Last week we chatted a bit about maxi dresses. I had a few more entries planned on the same theme, but since the most recent post got essentially no response, I ditched ’em.
I wanted to do a bit on caftans, which can be terrifically glamorous when done correctly.
They’re a bit Advanced Fashion so potentially not for the average user, although I honestly don’t think they’re as tough to pull off as most people think.
Right now I am in love with this caftan from Iman.
Iman is easily my favorite model of the post-couture era –Linda Evangelista is a close second except she is constitutionally incapable of taking a good photo with her mouth shut– and she’s a whip-smart businesswoman to boot. She created one of the first high-quality lines of cosmetics for women of color –Iman Cosmetics launched in 1994, but she was famous for mixing her own compounds and demanding makeup artists use them for her shoots well before that– and, if I wore socks, I am entirely convinced she would rock them off.
The caftan above is positively made for the statuesque big girl with the personality to match.
The print is bold but the vertical design minimizes any added visual bulk, the chiffon overlay has fantastic motion and it’s pretty much everything you want in a caftan when you want to channel Elizabeth Taylor during the Burton years rather than Helen Roper during the Stanley years.
Only one teensy problem…
I’m a very rare commenter, but I LOVED the maxi dress posts. Please do more!
Comment by Victoria — July 25, 2012 @ 11:29 am
Yes I loved the maxi posts and I am in the tall reader camp.
I looked at each and every maxi you posted then sighed a hugh sigh because each and every one was too short for me. I *need* the twiggy London dress but at 53″ it is a big miss as a maxi.
(sigh)
As for the grey Remain dress from Nordies, bought it in black earlier in the season and have loved it. Bought it in grey after your post because it is just that great a dress.
Love the caftan idea and I did check it out but then length just isn’t quite long enough for me.
So please continue your extraordinary fashion posts. As a tall reader with a 10B/41 foot, they are often a god send.
Comment by txbunny — July 25, 2012 @ 12:24 pm
I was particularly interested in the promised maxi dresses for the racktastic post. None of the dresses in the last post really did it for me, but I figured if I hung in there you’d come around to something more to my liking in one of the next ones. Pretty please, with sugar on top?
Comment by SarahDances — July 25, 2012 @ 12:25 pm
I could use this dress to seduce my very handsome gardener. I could swan around my fountain and ask where I left my cocktail.
Can you imagine the dinner convo at the the Iman-Bowie house?
Comment by Lisa from SoCal — July 25, 2012 @ 1:45 pm
I definitely think there should be more maxi-dress posts. I am a non-plus-sized reader who finds your comments (on fashion and in general) thought-provoking and entertaining. After reading the posts, I realized that I don’t have any maxi-dresses, because although I love the idea, I am not in favor of baring most of my person between shoulders and navel (skin cancer being only one reason), and most of the maxi-dresses I see hanging in stores seem to have that feature. So I took a quick browse through Overstock to see whether there were any maxi-dresses there that I ought to have. I pretty much insist on being able to wear a bra and cover most of my chest, but I realize that with the long skirt part of the goal is not to look like you’re wearing a (possibly very colorful) burka. So I am torn. Then I realized I do have one full-length dress in a black lightweight sweater-y knit with a cowl neck (how I love cowlnecks). It’s not a summer fabric, but it’s full-length and not a formal dress.
So this endless comment leads me to two questions: (1) What, technically, is the definition of a maxi-dress? I know it has to be full-length and not a gown. Is that it, or is there more? (2) What do you think of this? http://www.overstock.com/Clothing-Shoes/AnnaLee-and-Hope-Womens-One-shoulder-Maxi-Dress/6573671/product.html I know, I couldn’t wear a bra with it. (I’m of the pear-shaped tribe, and it sounds to me as though the same rules apply to straight-sized pears as to plus-sized ones.)
Comment by the misfit — July 25, 2012 @ 2:10 pm
The caftans are really tricky. Done wrong they seems like a really expensive bathrobe o something like that. The royals of some countries are specially good with that kind of garment, Queen Noor for example.
Please do more post on the maxi dresses. I´m between average and plus and find your advice extremely helpful. And your writing is witty and funny, so even if I don´t agree with your opinion, your blog is always a pleasure to read.
Comment by Pau — July 25, 2012 @ 2:36 pm
Before I scrolled down, I totally thought you were going in the direction of not being unable to see a vagina dentata. Which I cannot now unsee.
Comment by Jezebella — July 25, 2012 @ 2:42 pm
oops, got carried away with the double-triple negatives there. You know what I meant, right?
Comment by Jezebella — July 25, 2012 @ 2:44 pm
Unless you were going for the Domo look…
While I found the maxi dress posts interesting, I had long ago decided to sit out the maxi dress trend. I am both short and racktastic (among other things). I consider it an exercise in choosing my battles.
Comment by maryann — July 25, 2012 @ 4:20 pm
Ok, I don’t get it. What is that thing? Rampaging Korean dog biscuit? Anthropomorphic turd?
Comment by Nomi — July 25, 2012 @ 5:05 pm
Someone’s symbol signifying radar needs dialing down just a smidge. Put down that Camille Paglia, Plummy! What we have here is simply a robust bi-colour linear triangle pattern flanked by large random brush strokes on a white field. I luvs me my caftans, but the menstrual discharge smears of Plummy’s selection just aren’t doing it for me.
Comment by Desideria — July 25, 2012 @ 7:02 pm
@Maryann – Liz Taylor MADE caftans and she was only 5’3. It’s all a matter of keeping the volume of fabric under control, picking a pattern that doesn’t overwhelm your frame and belting it at the natural waist
http://pinterest.com/pin/106819822382126421/
Comment by Thea — July 25, 2012 @ 11:22 pm
Plummy, once again you show why I love you so. I’ve recently discovered that I am passionate about bourbon. I’ve often thought I should be imbibing in a caftan. I will give it a go now.
Your jewelry and style posts have been immeasurably helpful in aiding me in my quest for my own personal style and image. At nearly thirty, it’s evolving nicely and people have started noticing and complimenting it. It’s empowering. With every positive comment from the people in my life, I say a little silent thank you to you.
Comment by Teteatete — July 26, 2012 @ 1:03 am
@Desideria: What on earth are you talking about? Please keep your Paglia and your menstrual smudges to yourself. All I saw was a Domo.
Comment by Miss Plumcake — July 26, 2012 @ 7:21 am
Ah yes, I was too waiting for the Maxi-dress post for the racktastic since I’m neither petite, nor tall but pack two gargantuans visible from orbit.
I love caftans, they are very hard to find in Scandinavia though.
Comment by Ravna — July 26, 2012 @ 12:26 pm
@Thea – Oh my oh my oh my. Liz looks so fab in that picture.
Thanks you for the link because I can now see the black sheer caftan SJP wore in Sex in the City Playboy Mansion episode is vintage Halston.
http://pinterest.com/pin/106819822381977833/
Comment by txbunny — July 26, 2012 @ 1:05 pm
My bad, Plummy. I was overly stimulated by Jezabella’s “vag-dent” reference. Adjusting symbolic reference…now.
Comment by Desideria — July 26, 2012 @ 1:33 pm
@Txbunny and I love that you can look at a vintage Halston caftan and link it to a specific epi of Sex in the City
Comment by Thea — July 27, 2012 @ 11:07 am