Babydoll Dress

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Free People does not actually call this dress, “babydoll,” however the shape that this is could not be anything else, in my humble little gnome opinion.

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I was on the fence about keeping this dress, because I had also gotten the dress in this post and I try, oh how I try, not to be a glutton. But I kept taking it out of the return box and caressing it until finally it felt weird to send back a dress that I had touched so many times. I’m not that kind of girl.

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Speaking of baby dolls, I have to admit to being terrified of them (ahem, gnomes being completely different). When I was a child of eight years old, I had a Cabbage Patch Doll I named Mary. I had begged Santa for a Cabbage Patch Doll that year, the ones I had seen on t.v…. With hair. And clothes… And chubby cuteness.

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I was rather surprised when I opened up Mary on Christmas day to find a withered up little thing staring at me from the box. She was a premie Cabbage Patch Kid. She was ugly. She was scary. However, she was the only one that I had and so I loved her. I played with her for years, but always in the back of my mind, was sorrow over not having a “real” Cabbage Patch Kid. Always she was not perfect. Regret swallowed her strange little head.

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I do not know what happened to Mary. Perhaps this is for the best. Otherwise I would have felt obligated to give her to my own daughter and the generational Mary duty would have continued. In fact, my daughter had no interest in baby dolls. It was not a fad while she was growing up. She did have every single Kelly doll ever made (thanks to an aunt who loved Barbie) which I regret donating many years ago.

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There was one doll I purchased for my daughter… It was a cute little baby. A sweet face… Whose body was made from some sort of water vessel. This meant she weighed one trillion pounds. She was dressed in… Wait for this. It is a doozy. She was dressed in an Eeyore suit from Winnie The Pooh and even had the hoodie with donkey ears attached. I do not know what I must have been thinking the day I purchased that doll.

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She played with it for a bit… And then it disappeared. I know. It could be anywhere. I am worried I will open up her closet one day to find the Eeyore baby staring at me from the depths of the closet. Its water body having slowly oozed out of the Eeyore suit to form a wretched smell. A gooey film clinging to its body as it stares at me accusingly.

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Aaaaaahhhh!

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How do I always manage to get so off track?

Do you own any babydoll dresses? Or baby dolls? Or warped Eeyore water babies languishing in your closet plotting your doom? I am hoping I can only answer “yes” to one of those questions.

Free People New Romantics Rio Dress

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This is my second attempt at styling Free People’s New Romantics Rio Dress in the other color I purchased it in (the first dress can be found styled here). I love both of the dresses I purchased.

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At first I liked the cream one better but I think now the black one has my heart.

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I styled both of the dresses with Free People’s Trapeze Slip underneath. I like the extra coverage it provided and the color went great with both of them.

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This dress is so much fun.

I cannot wait to wear it with tights and boots in the wintertime. I think I will like it even more then.

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I paired the black dress with World Market’s friendship bracelets. I loved the dress’s embroidery paired with the textured color of the bracelets.

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What’s a girl to do when she finds the perfect dress?

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Twirl, baby. Twirl.

What is your perfect dress? Do you look for things with embroidery or are you more drawn to the clean and structured?

My heart like my mind is drawn to the unstructured. Probably because that is the way they are formed.

*this post was edited using the App Afterlife’s Meadow Filter at 57%.

I Rio-lly Love This Dress

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Every morning I would wake up obsessed. I really, really wanted the Free People New Romantics Rio Dress to hit sale (it finally has, but it is cheaper in-store). Did I say really? I had tried it on way back in March when we were in Las Vegas and it was the item I had dreamt about buying if only I had won some money gambling. But, alas, that did not happen. And the dress was much too expensive for me to justify its singular purchase. I thought about that dress for months. It was the only dress that had ever come close to my beloved Kantha Dresses from Anthropologie. And every day I would check the Free People website to see if it had gone on sale.

It hadn’t.

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One day I decided to reread the reviews. Might as well read about someone else enjoying the lovely dress, I thought.

I read a review I had not seen before. It had been published a month earlier. It spoke of being so happy to be able to purchase the dress on sale. Wha-a-a?!

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And that is when I remembered that the clothes on Free People’s website do not often match prices with the items in the store. I decided to call the store that had both colors available because I am greedy and wanted them both.

A store had them.

They were around 60% off but then I got free shipping and no tax! Score!

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I styled the cream dress with my Pam Hiran Necklace from Anthropologie and two of World Market’s beaded bracelets.

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The rest of the day was spent in a blur. Now what was I going to do with my mornings now that I had finally acquired the dress?

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Well, I will be spending some time just admiring the beautiful embroidery.

It makes me happy.

Do you sit and stare at items in your closet? Do you like the thrill of the hunt for the perfect dress or finally getting to wear it the best?

*The black version of this dress will run on Sunday. This post was edited using the App Afterlife’s Forrest Filter at 37%.

Bohemian Black Lace

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I never quite understood the allure of a little black dress until I bought this one.

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What is it about wearing black that makes one feel different?

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I hardly ever wear black, because I like a lot of color in my wardrobe.

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I am thinking that was a poor decision.

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Because what was preventing me from just adding a pop of color? I received this beaded necklace for my birthday. I love it paired with the black lace.

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This Free People Lorettas Dress was a steal with my birthday discount combined with the sale price. Unfortunately, I snagged the last one (see title of post). I think this one is very similar.

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I forgot my gnome, so I made one with some rocks and twigs.

But who’s looking at the gnome?

Because, those shoes?!

They were the best sale popback I have ever scored at Anthropologie (they were more than 75% off). They are Chie Mihara’s Corridor Booties. I am in love.

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My husband said to me, “Um, I think that dress is see-through.”

To which I smiled. Because, yes, it is see-through, but it came with a beige slip underneath that you cannot really see because it kind of matches my skin tone.

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I didn’t tell him that, though. Gotta keep him on his toes.

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He eventually figured it out. Just like I have now figured out I need more black clothes in my wardrobe.

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Do you own a lot of black clothing? Do you have a little black dress?

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Because I loved the feeling this dress gave me, I now own five.

P.S. * I shared this on The Pleated Poppy!