Miss Kitty Takes a Trip

There comes a time in every fashionista's life when she opens her closet and sighs, "Today, I'd really like to rock a saloon girl look. Kind of Victorian, a little Wild West. Better yet, a saloon girl tripping on acid. Yeah, that would sure do it for me today." Generally speaking, the closet doesn't yield such a look. But it could.

As seen at left, the latest entry in the Marie-Antoinette Goes to Woodstock collection, "Miss Kitty Takes a Trip." Named in honor of the world's most famous saloon girl, Miss Kitty. Well, famous to those of us old enough to remember the old Gunsmoke TV series.

While working happily away on the MarieA does Woodstock collection, my corset/bustier top accidentally skipped a century and wound up looking more 19th than 18th. And Victorian underwear worn as outerwear always looks saloon girl. Or cancan. Which is sort of the same thing. Add my hand painted tie-dyed fabric and next thing you know, Miss Kitty is taking a trip.

My Friday afternoon fan club dropped by the studio this week while I had the almost finished dress on the dress form. That's my name for the group of middle school boys that periodically trot up to the studio after school on Friday. They look around, ask a couple of nervous questions, look generally uncomfortable, ask a few prices and leave only to return in a couple of weeks and repeat the process. No idea what it's about unless they're waiting for the 3 Graces to reappear. Which might be the answer. Actually, that's probably exactly the answer. Whatever.

Well, the point of this ramble was that one of the boys thought the dress was perfect for Lady Gaga. That scared me a little. I mean, I love Lady Gaga as much or more than the next person but, sadly, she doesn't shop with me. And the sort of thing that appeals to her most likely won't appeal to my customers. More's the pity. So, Gaga, if you or your stylist are reading this, do call.

You can just go to www.smashingdarling.com/store/colvard-art-couture but I'd rather you call. Would love to chat.

If it appeals to any of my less famous readers, you shouldn't hesitate to check it out either. I'm going to price it at a fraction of its cost. In retrospect, its far too labor intensive for a summer sundress. So this will probably be Miss Kitty's only trip. Unless I get lucky and sell it right away. Which will be more than enough encouragement to convince me that I should try again.