Traina-Norell dress ca. 1950 via Whitaker Auctions
So, Fashionable Reader, you may (or may not) know my option on black. Generally I am against it.
Why? You may well ask. It's slimming, it goes with everything, it's easy to buy. The right cut will always look good. Well, because it's boring. Yes there I said it. It lacks imagination. It bespokes a girl who can't think outside the box; who cops out when it comes to style; who won't take a risk.
Yet when I was packing to move I got ride of three, yes, three LBDs and that's keeping three in my everyday wardrobe and three in the events wardrobe, including my flippy and my Dior suit.
So, here I stand before you, guilty of the LBD.
So let's talk about that sin the closet because I know many of you will reach for it ~ the reliable old friend ~ come New Years Eve.
Here's mine, and one similar but better photographed.
Mine is probubly 1950s; next to it is one from the 1930s.
Mine is a a linen Mollie Paris New York. Hard to see with black but it's got some nice detail work around the neck, the little buttons down the front, pleats at the hips. It fits me perfectly, but I don't have a photo of me in it because I just don't wear it that often. It's really a day dress, from cut and fabric, not an evenign piece and I tend to opt for color of day. Still it has been trotted out for events because I will take it as a back up, but then I always forget to photograph it. I tend to pair it with cream, a little like this . . .
Cream makes it classically retro, and tones down black for day. I'd always go for cream or pail pink or pale blue to rein in black when the sun is out and about, whether in a dress or a swimsuit. Black needs to be kept in check, and pastels work wonders. I like the juxtaposition of soft and girly with harsh and gothy. And there's always pearls.
However, most cop out an pair black with black. And yes, this is a cop out.
For an evening event, or really anything requiring you to bring out the old Lionel blanket of dresses? Go with red accessories, at least. Still classic, but at least it sparks up the black a bit.
Or gold is always nice.
But how about doing something more exciting, like combining a rich jewel tones velvet in blue or green and some patterned tights?
Or perhaps mixing up the colors, some bright tights and a neutral jacket? Green tights with a brown tweed jacket, or red tights with a cream cape.
Pop the dress on over a quirk shirt, anything from a fluffy pussycat pattern to a puffy sleeved tux top.
Or you could go super quirky and throw it on over another dress experimenting with shades int eh same color family.
Just a thought, it's the New Year after all, take a risk!
And here are a few for Alexia . . .
1880 Mourning dress The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1883 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1885 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
And what to read with a LBD?
Tamora Pierce's Terrier (The Legend of Beka Cooper, Book 1).
Pierce is back in form with this book. Thank goodness!
My only gripe, and it's nothing to do with the author, is that you can't get Terrier in Mass Market Paperback. I hate trade, it's just too big and heavy and floppy for my carpel tunnel. I'll wait patiently and perhaps someday rebuy these books in MM, but until then I guess I must read them this way; because you better believe I can't wait to start Book Two!
I'm beginning to, finally, recognize patterns in Tamora Pierce's heroines. When I was a kid I identified with her books so strongly I couldn't possibly step back as a writer to see her tricks. Now, with the benefit of age and distance, I read this book with new eyes. Her main characters always have some kind of fatal flaw - in Beka's case it's fear of public speaking and chronic shyness, for Alanna it was cold and spiders, for Kel it was heights, and so forth. At some point, in each series, the heroine will be made to face her fear. On the other hand, she also has an equally strong good trait or two - for Alanna this was stubbornness and whit, for Kel a stoically strong leadership, for Beka it's dogged determination. For all of them it's surrounding themselves with supportive friends. There is always one major issue or problem in each book for each girl that only she sees (and proverbially, must be responsible for the solution). In Beka's case it's a problem of people disappearing, and since these people are her people (the poor and destitute) she undertakes their protection.
I like Pierce best when she's writing YA with a warrior girl main character. The Wild Mage series are my least favorite Tortall books and I gave up on her non-Tortall Circle series early. For some reason the Trickers series didn't hold me either. It felt rough and a little verbose, needed a good red penning.
But with Beka we're back to my favorite kind of read. I can't believe it took me so long to pick up this book! Pierce successfully weaves almost Noir police procedural with gritty crime and punishment in a fantasy setting. It reminded me, ever so slightly, of Vimes and the Night Watch of Ankh Morpork.
Pierce is also using Beka to explore, for what feels like the first time, the commoners of Tortall - the neglected layfolk and the street people. So often fantasy novels are about nobles and quests, it was delightful to see what the underlings thought of the nobles. The use of Lower City slang and lingo pervades the book, but not so much I was uncomfortable with it. Like peopling her books with excess characters, Pierce has such a light touch you hardly notice the overload. (And her editors let her get away with it, they might not with a less seasoned YA author.) Her wide cast of characters includes animals and the return of one of my favorites of all time, the Wanderer, the Cat, AKA (spoiler alert) Faithful!!! Yay! I remember crying so hard in the last Alanna book when he returned to the Goddess. So to have him back in all his cheeky glory is truly wonderful. I would have bought this book on that fact alone if I had known.
So what are my final thoughts?
If you have a pre-teen girl in your life you owe it to the world to put Tamora Pierce in front of her. Beka is an excellent way to start, although Alanna will always be my favorite. Pierce is a master of strong tough young women. Women who know what they want, stand up for what they believe, hold a moral compass made of personal integrity, and still can love and be kind and surround themselves with friends. With the gruesome specter of reality TV looming over us, someone has to fight the good fight. We should all be so lucky as to have a little Tamora Pierce in our lives, and in our spirits.
