dressing up like a celebrity

I will always remember Gweneth Paltrow’s Oscar dress from 1999… my freshman year of college… mainly because I knew that one day I would wear a pink dress just like that “somewhere.”

Now that might sound like normal behavior of a freshman in college living in among movie premieres in LAlaland, but considering that I’d never been to a formal dance of any sort (hello to my fellow Prom ditchers out there!) this was sort of strange behavior for a girl like me.

And yet, when I saw a copy of this dress (that wasn’t quite the same low-cut) that summer, I snatched it up, put it in my closet and waited for the opportunity to arrive.

It finally came, by the time I was a junior in college, had joined a sorority which held formals, and had slimmed enough to fit into the size 6 that I bought on sale. And who knows if I was totally uncouth wearing something that was so two years ago, but damn I loved that dress!

;

We now watch the red carpet with this seemingly normal impulse to critique and judge and love and loathe the clothes people are wearing. But in 1999, my dear Gwennie captured my heart with a dress before I even knew I was supposed to be yearning for those clothes and I think I’ve wanted to be her ever since. (OK… maybe I wanted to be her when she was dating Brad, but still!)

Have you had the “I want to dress up like a celebrity!” moment… and done it?