What I Won't be Wearing #1: The Prairie Dress

 
What do they say about a bad penny? It always comes back. As if the 70s and 80s weren't bad enough, we now have the return (revenge???) of the prairie dress. According to the NY Times, it's b-a-a-a-c-k,  with a vengeance.

 

I can see how this happened. Spangles and shoulder pads are hard to pull off, just adding to the circus-like atmosphere many of us feel we are in. Westward ho? Now that was a time when we were were all blissfully ignorant and physically overworked.

"Little House" love...

This season's prairie looks hark back to "Little House on the Prairie" as filtered through the tv show's popularity and late '60s hippies. They are, however, costumes, and I'm not buying it.

I'm already in costume, as a 76-year-old-woman trying to look chic, attractive and relevant while wearing flattering clothes that reflect my personality. They also say you should never wear a look from an era that you've worn before. I summered in the Summer of Love and had my fair share of prairie skirts, Victorian nightdress blouses and (non-combat) boots. Worn traversing the streets of New York City, I might add.

Batsheva Hay in a field of flowers

 
Just so you know, this reincarnation did not sweep down from the actual prairie. The wizard of the look is Batsheva Hay, a New Yorker and former lawyer with two young children who has always loved vintage clothes. Married to an Orthodox Jew, she had already adopted a modest style of dressing. Two years ago she wanted to remake a vintage Laura Ashley dress. Since that required the expense of making a pattern, she decided to have several made in vintage dress and upholstery fabrics she found on ebay. Once others start copying you, and the Times writes it up, this is fashion worth noting if not wearing.

Laura Ashley 1986

Please don't let me keep you from your prairie dress. If you are young (in my book that's under 50), go ahead and do it. Turn off your cellphone. Bake some bread. Smell the roses. Just don't call this one Fashion That Must Be Obeyed.