Gidget Bananas, over at Clothesaholic, is running this week's Carnival of the Couture, and the topic is Clothes on Film. (And yes, I've been earwormed with Duran Duran's "Girls on Film" ever since I saw the topic.) Here's her question:

What movie, TV show or video featured clothes that made an impression on you? What movie, TV or video wardrobe did you try to emulate? How many times did you dress up as Emma Peel (or for the mens, John Steed) at Halloween, and if not, why not? 'Fess up, I know you have at least one vest a la Annie Hall, or torn sweat-shirt a la Flashdance, stuffed back there in your Closet of Shame.

I have made no secret of my love for Doris Day, but I don't think I have ever articulated WHY I love her, or at least her Pillow Talk/Touch of Mink film persona, so madly. I think it boils down to this: the basic plot of a Doris Day movie, at least the ones that I have seen, is that she is happily living her life, doing her job, getting up in the morning and going to sleep in the evening, all in a state of contentment. She's not pining. She's not waiting around for something, or somebody — she's doing stuff! She is active, not passive. And this, I think, manifests itself in the clothes for her movies — it has always seemed to me that her characters dress to please themselves first. If Rock Hudson likes the dress? Bonus. But it's not her focus.

I googled around for some pictures from her movies, and found plenty — but this one is the one that called to me. Look how perfect, how clean and unfussy her dress is. Look how happy she looks, how relaxed, how comfortable in her own skin. She's not dressing "sexy", but she looks like a woman, not a girl.

I want to start a "What Would Doris Wear?" movement. To qualify, a dress would have to be wearable — comfortable, practical, with pockets, easy to move in, and suitable for a day's work. It would have to be pretty, but not juvenile or infantilizing. It would be feminine–womanly but not vampy. And most of all, it would have to make you feel happy, cheerful, comfortable, ready for anything and optimistic about what the day will bring.

There's been criticism, I know, of Doris Day's movie persona as "overly virginal" or prissy. I think virginity was really a metaphor for agency. It wasn't really her body that she was reluctant to surrender — it was her independence. Which would have been a much more radical idea for the time; easier to make the conflict about sex than about autonomy! (Film critics, feel free to jump in here.)

Okay, one more picture, this from an earlier film:

C'mon, don't you want a red & white dress with polka dots, accordion pleats, and Western detailing? I know I do! And I'd be this happy all day in it.

If you do not yet have a copy of this little book of dress quotations by Tobi Tobias, I'm not sure what you're waiting for. I mean, if you're waiting for a giant flaming hand in the sky pointing towards the nearest bookstore, that's one thing. If you just haven't gotten around to it, that's another. I suggest you remedy that by clicking on the cover image, the one there to your left.

(I have to say that I am fond of books of quotations in general; they're like tasting menus of ideas, or collages, or kaleidoscopes. I can spend hours with them. I think I would cheerfully read a book of quotes about the great highways of the world, or bottle tops, just for the faceted view …)

Here is the quote that seemed apt to me today:

I should like my dress to be a poem about myself, my persona, the outward and visible presentation of my individuality. And that particular mode and fabric and manner which I should choose might not at all recommend itself to my next-door neighbour. Indeed, I hope it would not. For the loveliest and most human thing about humanity is the infinity of its types and modes of manifestation.

From "A Girl Graduate," Pall Mall Gazette, 1884, quoted in Obsessed By Dress.

Forgot to add — no fewer than FIVE kind people took pictures of my dress at the conference yesterday, so I hope to have one to post here soon!

Quickly, because I'm at a conference (and if I can get a good pic of the dress I'm wearing today — new for the conference, natch) I will post it tomorrow — here is another Duro contender, sent to me by Amy!

(On first glance, I thought the guy in the picture was a midget! How about y'all?)

Thank you Amy! This one's not my size, so bid away. If you bid on the one that is my size, I will kill you. Messily, and with no concern for minimizing your suffering. Thank you for your kind attention.

Lisa found this one for us — she has mad eBay skillz. Either that or she inhabits a different eBay universe from the one I look at, and is able to send the cool listings she finds across the dimensional barriers. I dunno. Either way, look at this one! You have to go click through, because there are many, many other pictures, like the ones that show the little rhinestones in the centers of the daisies.

It's B36/W28 and only $34 right now, with two bids. That's crazy low. (Sorry if you're the current high bidder, whom I have just screwed over by posting this.)

I really like this style of pocket — as you know I'm a big fan of functional design elements. I think I'm going to make a dress with similar pockets, and I think I'm going to wear it roller-skating. I went skating last night, right from a dinner event for a conference I'm at — and, needless to say, I was the only person on the floor in a calf-length dress, but it worked surprisingly well. (In other words, I didn't fall.) It streamed behind me pleasingly when I went fast (I really, really, really like to go FAST) and Liberty prints look nice under disco lights. (Why wouldn't they?) But anyway, I'm thinking some wide striped fabric, maybe red and white, with pockets trimmed in narrower-stripe red and white ribbon (or maybe polka dots)? and a longish skirt. Fun! But I will not put red pompons on my skates. There is a line I won't cross, aren't you glad to know?

A Dress A Day reader Cynthia sent me this picture — she's in the process of making a dress out of ties, as well. I've always wanted to do this, but taking apart ties is a pain in the neck, and sewing with all that bias silk …. oy. Maybe someday. In the meantime, take a look at this example and start stockpiling ties, as I am.

(I do have a fabulous Christmas-tree skirt made of ties, which was a present from my friend Thora, who is one of the most interesting, intelligent, and just plain wonderful people you'd ever want to meet. That link goes to information bout the show of French dictionary art she curated last year. It's in French, though …)

One word of warning — if you click on the image above and read the comments, you may exceed your recommended daily dose of exclamation points! I'm not kidding!! Really!!!

I was in Target on Sunday and I almost bought this despite the fact that I don't do spaghetti straps and despite the sad truth that I am too short-waisted for the Mizrahi sizing. I have to say, it looks ten times better in person than it does in this picture. (I think the model is standing funny — she's minimizing her chest and maximizing her hips, which is wrong for this dress.) The bodice has a slight asymmetrical surplice effect (hard to see in this picture), and it's lined in a smaller rose print that is just adorable. The fabric also looks much more vintage and less like a couch in person.

And it's only $39.99! As I said, I almost bought it right on the spot, and if the (mostly-Orthodox) customers of my local Target don't swoop in and grab all these, I *will* buy it when it's on clearance and figure out if I can take up the shoulder straps (and find a nice cardigan to wear over it). It's that cute. If your Target is not frequented by customers who would find this immodest, I'd grab it right away. I bet it will sell out. It's so classic, too, that if you were afraid of seeing yourself coming and going, you could hold onto it for a season or two, wait until everyone's forgotten it, and then bust it out. Not that I've ever done that with anything from *cough* H&M *cough* or anything.

Oh, Isaac, your dresses are so cute! Why can't you find a fit model who's not so long from shoulder to waist? I would gladly volunteer …

This is a new Liberty print, and I waaaaaaant it. Too bad this eBay auction (click to go buy it and taunt me with it) is only 1.75 meters. I need at least four yards to make a giant lampshade dress. And it will take pretty much all my powers of restraint NOT to make a matching lampshade hat, because — well, because it would be really, really funny. (Even funnier if you know that I'm teetotal.)

This eBay seller does have more listed, starting at £15/meter, which would work out to being more than $100 for four yards. Plus shipping. I think I will have to wait!

I'm sure none of you would be surprised that I spent my Saturday afternoon sewing. After all, that's what I'd spend all my free time doing, if I could. You might be surprised to learn that I was doing alterations (given how often I've loudly proclaimed how I hate to do alterations). However — this was for a very good cause. I spent Saturday afternoon taking up shoulder straps, putting in quick darts, and mending seams that had divorced themselves from zippers, all for The Glass Slipper Project, a Chicago nonprofit that connects gently used dresses, shoes, jewelry and accessories with girls who would otherwise not have a chance to go to their proms appropriately attired.

Yesterday, I was told, more than 500 girls came through the "boutique," held in a disused school in Cabrini. 126 dresses came through the "alterations department", where, when I arrived for my shift at noon, half a dozen cheerful women were seated behind machines in a giant metal cage. (When a fire alarm went off, none of us moved, and the Triangle Shirtwaist jokes came thick and fast …)

It was hard to decide what was more fun — sitting and joking with the other alterations volunteers, our laps full of satin and lace, or watching the girls try on their altered dresses and seeing their excitement and anticipation.

I really enjoyed talking with the other volunteers (and I'm not just saying that because I told them about this blog!). Two, Julie and Holly, run their own sewing business — Dame Couture, custom vintage-inspired bridal and party dresses, which is really worth checking out! They took off a whole Saturday, in the height of the bridal-planning season, to volunteer. Chris, one of the other volunteers, told me about a new sewing organization in Chicago, Haute Couture (although a cursory Google didn't turn it up, I'm sure I'll find it).

It was freeing to do alterations "commando-style" — since speed was of the essence, we didn't bother with undoing facings or seams. We just made it fit, double-stitched so the fixes would hold through a night of energetic dancing, and grabbed the next dress off the rack. "Who's got the blue thread?" "I need to do some darts, is there a machine free?" "How would you fix this?" "Is there any Fray-Chek?" "Can somebody slip-stitch this closed?" we would call, as Marilyn and Maureen, the fitters, flitted back and forth, pinning the girls, taking up hems, and double-checking the alterations. It was like Habitat for Humanity, only with dresses.

Unfortunately, I can't make next weekend's boutique (I'm out of town), but I'll definitely be back next year. There are similar organizations in most major cities — Google "prom donation [your city here]" and you'll track them down. You'll be glad you did.

Sometimes you see a dress and you know exactly why it's on sale. Like this one, from Necessary Objects, which is reduced to $33 at Nordstrom.com. I mean — look at how chunky it makes the model (the model!) look. And really, I think there are only two excuses for cowls: satin evening gowns and contests where the goal is to use as much fabric as possible. I would think that this was the latter, except that the skirt's so short. The model looks as if she would like to pull that cowl right over her head.

Oh, and did I mention that it's polyester? Yeah. I hope Nordstrom didn't take a big position in these babies.

In other news: I'm still trying to figure out how to post all the great book covers in a way that lets you vote on them without me having to do any counting. Also, I figured out how to do the Duro dress! I think. I have a muslin done, took me about an hour last night. It's not perfect (figuring out where to put the zipper is going to take a while) but it's getting there!

Isn't this amazing? It's on offer from Traven7 on eBay, and it looks to be in magnificent condition — and a spectacular color. Bidding's at about $70 as I write this, and it's a wearable size ("wearable," of course, means "I could wear it") B36-38, W 29-30. Look at the collar, the buttons! This dress demands a party. In fact, the first thing this dress made me think of was saying "Hello, darling! What do you want to drink?"

I am very engaged with yellow, lately. I bought the yellow Luella bag from Target (note, link is to eBay auction as the bag is sold out) which fulfilled my main bag requirements (handy outside pockets for my Treo and my iPod). And it's washable, bonus! I have moved my yellow cardigan sweater to the top of the pile for easier retrieval. And I bought some insane yellow-mustard-brown-red abstract floral pique, which, if I get some sewing time tonight/tomorrow, I will post as a dress on Sunday or Monday.

Traven7 notes that this dress is from a Vogue Couturier pattern, so not only can I daydream about buying this one and throwing a party just to wear it, I can scheme about acquiring the original pattern, and making my own version (although the way I'm going now, if I made one, it would also be yellow).

I'm trying not to go overboard with the yellow, though, because just a couple of summers ago I felt this way about pure bubblegum pink, and, except for an iPod skin and a couple of sweaters, bubblegum pink and I don't really talk anymore. It's sad, really. We just grew apart, got too busy, or something. I should give her a call, see if she wants to go out for a drink sometime …