I want you to picture this:
A white crisp cotton poplin dress. Even on my six foot two inch stature, the shift dress shape fell to my knees. It was sleeveless with a boatneck. There was a side slit. Said dress had a bright violet, French blue, and grass green floral print as outlined by doodle-y black lines on the white background. It looked like a style that Charlotte York would have worn season two or three of Sex and the City. It was before ESPRIT became the fast fashion brand it would fall into during the 2010s, before pulling out and returning to operations in the states, and eventually filing for bankruptcy.
I (by that, I mean my mom) bought this ESPRIT de corp dress from McRae’s (#tbt to regional department stores) circa the big spring sale in 1999. I think we woke up at six to be at the mall at the early hour of seven upon store opening, as the sale had the deepest promotions first thing in the morning and decreased every hour on the hour throughout the day. Naturally, every other daughter and mother would be lined up at the door for said dress.
Or not.
I wore this ESPRIT dress for the remainder of high school into college. It made for a great warm weather pin attire dress. (IYKYK.) However, I was inspired to wear it in the most iconoclastic of ways by a girl who also lived on the third floor of Becky Bacot Hall. Ruthie was the closest to a hippie I had ever met up until that point. In the year 2002, she was also the first person I had ever met who wore a dress over a pair of jeans.
That following spring, I sported my Gap Bootcut Jeans beneath the ESPRIT de corp shift dress. Shortly thereafter, the trend jumped the shark when it showed up on the red carpet sported by teen and tween celebrities. And I never wore a dress over denim again.
Recently I read that wearing dress over denim is coming back which is what propelled me to take this trip down memory lane. While I won’t be experimenting with layering again, I would wear that ESPRIT shift dress again in an instant.