Inspiration... sort of...

Last night, I opened up the February 2010 edition of Marie Claire magazine and saw a dress that LITERALLY made my heart skip a beat. It LITERALLY took my breath away. I fell in love. Completely and utterly. I gazed at the glossy picture for several minutes, just taking in every detail of this amazing dress by J. Mendel. I then tried to Google it so that I could share it with all of you. What I found was not a little disappointing. Here is the photograph as it appeared in Marie Claire (scanned and cropped by yours truly for this blog- the one that took my breath away):

I believe my exact words upon seeing this dress were, "I want to live my life in this dress." I still do. But here's the dress as it appears via Google:

Honestly, I think it looks sad. It has no life, no spark, no excitement to it. The model's stance, hair and facial expression are not helping the situation. I still love the dress. I would still DIE if I had the opportunity to wear it and would probably risk jail time to keep wearing it as long as possible. The first picture shows a vibrant, exciting dress. The second picture would never catch my eye. I'd gloss right over it. It makes me wonder what on earth they were thinking when they took this photo. Even slight adjustments to hair, make-up and the direction the model was given would have brought the life back into this dress. But enough about their issues. I'm just happy I saw it in the 'zine first. And back to how I feel about it. I would STILL die to wear it. Do you think when they say "Price Upon Request" that means I can request it for $20? Just kidding. If I had the change to drop on a couture piece like this, I would. But I'd throw a petticoat under it so that it had the a-line, 50's silhouette that is so essential. It's a large part of why I love it so much. Case in point, my red dress. So even though the second picture was incredibly devastating to discover, I still have hope for the dress. It needs the following, though:

1.) A petticoat

2.) A SMILE on the face of the person wearing it (no problem if I'm the one we're talking about!)

3.) A hair style that doesn't say, "I just got out of bed and came to my photo shoot without stopping at the hair & make-up trailor."

4.) Nude Louboutin round-toe pumps

5.) Maybe even a pair of white leather vintage or reproduction kid gloves (for me, I understand that doesn't work for everyone.)

So do me a favor and tell me what you think of the FIRST photo of this picture. Let's pretend the second one doesn't exist. Life is better in denial, sometimes.