{"id":19712,"date":"2013-03-25T00:01:32","date_gmt":"2013-03-25T04:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wendybrandes.com\/blog\/?p=19712"},"modified":"2013-03-24T23:08:48","modified_gmt":"2013-03-25T03:08:48","slug":"what-wendy-wore-dolce-gabbana-purple-leopard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/2013\/03\/what-wendy-wore-dolce-gabbana-purple-leopard\/","title":{"rendered":"What Wendy Wore: Dolce & Gabbana and Rihanna’s Necklace"},"content":{"rendered":"

I sure do love leopard print<\/a>, and one of my major fashion regrets is that I missed out on a two-toned leopard-print dress by Dolce & Gabbana in 2010<\/a>. After I saw this bit of perfection on Rihanna I searched for it everywhere but to no avail. It was sold out in my size.<\/p>\n

\"rihanna\"<\/a>

This would look so good on me. Click for original post.<\/p><\/div>\n

I’m still looking for that dress on eBay, resale stores and other places<\/a>. Someday, I WILL find it in my size. But, back in 2010, I consoled myself with a purple leopard Dolce.<\/p>\n

\"purpledolce_10242\"<\/a>

Wearing my purple Dolce dress in 2010. Click for original post.<\/p><\/div>\n

There’s something that bothers me about this dress. Even though it seems to be the same basic idea as my beloved Diane von Furstenberg leopard dress<\/a>, the differences make it very “Real Housewives promotional photo<\/a>” to me: the color, the shinier fabric, additional ruching, lower neckline and slightly higher hemline. Sigh. I think it fits me nicely, but it’s got a tacky bandage-dress<\/a> vibe. Earlier this month, I looked at the dress in my closet and wondered: “When should I wear this again?” Then I realized I was about to go to Miami’s South Beach<\/a>. Perfect. If you need to find an appropriate outlet for something that’s a little trashy, Las Vegas, Miami, the Jersey Shore and Manhattan’s Meatpacking District<\/a> are your ideal destinations. Miami it was for me, because I can’t bring myself to go to the Meatpacking District these days. I remember that area from the ’80s and early ’90s, when there was nothing there but the 24-hour restaurant Florent <\/a>and the club Tunnel<\/a> and the drag queens who frequented both. It depresses me to see the neighborhood looking like Fraternity Row now, with bandage-dress-wearing New Jersey girls staggering drunkenly through the cobblestone streets on wobbly heels with their khaki-wearing, bottle-popping boyfriends. (I’ll be as snobby as I want about poorly dressed-and-behaved Jersey peeps, because I’m from Jersey and I know there’s no local law demanding you be as cheesy as possible for life. SNAP OUT OF IT<\/a>!)<\/p>\n

Anyway, this is how I wore the purple Dolce to a random restaurant in South Beach<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n

\"purpledresscrop\"What Wendy Wore<\/strong>
\nDress:<\/strong> Dolce & Gabbana (2010)<\/em>
\nShoes:<\/strong> Prada (2010)<\/em>
\nLip color:<\/strong> Tarte LipSurgence matte lip tint in Lively<\/a> <\/em>
\nNecklace:<\/strong> My own Mud Flap Jill design<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Here’s a close-up of the necklace I’m wearing in that photo.<\/p>\n

\"trucker_girls_gold__77761_std\"<\/a>

$1,600. Click to purchase.<\/p><\/div>\n

While I haven’t gotten to wear Rihanna’s two-toned leopard dress yet, we girls do have that piece of jewelry in common. In 2011, I blogged that I thought my ruby-nippled Mud Flap Jill naked-lady necklace<\/a> would be perfect for the pop star, who has a collection of delicate-but-naughty pieces. A year later, my dream came true<\/a>: Rihanna<\/a> wore my necklace<\/a>! It was such a thrill to get pictures of her for my scrapbook.<\/p>\n

That was the primary benefit, by the way. Everyone thinks that if a mega-celeb wears a designer’s piece, that the item flies out of the store (or website). I’m sure it might work that way for affordable items or very well-known luxury brands with lots of pre-celeb customer recognition, but that’s not what happens with my small high-end business. My friends who design higher-priced clothing for their own labels or who own small clothing stores aren’t rolling in dough after a celebrity sighting either. As I’ve written before in a The Bitchtastic Guide to Business\u2122 post, fame does NOT equal fortune<\/a>. I like to tell you the truth about business<\/a> here, and I’m not going to pretend that Rihanna moment did anything for me sales-wise. But that doesn’t mean seeing her wearing my design wasn’t awesome. It totally was! I still love looking at the photos. Now if only Bad Gal RiRi<\/a> would wear the gold-plated, larger-size<\/a> IDGAF<\/a> necklace I sent her as a follow-up. I feel sure that if her peeps showed it to her, she would adore it because she’s always telling people that she doesn’t give a fuck. Her latest album is called Unapologetic<\/a><\/em>, for crying out loud. Also, she should revel in that final WENDYB by Wendy Brandes<\/a> gift because, in addition to #phuckyoconsignment<\/a>, my updated business strategy includes #phuckyocelebrity. No sense in handing out famous-people freebies if sales don’t result, especially when the celebrity in question is drowning in free Prada<\/a> and Givenchy. I’ve got neither the gift-giving budget of those big design houses nor the international brand-name appeal. It’s okay. If I were the celeb with a pile of free goods in front of me, I’d pick the Prada before the unknown names too. But that means that from now on, I’ll gift for only love, not business reasons, hunty!<\/a><\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve linked my purple Real-Housewives-worthy purple dress to the Visible Monday Post<\/a> at Not Dead Yet Style. Check out the post to see what a lot of lovely blogging ladies have been wearing lately. <\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I sure do love leopard print, and one of my major fashion regrets is that I missed out on a two-toned leopard-print dress by Dolce & Gabbana in 2010. After I saw this bit of perfection on Rihanna I searched for it everywhere but to no avail. It was sold out in my size. I’m…<\/p>\n

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