Amy Lu's View

I’ve never grown flowers, but I’ve certainly worn them. Or rather, I’ve worn a ton of clothing made from floral prints. 

A grand example of this is my “vintage” dress from high school that I recently wore at online coffee house when I made my triumphant showing as a piano soloist with my performance of my childhood classic, “Nocturne.”

I unearthed this dress a few months ago when Chad and I were clearing out some treasures buried in our upstage storage space. For the most part, I was strong and jettisoned many of the boxes of old clothes from high school and college. But I decided to keep this dress that was in relatively good shape and felt like something I could wear without feeling totally uncomfortable (turns out it was a little itchy).

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As I pondered what to wear for coffeehouse (yes, I do give a relative amount of thought to that) it occurred to me that it could be the perfect opportunity for this recently discovered floral extravaganza. No, I don’t think the time frames quite line up, as I think I was 16ish when I wore that dress, but the theme of nostalgia seemed appropriate. 

I think this was even a “special occasion” dress–IF I remember correctly, I wore it to a sanctioned “school dance.” I think it was my high school’s one and only, and solidly unsuccessful, Sadie Hawkins dance. For me, the highlight of the dance was the pre-dance dinner at Chi-Chi’s with my two platonic frienddates (we were all very clear about that) and my mom, who was chaperoning the dance (not so sure my mom, was clear on said platonicness and thought her daughter was quite the player–#WhyWasn’tThisAJohnHughesMovie?)

Of course, I took some selfies in the dress, and they’ve been some of my most popular posts on Facebook (“popular” being relative). Some friends asked if it was a “Laura Ashley” dress–I’m not sure when I became aware that Laura Ashley was a thing, but I was pretty unaware of brands as a teen (and continue to be, outside of Target brands and Brooks for running stuff). I also think I would have been way too cheap to buy Laura Ashley and would have been rather surly about doing so. I’m still too cheap to spend money on snazzy brands (except Brooks) although now I realize that buying cheap clothes raises a ton of environmental ethical issues. 

(Fun fact: Laura Ashley DOES still exist…or rather has been resurrected? I’m sure y’all can Google into that if interested…)

The label on my dress is “Champagne West” which I haven’t successfully Googled anything interesting about. I don’t remember where I bought it, but I have a dim inkling of a women’s clothing store at the Highland Mall that I liked to frequent that might have been a possibility. (It WAS a special occasion dress so I don’t think I got it from Shop-K-oh).

I even learned that “shooties” are a thing–apparently the type of boot that I’m wearing in my selfies. I discovered this particualr pair at Target pre-pandemic and ended up with three pairs in different colors and I adore them. I even wear them frequently around the house during lockdown because they are comfortable and easy to take on and off and wearing shoes, even with sweatpants or leggings, does make me feel like I’m making a effort. Plus, I hate having cold feet and do not expose my feet to the elements until it’s in the 80’s (so yes, I did briefly break out sandals yesterday and I do love you all, but your talk of and pictures of open-toed shoes in weather that’s less than 70’s makes me shudder).

My post also started a bit of a discussion of being able to fit into clothes from high school. For me, wearing something from high school doesn’t feel that successful since I was on the squishy side back in the day (#DietOfEntireTombstoneFrozenPizzaConsumedInOneSittingAccompanied ByMountainDew). 

But this dress that inspired an entire blog post is only one of the many floral fashions I have owned and do own (I actually made a conscious effort to lay off the flowers at one point because Chad had reached a saturation point. I think he got a little tired of feeling like he was married to an old lady’s couch). 

Perhaps my next blog challenge will be an ode to some or these blossoming beauties…Hmmm. Do I need to finish the Frog and Toad challenge first?