Blue Rinse

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Label2Label3There's not been much posting because there's been a wedding in the house.  Not mine thank god.  But it would be just like me to spring something like that quite suddenly.  Nope, it was Style Salvage Steve's sister's wedding yesterday and since Steve was the best man, it was all speeches, prep, tailcoats and waistcoats, flowers… etc etc.  Of course my bit part is just to show up and look suitably turned out and not detract attention from the bride.  Despite that insignificance of that task, I still managed to bungle it up.  I had decided to dig out this dress I bought in New York two years ago from Label on Lafayette Street – a cream velvet thing with hand-painted strokes and flocking. 

Yup, remember these awful pics taken in a dark hotel room where I'm part-sleepy and part-foggy.  Well, look upon these as the before pics.  I took it to the dry cleaners and two days later, it came back and all the ink had ran to dye the dress pale blue in parts and intensely navy in others.

I did splutter to the drycleaning lady to whom I had explained extensively how the dress needed to be cleaned… "Erm…it's blue!" and she gave me a smile and said "Ya, it's better, no?", completely unapologetic about the whole affair.  "Err…I guess…?" I shrugged.  I could have thrown a strop about it but actually the more I looked at it, the more the blue was looking more appealing.  For one, it eliminated the slightly bridal-looking element of the dress and the colouration actually gave the dress a new look entirely…

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In the gusty winds and harsh grey light, the dress does hold it's own better with the addition of the deep inky blue.  On this occasion, I guess it's ok that I was such a soft touch when it came to the drycleaners but hopefully when a true true disaster comes around, I'll at least give a frown. 

P.S. Quite the wedding for the newly wed Mrs Emma Belton… as the wedding was held at the Mandarin Oriental in Knightsbridge, Beyonce happened to be staying there and she came across the bride and did a finger gesture and said to her "You look A-MAZing…!".  I'm not a celeb gazer but even I would milk that story to grandkids…  

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54 comments

  2. The dress does look better now that it’s not as stark white as it was before, but I somehow think that the blue is just a little too close to the ‘baby blue’ that seems so predominant in many a prepubescent years. I’d perhaps take it to a cleaner and ask them to bleach it slightly to give a different tonality? More towards a slight tye-dyed navy?
    (Also, this new incarnation of your dress actually reminds me a lot of Prada S/S ’10, maybe that’s why a darker blue is so appealing to me in this case?)

  3. I definitely prefer the dress now, it looks awesome on you too. I would still be mad about the dry cleaners messing it up though, because it’s not what you asked for and they had no way of knowing that you would like it more after. I wonder what they did to change it so significantly, hopefully they at least didn’t charge you anything!

  4. babe, fuck fashion references, you look like a sky. as a wise art teacher once told me, “mistakes are our friends.”

  5. The dress does look good blue… but wow, I cant believe that drycleaners screwed up so much! Aren’t they supposed to do a test patch or something?
    That Beyonce story is definitely worth milking, sounds like a great wedding day!

  7. I agree awesome dress, looks perfect for a wedding now and I love the way you styled it. I like the stronger colour, good thing it wasn’t totally ruined.

  14. I am so glad you took into consideration how you might stand out in comparison to the bride. Many people don’t do this and i have seen some hoochies or others that make the mood uncomfortable.
    I hope you had fun.

  15. that dress looks fantastic! you look really really pretty. gorgeous colour and details.if only the sky was brighter 🙂

  16. Haha, amazing tale.
    It looks better blue, and you look beautiful in it!
    Hope it was a great day!
    x
    (ps – OMG Beyonce!)

  17. I can only hope and pray that the guests at my wedding will look this stylish (I’ve already beentrying to convince people that wearing gloves at a wedding is fun). Loving the dress with those shoes too!

  19. I love the dress both before and after, but I much say that is really annoying of the grandkids! And Beyonce! I don’t care too much for celebrities either but that is pretty cool.

  20. Oh wow, you look gorgeous! I much prefer the blue colour it is now. Love how you styled it, love the gloves & shoesss. (:

  21. I was wondering which Kron shoes you would get. They look great with the blue.

  23. Oh God, I would throw such a tantrum! It’s one thing that the dress turned out to look ok, if not nicer than before, but the dry cleaner lady should definitely have apologised for what happened and not try to pass it off as a success. I have to ask, after this incident, will you trust this dry cleaner again?

  24. Talk about your happy accidents! The dress DOES look better in blue and now you can see those beautiful silhouettes at the bottom. I would still look into a different dry cleaner, though…

  27. Was it that dry cleaners on Holloway Road? I took a gorgeous Preen dress there once and when I went to pick it up she’d managed to add a mark to the front of it. She was entirely unrepentent…

  29. Regarding the drycleaner, it wasn’t one that I went to regularly (NOT the one on Hollyway Road either…) but I had been before and it was ok before…. oh well, I’m not that fussed but I definitely won’t take anything as complicated as this dress back there again…

  30. I think it looks better in blue. Like the look with the shoes and everything. (But you look freezing!)

  33. you look breathtakingly gorgeous – and like many, I prefer the dress in it’s ‘after’ state too

  36. the dress looks fantastic either way, I don’t have a preference. I would’ve definitely made a huge scene at the dry cleaners though…that’s just me.
    ps. the mich dulce hat looks phenom….

  38. Wow it looks amazing in blue!! Honestly. It could have gone so wrong though so you’re so lucky!
    Oh and Beyonce said the Bride looked amazing? That’s incredible.

  41. I need to be more like you in your response to the dress incident. You British really know how to keep calm and carry on. Meanwhile, that Beyonce story makes me shake my head. She works on my nerves and I now have to give her points for sounding really really sweet. Drat.

  42. oh weddings! Wedding bells for you and Steve in the future?
    Sorry if that scared you..haha.
    I’m so curious to as how YOU would dress if it was your wedding. I bet something epic.
    Love the wings floating in the dress.

  46. The whole outfit looks amazing Susie, the dress, the gloves, the shoes, the hair accessory. Love the Beyonce story – how sweet.

  48. the velvet dress is still available in LABEL….
    i was there a week ago…..it IS gorgeous…!!

  52. i mistakenly put my jonathan saunders for topshop dress (black with one white sleeve and one pink) and the white sleeve came out kind of grey. I wept and wept and then decided I way preferred it that way! sometimes it’s the mistakes that give you what you really want…

  53. seriously, if i were you, i would throw all my boring dresses down to the cleaner. I must say, even for a screwed up job, it is very artistic and tastefully done! 🙂

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