cleaning my closet: to keep this dress or not?

I’m on a kick. A cleaning kick. No, not like I’m actually scrubbing the bathrooms, silly, but more like organizing and purging. That closet at the end of the hallway? Done. Those dozens and dozens of unused hangers? Gotten rid of. My clothing from college that I literally had in a plastic bag called “college favs”? Done. The mounds and mounds of children’s toys? Purged. Even the ones I like. We just don’t need 17 wooden puzzles for the same age & skill set.

Now it’s on to clothing. This is tough. I have accumulated a beautiful lawyer wardrobe. Suits, skirts, blouses, lovely, lovely. I’m not ready to give those up as they were pricey and well-fitted. But when will I wear them again? Those ones are on hold. The real kicker are the dresses. College dresses {were they that short? were they that tight?}, the intermittent print phase {mostly designer hand-me-downs from my glamorous new yorker of a sister}, and then living in Vegas. Ah, the Vegas phase!

When I clerked for a federal judge in Vegas for a year, many many moons ago now, I was living out there alone–with just two new girlfriends to my name {Love you, E & S!}. So aside from eating Twizzlers and watching cable TV for the first time in my life, a lot, in the early evening, I shopped. Designer Fashion Clearance was its name, and wow. Couture affordable! I picked up a few Manolo shoes, Jimmy Choos, and a few handbags. But mostly I picked up very fancy dresses.

A whole new meaning to all dressed up with no where to go. Me, headless, sticking it all out at 31 weeks. Clearly I’m not fitting any of these anytime soon. I’ll give a little description of the highlights. Vote on what to sell on eBay, and what to keep, people!

Bottom left was a little number I picked up from the designer in New York in her boutique. I wore it once to this Christmas party that I thought was a dressy Christmas party. I even did my hair like it was prom. Then my date turned up in khakis and a plaid button down. Then the party ended up being mostly my friend’s older small town midwest relatives wearing jeans and flannel. I tried to hold my coifed head high, but it was probably the most embarrassing few hours of my life. I just so wanted to put a bag over my body and sit in the corner.

The black lace number on the bottom toward the right has an internal slip, that slipped up during the entirety of our 1L Christmas play. I was running around organizing it all in basically a sheer number. Someone told me far later. Far later. So much for Catholic law school modesty.

That weird white skirt bottom middle? Bought it in Florence, wore it once, realized it doubled as some kind of sci-fi costume, not couture.

What can I say about the Vegas dresses? So fun. So so so fun. Silk brocade, silk, beading, rustling. You name it.

The most fascinating print dress is one I bought in Paris when I worked the summer in France. I had this odd week without work and spent it alone in Paris. That meant lots of phone card time talking to my sisters & mom. That also meant Hermes sandals from a consignment, and the bottom right dress. It’s a DVF and beautifully sequined. Hand done, and flows out gloriously when you twirl. The neck is a delicate V that’s asymmetric. I’ve actually worn it pregnant, not pregnant, and in between.

I love prints. Love ’em. Many of these are flexible enough to be pregnancy (early on) dresses, or nursing dresses due to the deep Vs. Ahem, that also means I probably need an undershirt with a V that deep!

The top right is a sweet little floral I got in Florence when I got the other fun ones mentioned in college. I wear it more probably because it’s more normal looking on, and more forgiving of my growth & shrinkage in size.

You have it. Almost all of them. Whew. I’m exhausted. And really want ice cream.