So there WILL be a vintage dress event in Melbourne, at Memoirs Boutique (422 Victoria Street, North Melbourne 3051) on Tuesday the 6th. If you'd like to come, do please RSVP at that link before 3 December, since I think there are only so many folks they can fit into the store! (Thanks to Hachette Australia for setting this up!)
I'm ridiculously excited for this trip to Australia. Can't wait!
So I kind of forgot to mention that I'm signing books tonight in Burlingame. It's a lovely bookstore! They are super-nice! And if you show up in a dress I will give you a Dress a Day tape measure, while supplies last!
(The one night only part is kind of a lie, though, because I live in Burlingame, so technically I'm there pretty much every night.)
Hope to see you there!
[There *will* be an East Bay event, but I don't have my travel dates pinned down enough to schedule it yet. I hope to know this week …]
So the first SECRET LIVES OF DRESSES event is scheduled for Thursday, February 10 (the release date), from 6-9 PM at Ver Unica, 526 Hayes St. in San Francisco.
In case you can't read the small type, if you buy a dress at the event, I'll write a one-line Secret Life for it (and you)!
Needless to say, dressing up in vintage is encouraged. 🙂 Hope to see you there!
[PS There will definitely be an East Bay event as well, I'm still putting that together.]
So, if you haven't noticed, the US edition of The Secret Lives of Dresses is coming out February 10.
I thought it would be fun to have a vintage-themed dressup party for the launch that day (it's a Thursday night), but I need what they call a "venue"! Does anyone know a friendly Bay Area [CA] vintage-store owner who would like to help me out?
The idea would be that I'd show up with copies of the book, invite folks to come in their vintage finery, match-make vintage from the store for customers (as Dora does in the book) and make up mini-Secret Lives for things on the spot.
If you have just the right place, please email me and let me know — I'd love to get this set up sooner rather than later as things are getting really busy, all of a sudden! (Aren't things supposed to be SLOW in January? So far, that's Not Happening.)
Time to do a charity donation drive!
This year’s charity is Women for Women International. Why give to a women-focused charity? I strongly recommend you check out that link — but here’s the short version, from their web site:
Women for Women does great work in trying to change all of the above.
And to encourage you to give if you can, here’s the deal: the first 15 people to donate this year will get a galley copy of The Secret Lives of Dresses. (Just email me [erin at dressaday dot com] your receipt and your mailing address).
http://www.networkforgood.org/PCA/Badge.swf?BadgeId=114975
If we reach $1200 in donations by December 25, I will write a new “secret lives” story, that will include the top-two vote-getters below:
http://modpoll.com/poll.js?pid=agdwb2xsMmdvcg0LEgRQb2xsGLvHlwYM&theme=&width=200
Sound good? Let’s go!
The first review of The Secret Lives of Dresses has shown up in my feed reader … from Sarah at the blog Domestic Sluttery:
As the author of A Dress A Day, Erin McKean conjures up the most beautiful descriptions of clothes, including a cherry pie print blouse that sent me straight to eBay. In Mimi's shop, Dora discovers that each item comes with a story, and these were absolutely beautiful. The dress that is only for dancing, the dress that is for a very particular meeting…
Although certain elements of the plot were a little predictable for me, The Secret Lives of Dresses is a heart-warming and lovely book that would make a great Christmas present for any vintage lover.
Thanks Sarah! Of course, the book isn't out until February, but I assume they still have book tokens in the UK, right? (I used to love reading about book tokens in children's books. And speaking of children's books, the cover image at that post is for the UK edition — doesn't it look very Noel Streatfeild? I am so lucky in my book covers …)
She always was straightforward. I felt her square her shoulders and take a deep breath. It made the buttons strain, just a tiny bit.
"Hal." She looked him right in the eye.
He was always perceptive. He didn't give her a chance to go on. He just said "I thought so." There was that half-grin, and the accompanying shrug. His hands in his pockets, not fidgeting, just there.
"Why didn't you say anything?" Her hands smoothed the front of her skirt. If she had been a nervous person, that would have been her nervous habit.
"Ladies first …"
"Always the gentleman."
"Just not your gentleman." His grin lurched to the other side.
"A gentle man, all the same." Her hand lifted, almost to his face. He caught it and pressed a kiss into her palm. She didn't pull away, but he let her hand drop.
"Well, then. I'll let myself out," he said. She stood still, and when she said "Hal" again it was to the empty room. Three whistled notes came through the window, then died away, the phrase abandoned.
[Image from Posh Girl Vintage.]
A Dress A Day 