The Traveling Red Dress: Where Magic Happens
Months ago I read Jenny Lawson’s (The Bloggess) first post about The Traveling Red Dress. She talks about, “how often we deny ourselves that red dress and all the other capricious, ridiculous, overindulgent and silly things that we desperately want but never let ourselves have because they are simply ‘not sensible’.” I remember totally agreeing with her, and committing in my head to do more crazy, spontaneous things…and then kind of forgetting about that commitment while I watched the latest episodes of Modern Family and became addicted to Pinterest.
But then in January, Jenny revisited the Traveling Red Dress, and she suggested that people might ask for, or purchase, their own red dress. And I was like, wait, what? I can just do it myself? Oh. Yeah. I don’t have to just read about it. I can do it too. And the more I thought about it, the more awesome it seemed. Until my hands were trembling with excitement as I started organizing a party for me and my girlfriends, buying a red dress, and arranging for a photographer.
You know when something is supposed to happen because everything comes together like magic. That’s what happened with the traveling red dress. We were all free on the same day, including a photographer. My sister flew down from Seattle to be there. For the group shots, the dresses were perfectly coordinated- two red, two navy, two black (we did NOT arrange that in advance). The traveling red dress has a corseted back and fit everyone from a size 4 – 14, and looked GORGEOUS on each woman!
The whole experience was awesomely feminine. I know I can be a little sentimental about things, but it was so special to have women helping other women feel beautiful instead of competing with each other. We had a couple blankets that two friends would hold up to make a “dressing room.” Once you had the dress on, one friend would lend you her lip gloss, one would make sure your hair was good, and another would straighten the bows on your dress. Even while the photographer was taking pictures, we were surrounded by the most beautiful, feminine energy. It’s amazing how good female friends can lift you up. I am blessed to have such wonderful women in my life.
One of the highlights of the day came when we were just wrapping up. A lady walked up to me while I had the dress on. She said, “My daughter wants to know if you’re a princess.” I was so surprised. For a second I didn’t know what to say. But then it was like angels whispered in my ear because I answered, “I feel like a princess.” I wish now I had also told the girl, “You are beautiful. You can feel like a princess whenever you want. Your princess is inside you, and you can create the experiences that share her with the world.”
A giant “Thank You!” to Jenny for initiating the Traveling Red Dress movement, and reminding me to be unreasonable and unsensible (Note: if you’re going to be unreasonable, you get to make up new words). The rewards, so far, have been amazing.
Update: My friends and I met at our local meadery to look at the photos from the photographer. We attracted some attention with our laptop and all of our giggling and smiling. A straight dude came over and we tried to explain the awesomeness of the dress to him, and he was like, “And then you just give it away? Why?” Then his gay buddy came over. We started trying to explain the dress to him and immediately he said, “Oh! The Bloggess’ Traveling Red Dress! Of course! That’s so awesome! Have you seen her latest post?”
Magic.
Photo credits and thanks to my sister, Emrie Vegas, and Eric C. Carter.
Leave a Reply