If the dress fits

At some point, I am going to need to go through all of my clothes and ditch the old stuff in preparation for my move. But today isn’t that day.

It is, however, the day that I happened across the dress that I wore for my high school graduation way back in 1992.

So I did what any 37-year-old woman would do 19 years after graduation – I tried on the dress. And it fit.

I have several dresses from high school and my 20s that I’ve saved. It may seem strange to have kept them – knowing full-well I’ll never wear them again – but I just know how upset I am that my mum gets rid of her awesome clothes from the 60s and 70s. The few pieces that she kept I’ve managed to borrow on occasion (and I’ve been given a couple, too) but there are some dresses I’ve seen in old photos that I’m so distraught over not being able to steal borrow.

This brings me to why I’ve saved my “best” dresses from the past: So that I can one day pass them on to my daughter. Of course, as a childless widow, the chances of that happening are now slimmer than ever before. So instead, I hope to one day pass them on to my nieces. Only, I don’t know that they’ll want them.

Oh, what a dilemma!

But, all of that said, since the dresses seem to fit – and since the 90s seem to be coming back in style – maybe I should start wearing them again?

No, wait. I think I remember some rule that goes something like: “If you wore it when it was fashionable the first time around, you’re not allowed to wear it when it becomes retro-awesome.”

Oh well. Anyone want some awesome dresses from the 1990s for their daughters? …

5 Replies to “If the dress fits”

  1. Great dress!! Needs loud shoes though. Or maybe that’s just me – I like loud shoes with loud patterns 😉 Lucky you that you’re still the same size you were in High School. I wish!!

    1. I’m not really a shoe person but it seems to me that I wore white shoes with this dress because all the girls wore white shoes with their cap and gown and I wore this dress under my gown. (maybe?)
      I’m sort of the same size–I don’t think that I could wear my jeans from that time. I was a hard-core runner in my teens and early-20s but have since lost the leg and butt toning that comes with the sport. I’m back into running now, but will never have those legs again! (Thankfully, skirts and dresses are more friendly over the years!)

  2. I say keep them. I know it seems impossible now, but you can still fall in love again and I believe you will. I don’t think Paul would want you to be a lonely widow for the rest of your life. But even if you never find another prince charming, and never have a child to pass them on to, in time, they will be worth more and might allow you to go on a nice trip to parts yet unexplored when you retire.

    1. Thanks, Sharon! Part of my wants to keep them because I have the packrat gene; but at the same time I am not emotionally attached to them so it won’t be hard to part with them. Plus that, I don’t think that the money I’d get for selling them years from now would make up for the cost to ship them to Scotland or for storage. It’s funny, I’m more than happy to part with these dresses from my heyday, but I am willing to store—or pay to ship—my dishes and most of my reference books.
      As for finding a new love—maybe; maybe not. I’m not really interested in looking at this point in my life, and with my advancing age (and inability to have children) I don’t think saving things for a future daughter is in the realm of reality. Though I admit that if I were to meet someone, fall in love, and get married all over again, I’d certainly hope to adopt a brat or two. And I know that Paul would be happy for me to do so.

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