Do you ever just see something and know immediately that it has to be a part of whatever you are collecting? For me, that was this cat dress from the fall 2016 Dolce & Gabbana collection.
I had never before bought anything from Dolce & Gabbana. I had actually never even been interested in their line. Their designs are usually floral and lace, and often too feminine even for me. Not to mention the fact that the style doesn’t fit into any sort of Nordic norm of clothing – until recent years, the Nordic wardrobe was void of most loud and multi-colored patterns.
So maybe my change of mind was due to the fact that I had been in Brazil for a year, where women express their femininity in every glorious way possible. Maybe it was due to the fact that I was feeling free to get back to my youthful and whimsical fashion choices. Or maybe I was just missing the cat that we had to leave behind when we left Denmark for Brazil in 2015.
Whatever it was, I was led to buy this dress!
From an Obsession to a Decision
I placed the online order, having no idea what size I was in Dolce & Gabbana ready-to-wear clothes – another thing I typically never do when the price is that high and the shipping is more than 3,000 miles. The one Dolce & Gabbana shop in our city in Brazil did not carry the dress, so I had no way of knowing if this was even going to fit. But for some reason, none of this stopped me.
It is in moments like this that I know I am buying something that will endure. I go to great lengths to get certain pieces. I obsess, fall in love, seek out and eventually acquire them. It is not an impulse purchase, or even something that I consider overnight or over a week.
Months can go by, sometimes even years, like my Georg Jensen neck ring. Sometimes I lose the chance to buy it during the process. But this time was not going to be one of those times.
Where Do You Wear a Cat Dress?
The dress arrived safely, and it fit exactly the way I had hoped it would. My neighbor at the time can attest to this, as I put the cat dress on and ran across the hall to show her the minute it arrived. I have worn it to picnics, Christmas lunches, board dinners, trade shows and Thanksgiving dinners.
My most favorite occasion was my 40th birthday party in Costa Rica, amid scorching heat, in my highest heels and with my family and most favorite friends.
I have even worn the cat dress to a New Year’s Eve party with a red bikini underneath. The latter to ensure I could quickly be ready to jump into the new year by plunging into our friends’ swimming pool at midnight. Jewels and all, our entire family jumped – the only ones among all the guests – at midnight. But that dress looked good on me and on the chaise lounge as we all threw ourselves into 2017!
So already in the first few years, I felt my investment was paying off. And it is still my go-to dress when I just want to feel happy.
The Cat Dress Is Bequeathed and Will Multiply
From day one, my kids loved the dress. Unlike some items in my closet (for example, my Red Lips Jacket), this dress puts a smile on everyone’s face, even our dog, who we know missed the cat as much as we did when we moved. My daughter loves all furry animals, and after five years she has already forgotten what it was like to have a cat. So this dress keeps that memory alive. She knows that the cats on this dress look like our former cat, Misse.
Just a few months ago, in a local fabric store I was lucky enough to find some fabric remnants from another Dolce & Gabbana cat dress, this time from their fall 2017 collection. I grabbed it immediately and am working on a matching dress for my Ottilia. Stay tuned for the upcoming post about how we designed and made it together!
Clothes vs. Fashion – My Lifelong Challenge
I don’t believe that we should go shopping and buy everything we see and think we “need it” to make us happy. We don’t need most of what we buy. There is still a very fine line between the necessity of covering our bodies vs. making a statement through our fashion choices.
I am not ready (and maybe not even able) to be as admirable as those who buy and wear clothes solely to cover their bodies. I think my 10-year-old son is definitely in that camp, and I love watching that unfold in front of me. But I want there to be room for both sides, truly.
I do not encourage consumerism. But because I have a love of self-expression, I am trying to find ways to connect that side of myself with being more conscious about my decisions to buy pieces for my wardrobe.
These days, if I cannot see myself wearing clothing or accessories for their entire life cycle, or if I cannot sit down and write about their meaning to me, such items do not belong in my closet.
For most things we buy, I believe that we should always be asking ourselves why. But I also believe that if we are comfortable with the answer, regardless of what it is, then this is acceptable. It is why I feel my wardrobe is a comfortable wardrobe on so many levels.
what do you think?