Mr. Selfridge

I love Masterpiece and every Sunday night for weeks, I've been tucked in on the couch after the kids are in bed and glued to Call the Midwife and Mr. Selfridge. If you haven't seen it yet, you MUST! So much British TV is good, but you can count on the very best making it across to us. Of course I love the 1950's looks for East London on the Midwife (and I have a closet full of those silhouettes as you've seen), but the dazzling Edwardian gowns of Mr. Selfridge's wife, mistress, patron, and shopkeepers are to die for. This is my nod to 1909 (although it should be a foot longer and of course I should be wearing copious amounts of underpinnings :).

Find an inspiration and get fancy. Happy dressing!

Purple Jersey Dress

Coco Chanel first made luxe casual women's dresses with jersey in the 1910's. It drapes so nicely but is very stretchy, and I was leery of working with it. ...BUT... I am so glad I went for it with this pattern. It was a great exercise and I'm pleased with the result. Tea-length and deep eggplant purple -- these details make a "t-shirt" dress seem more elegant. Don't look too closely at my not-always-pretty stitches. But from a distance, it certainly looks "fait par des professionnels".

I styled this basic dress with VanCleef-lookalike necklace, a big rhinestone ring, and vintage sweater pins. Very glamorous for the office. Shoes from Modcloth.