Living with a house full of boys/men does nothing for one’s self esteem. While it is a FANTASTIC exercise in patience and “seeing how the other side thinks” it can be, at times, a swift kick in the pants.

We started carrying April Cornell dresses at the Little House because I spent several years working in the world of clothing (while cooking at night) and missed it, I love her company, her story AND her fabrics and because I wanted to make a case for the almost extinct “house dress.”

These A.C. dresses wash like a dream and have… pockets, pockets I tell you! Pockets that fit phones, keys, snacks, Legos, leashes, Chapstick – all the things you need at any given moment if you are a mom/dog mom/human. This, to me, is essential.

You forget, you see, when you work in a kitchen 15+ hours a day, how you look when you stumble out into the world-crusty and ghoulish, slightly wrinkled from hours of sweating-unidentified smears of chocolates and blueberries, indelible stains of melted butter and espresso-fat, dark circles under your eyes from too many hours under harsh fluorescents-you forget that other people actually have to get up and do their hair and wear real clothes to go to work, or have the dignity of a uniform that explains-“I am dirty because I have been painting” or “I have been landscaping all day-hence the pine straw”. To be honest, I haven’t even thought about it for years. When you get dressed in the dark in the morning and are the only one in the kitchen for the hours up until daylight-you just don’t think much about clothes beyond “Will I sweat to death in this?”

So when the possibility of having a little shop with a petite rail of glorious, soft fabrics far away from the brutalness of the kitchen arose, I couldn’t say no.

But then I started wearing the dresses. All the time. To work, at home, to do errands, in the garden. Work, wash, wear: repeat. I have washed them dozens of times. I have dried them on the line, dried them in the dryer, had them dry cleaned and loved every minute of it.

The first time the small child saw me come home from the bakery in one of these simple dresses, he asked me “WHERE WAS I GOING ALL FANCY-STYLE?”  Yes, he is that awful. And they all continued to ask me that for a week or two as the different colors and styles rotated. (Upside, they do notice when dresses are a different color.) And the comments were in the same vein inquiring as to why I was dressed up or where was I going?

This made me sad. Not that I care what other people think, nor do I want to teach my kids to care what other’s think; but that I had forgotten what I thought. Something that had given me such joy for so many years had slipped away from me and had been missing for a long time. Fabric can be like flowers. A quick glance at a beautiful piece of fabric can have such an impact on your mood! Soft cotton reminds you to breathe, a gleaming satin promises a little glamour, lace says charm and beauty, a well-done floral can replace a fresh bouquet, deep crisp black makes you feel chic and organized, perfectly washed denim reminds you how good old things can be-the list is enormous. So, I swapped it in. I pared it down to 3 dresses for my work week-like they did in Anne of Green Gables days when that is what they had so that is all they wore. And the mood boost was insane. No more scrambling to find clean pieces to wear, and the ease of pulling something on and sticking my stuff in my pockets was AMAZING. Plus, when I peeled off my apron at the end of the day and swapped out my shoes I was NOT too embarrassed to go someplace-for a walk, pop in a store, see somebody I knew. I KNOW this sounds ridiculous, but I feel like IF you choose the appropriate clothes for the appropriate activities-said activity goes farther.

Cute workout clothes-way more fun workout, purse match your shoes wearing jeans and a t-shirt-classic. Wear a beautiful dress for your basic household chores and errands-feel instantly more feminine, more put together and a throwback to a time when it was all so much simpler. Besides which, being able to throw on heels and some mega jewelry and be “super fun ready” in under five minutes makes me feel like something out of a magazine.

 

According to Wikipedia, a house dress is a type of simple dress worn informally at home for household chores or for quick errands.

 

But a LITTLE HOUSE DRESS is a simple type of dress that makes you feel informally fabulous all day long.

 

Love,

Sam