Stevie Nicks to Strawberry Shortcake

Once upon a time there was a dress. To say it was the ugliest dress in the world may be a little harsh, but it did have a 'Stevie Nicks meets red riding hood 1983' kind of feel to it.



But the dress had seen a lot of love. Someone had picked out the gorgeous red floral cotton, the cream floral contrasting fabric, and some swirly red and white resin buttons. They then sewed and sewed, and created...well.....something of a travesty if you ask me. But then, I am a child of the 80s, so my intolerance of the fashion crimes committed during this decade (which are trying to come back to embarrass a whole new generation at the moment it seems) is possibly a little extreme. But back to the dress. It had the bat wings, it had the pointy ruffled over-skirt bits, it had the 'medieval-style' lace-ups at the back, it had the big shoulder pads, and of course, it had the 'drop waist'.



This dress was worn a lot. It had been ripped and carefully mended, and the collar was stained with age and wear. One day, however, the owner and the dress parted company, and the dress made its way to St Vinnies. There it was spied by a girl on the lookout for fabric and buttons.

The dress had a new home, but little did it know it was to stay a dress for not much longer. That night, while her husband tinkered with and cursed his mountain bike and its baffling parts, the girl started cutting. She decided not to plan her object. It was cut out freehand, and pieced together ad hoc. Not necessarily because of a lack of respect for the dress, but more so that it inspired her to create with a childlike enthusiasm and impatience, and well, after all, the dress did only cost $1.00. If the project ended up a dud, then there would be no real loss, and at least the process was fun.

At the end of the evening, the girl held up her project for her husband to admire.....well? "Ha Ha" he laughed. "It's a Strawberry Shortcake bag". Maybe not the exultation or even admiration the girl was looking for, but she took it to mean it was not a failure. The freehand thing didn't really work out. There's a bit of wonkiness. But the girl thinks it's ok. It's a thing from the 80s she can live with (and looks a lot better on her than the dress did).

The end.