Polka Dotted

Dress? Vintage (similar in a new style here or here) Crinolin? get it here Pumps? Ralph Lauren 

Belt? Vintage Clutch? Vintage (similar on Etsy here)

This is a happy dress. I put a crinolin underneath (this is like the one I have) and that made the dress even happier. 

I wore these polka dots first to do a morning show segment on Morning Live about how to incorporate a little vintage into your wedding (it's here... sidenote, I really actually love doing these live segments even though I can't sleep very well the night before. Ha. Watching it back I wish I could have pointed at the items more directly but the whole display was jerry-rigged into place with a level and a piece of anti-slip (thank-you Matt...) and I was scared to touch anything in case I knocked the whole thing over. Though... that could have been funny.).

I also wore the dress to visit my Dad for his birthday. He's not really noticing these kind of details any more but I know if he wasn't sick, he would have just thought this dress was top notch. Things are so different now  in that whole situation but sometimes you just pretend everything is normal and put on a polka dot dress and eat cake. 

This dress is also a perfect match for the polka dots I have going on in my shop window right now. I'm trying to write an honest and balanced post about this retail journey I started last November and true to form it's taking me forever (pretty sure it took me less time to open the shop than to write about the shop...) but I can probably sum up the post now by saying that retail is awesome and terrible and exciting and very, very humbling. But one of my very favourite things to do, and where I like to direct my energy into when I can feel myself getting negative, is the window displays. I'm pretty sure I spend too much money on all the stupid things I put in there but it's fun for me and fun for people who pass by. Even if I am having the crappiest week I still want to project energy and enthusiasm from the shop. It's hard not to smile at polka dot lanterns in a shop window and it's hard not to smile when you are wearing a crinoline. Those are the facts of life.