the animorph of white cotton dresses
seven ways to style it with things you probably have—a striped shirt, v-neck sweater, loafers, skinny belts and thick belts
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Happy Spring!
Today we’re talking about the white cotton dress.
I scan my closet and paw around the section where I hang my “barely there” dresses. It’s a tangle of spaghetti straps, sheer silks in topaz and fuchsia, silks with coffee stains I neglected to wash out from 4 months ago. I miss summer silks so much. That’s what my heart really wants to wear, but alas it is not warm enough. Not by a far stretch. I sigh and take step to the right. Those are my “breezy” dresses. They’re cotton. Light, but with some coverage and weight. Crispy.
I zero in on a long white sheet of cotton and pull it off the rack, admiring the open square-neck straps and tiny long ribbon that hangs down the center. And the yonic keyhole.
Its simplicity is its magic. It’s a white cotton dress with a tent-like A shape. It’s not innovative or all that special but it is personal to the wearer. The everywoman’s frock. Your mom probably had one like it and her mom and her mom before that. No one knows that happened to it but it’s a dress that has touched your skin hundreds of times, absorbed your smell and sweat and detergent.
I love this dress for sentimental and practical reasons. Partially because I have lovely memories of wearing it, and because it molds to the shape of whatever dysphoria I may or may not be feeling on a given day. If it’s windy, the wide skirt will slip between your legs when you walk, creating a culotte effect. Wear it loose and long when I want don’t want to be perceived, wear it in bed like a hospital gown when I’m dramatically febrile with a stomachache, belt it when I want the feeling of distinct halves to my outfit. It’s a wardrobe shapeshifter.
Here are seven outfits built around this dress, which I got from