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Wednesday, June 04, 2008

The white skirt/dress conundrum

I have talked about my love and desire for white summer dresses and skirts before. I think they're adorable and great for summer, except for one issue:

More often than not, they're see-through.

I wouldn't say that I'm ashamed of my body, because I'm not really, but there are things (like, oh, underwear) that I'm not comfortable flashing (literally) either. So I go around sticking my hands under skirts (AT STORES, not actual people's skirts!!) and seeing if I can see my hand through it before I even take it to the dressing room. And generally I can see right through that one layer of fabric (sometimes there's an equally thin lining, if you're lucky), and I sigh and I walk away.

With a white top, I'll wear a camisole underneath, no problem. And I do own slips -- I did theatre in high school and college, and if you think a skirt will be see-through walking down the street, it'll really be see-through when you've got a spotlight on you. (And, you know, sometimes your costume itself is a slip. Just saying.) But at the same time, if I'm wearing a cute summery white skirt, do I really want a polyester slip on? Not really, no.

Last year I bought a long chemise in Creme to wear under a white-skirted dress (that, uh, I still haven't worn), but maybe I should consider getting a miniskirt to wear just as a slip. But again, I don't think of summer as a time to layer up on skirts, do you? (Plus do I really want to give Dov Charney more of my money? Not really.) I could get an actual cotton slip, but it kind of rankles that I have to think about it at all.

So I'm stuck. I love white skirts, I don't want to wear slips. I can coo over the Gap's ruffle skirt or a cute Forever 21 skirt online, but I know that if I actually walk into the store and hold them up to the light, I'll be disappointed. (Plus that kind of happens with Forever 21 stuff all the time anyway.)

What do you think? What are your tricks for making white skirts and dresses work for you, or do you avoid them altogether?

image from gap.com

6 comments:

Kasmira said...

I have one of the Jovovich Hawk for Target dresses in cream. It has an underslip and seems to be not see through at all! I wouldn't want to get caught in the rain wearing it, though.

Girl-Woman said...

I am a fan of anything white -- white jeans, shorts, tees, but the white skirts I have hanging in my closet are lined. I don't think I have ever owned one that wasn't. As far as the white pants/slacks/shorts, I wear nude Commando boy shorts/undies.

Jeanne said...

Hi Kasmira and Girl-Woman! Thanks for your comments!

I do appreciate it when skirts (and dresses) have linings, but sometimes even the linings are too thin for my liking. I do have a pair of nude low-profile boy short-cut undies that I mean to wear under them, though.

(And Kasmira, I loved the Jovovich Hawk for Target line! I bought SO MUCH from it.)

Unknown said...

A professional actress I work with in the theater once told me that her trick to wearing her white skirt is to wear underwear in black color. Color black tends to absorb light rather than reflect it. Creates a kind of illusion, the underclothes do not call attention since it's in the shadows.

Jeanne said...

Hi Weng!

Hmmm, somehow that can't be right. I would think that black would show up the most because of the contrast.

Unknown said...
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