, please stay home. J & I are skipping Artscape this weekend because we just don't want to deal with the drunken idiots who've made the event so unpleasant the past several years. Honfest seems to attract a more civil crowd, perhaps because it's a smaller event.

I used to trash-talk the suburbs on a regular basis, but as I've gotten older, I've come to see that they offer a lifestyle that suits many people. Much as J & I love it, city life isn't for everyone. We wish there were easy solutions to Baltimore's ills, but there aren't. We just do our best to stay safe & keep our little corner of the city clean.

Barbara Feinman hat, vintage maxi dress & bag, Lulu Guinness espies

Barbara Feinman hat, vintage maxi dress & bag, Lulu Guinness espies, originally uploaded by retrogemkitty7.

There aren't a lot of holes in my wardrobe at this point, but I am a bit short on casual summer dresses. As I've mentioned before, I'm not a big fan of shorts. Most of the ones marketed to women fall into one of two categories: "Daisy Dukes" (barely enough fabric to cover the essentials - not a good look IMO even if you are 18 & a size 0, & I am neither) or "For When You've Given Up" (pleated, baggy, pouffy, & generally resembling khaki garbage bags.) Even when I see a reasonably stylish pair of Bermudas, I tend to shy away because the damn things never fit my body (just as longer pants usually don't) so I stay in my skirt-&-dress comfort zone. My office is pretty casual, but the clothes I wear to work still seem too businesslike for running errands & heading to the flea market in 90-degree heat, so I've been on the hunt for casual options that are a bit boho but don't scream "granola".

Enter this fabulous eBay find from a few weeks ago. I adore maxi dresses, but am so short that many of them overwhelm me or end up creating puddles of fabric on the floor. I also love "peasant" styles, especially anything that makes me feel like I should be singing Carmen when I wear it. This dress fits both bills & is incredibly comfortable as well.

Photo: Souris River Rising in North Dakota Forcing As Many as 10,000 to Evacuate | Denver Post Media Center — Denver, Colorado, Photos and Video

Photo: Souris River Rising in North Dakota Forcing As Many as 10,000 to Evacuate | Denver Post Media Center — Denver, Colorado, Photos and Video

Talk about a flood of emotions. Imagine the city or town you grew up in - the club your dad has golfed at for decades (& where you swam every summer as a kid,) the gas station your parents always filled their cars up at, the house you used to live in, etc. Now imagine that they're all under water, or likely to be.

I left Minot, North Dakota at age 19 because I wanted a life that I didn't feel was available there. After my graduation from the University of Iowa (& a year of frantic job-hunting) I landed in Baltimore, Maryland, a city I've proudly called home for nearly 18 years. My husband, J, & I never want to leave this area unless we're moving to an even larger city, perhaps one with palm trees, or maybe Europe. Still, that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt like hell to see pictures of familiar places being destroyed. My parents' "new" house (the one they've lived in since I was 15, LOL) is on a hill, so they've been watching their sump pump closely, but will likely be spared. Some of my childhood friends still live in Minot, or have loved ones who do, & may face the loss of their homes, businesses, or both. One of my old boyfriends probably won't lose his home, but has been bailing out his basement for weeks (sometimes with the help of another of my old boyfriends... hey, it's a small town.)

Minot doesn't make the national news very often, & when it does, it's usually because of extreme weather. Then again, when Baltimore makes headlines, they tend to be crime-related. Ouch. There's more to both places than that, but you know the old saying about the news media - "If it bleeds, (or in this case, floods) it leads." I've been reading tons of online news stories about the flooding, both on local & regional TV stations' websites & from farther-flung sources. My parents were rather surprised to learn that the flooding catastrophe had made the NY Times. Some of the comments posted after the online stories have made me want to reach through the computer screen & shake people. There are those at various points on the political spectrum (ahem) who feel the need to turn everything into a platform for their own views, & much as I tend to agree with those who think global warming may have at least contributed to this crisis, I feel that we can wait to address that later; it's more important now to offer help to those affected, even if we only do so by sending good thoughts. Other posters wonder why we should care about people being turned out of such "ordinary" houses.... maybe because they are people's HOMES? I recall reading similar comments after Hurricane Katrina & feeling sick to my stomach. Same thing this time around, only worse; I have no connection to New Orleans.

One type of comment that I find hard to take in this case is "it's just stuff", directed to those who might lose their residences &/or places of business. Yes, I understand that people who say these things do so with good intentions. I just can't sit here in my nice, dry house, safe & sound, surrounded by my husband, our cats, & all of our belongings, & say such a thing. I'd feel too smug. Amazingly, one of my old friends made a remark along those lines on Facebook & he IS in danger of losing his business to the flood. Maybe he has an inner strength I wasn't given, or perhaps people just deal with adversity differently in order to stay sane.

Of course it's true that loved ones are more important than possessions. J & I have faced a couple of life-threatening situations of our own, namely a serious accident & later an armed carjacking. (I hope we're done with those sorts of drama.) Still, I'm reminded of friends of my first husband's, whose house was gutted by fire while they were on vacation. Not only were they spared injury or death, they are well-to-do & were able to live in their vacation home while their primary residence was being repaired, so they had it far better than many fire victims, to be sure. When they mourned belongings lost in the blaze, we never once heard them mention antiques, art, clothing, or furniture. What hurt them most was that prior to going away, they'd spent an evening looking at old pictures of their wedding, their kids growing up, family holidays. Had they taken time to put them away, the mementos might have been spared, but sitting where they were, every single one of those pictures was devoured by the flames. Sometimes it really does hurt most to lose the "little" things. Hearing their story, I cried a little & gave big thanks to my lucky stars. I'm feeling the same way toward those affected by this awful flooding. Good thoughts are all I can send them right now, but I'll keep 'em coming. Be safe, everyone.

Victor Costa "Commedia dell'arte" dress

Victor Costa "Commedia dell'arte" dress, originally uploaded by retrogemkitty7.

Up, up & away... when I first found this vintage Victor Costa dress in a local thrift store, I called it the "Hot Air Balloon" dress because it has such pouffy sleeves. I also had a slight fear that it might make me look like said aircraft, but was so in love with the thing that I bought it anyway. Victor Costa dresses are beautifully constructed & with the exception of a long velvet gown that had to be chopped off at the bottom due to my short stature, I've never had to alter one. No wonder VC has been my go-to brand for special occasion dresses for years.

I recently wore this to opening night (er, day) of a play that my husband is in. The theater has a large Orthodox Jewish clientele, so all their shows are staged according to that culture's standards of modesty, which means that J has had to learn a few "new" (to him) rules of conduct during the rehearsal & performance process. One that's been rather difficult for him: no touching between unmarried (or otherwise very closely related) men & women. J & I are both huggers from way back, as are most secular theater people, but even innocently embracing a female co-star would be extremely inappropriate in this context, so he's contented himself with verbal congratulations. When in Rome, right? The show is great - brilliant script & wonderful cast - & has been a learning experience for both of us. I wore this dress to the show partly because I love it, but also due to a desire to be at least somewhat respectful of my environment. I have plenty of chances to wear sleeveless, spaghetti strap, & strapless things; didn't feel the need to stick a lot of skin (& some ink) in people's faces that day.

Which got me thinking, because I usually bristle at words like "modesty", so I went online & began researching Orthodox Judaism. I found a lot of very interesting information about the faith & its practices, especially on www.jewinthecity.com., a site created by Allison Josephs, who began to take an interest in Orthodox Judaism as a teenager. Ms. Josephs is a very talented & persuasive writer, & the videos on her site are hilarious. I can't say I agree with everything I read on her site, but I have issues with almost every faith due to my personal beliefs (childfree by choice, staunchly pro-gay rights... you get the idea.) That said, I have tremendous respect for the strength of her convictions & her willingness to live by them, even when it's not easy. Oh, & by the way, Orthodox Judaism has high standards of modesty for men as well as for women, both in dress & behavior. To me, that makes it quite different from certain other cultures (hello, mainstream America) in which women, or even very young girls, are expected to show lots of skin, but demonized if they actually express their physical desires, yet men can do as they please.

DIY Rhinestone Clamper Bracelet

DIY Rhinestone Clamper Bracelet , originally uploaded by retrogemkitty7.

On a recent trip to NYC, I went out for a run & spotted some fabulous KJL cuff bracelets in the window of a vintage store. Unfortunately, such pieces coast around $300, even on eBay (yes, I checked.) With J still between jobs, such an expenditure is not an option.

A couple of days after I got home, J & I needed to make a "mall run" & I decided to see if any of the stores had similar cuffs in stock, or perhaps something I could customize. I found a plain, hinged black plastic cuff bracelet on sale for $7 at NY & Co. Then I checked a few vintage stores for a broken pin or brooch that I could use as an ornament (I generally dislike altering old jewelry if it still "works") but found nothing suitable. I went through my jewelry armoire at home & came across a gorgeous old rhinestone brooch that I hadn't worn in ages because its pin back was glued on at the wrong angle, which made it impossible to get the piece to hang right on a jacket or dress. I pried the pin back off, got out the super glue, & went to work. I'm pretty pleased with the results.