Outfit: Where the World Turns Blue

One of the drawbacks about living where I do is that there are no nearby bodies of water.  There isn’t even a duck pond or a little creek, so I drove about an hour to get here to take these pictures.  It’s the first time I’ve been to the beach all year, and this is how I was dressed!  In my defense, though, I’d been going for a Regency-era bathing costume look, and I think I hit the mark.

I’d been dying to wear this dress again for an outfit post.  Back when I was still taking pictures on my phone, I staged one of my very favorite shoots to date while wandering around an old mill house in this dramatic ensemble (see here).  I don’t suppose I feel better in any other item of clothing in my closet.  I love the contrasting stripes, the flowing skirt, the perfectly fitted waistline.  It seems to me like an updated version of something a Jane Austen character would wear, perhaps Catherine Morland of Northanger Abbey?

When I arrived at the beach on this day, everything went wrong.  Instead of it being empty–it was a chill day–there were lots of people around.  I’d been playing around with the manual settings on my camera and started off with some miserably overexposed shots (although they did turn out pretty cool–see the last shot).  I got sand in my purse and plenty of grit in my shoes.  I might have scratched my lens.

But you know what?  I really like the way these turned out, and I think I must owe it to the dress.  I want to throw a parade for it.

Hat: Urban Outfitters

Dress: old, Anthropologie

Hair clip: ModCloth

Shoes: old, Seychelles (similar)