How To: Rock Lingerie in Public

I’m all about the risque, so I was initially psyched about Fall’s lingerie-inspired trends.

(Note: Do you know WHY designers show their goods on the runway a long, ludicrous season ahead of the current season? Because Fashion’s stuck in a pre-sweatshop past where women HAD to order their clothes that far in advance. Obvs not the case in September of 2009, hence the reason I concern myself only with what I can wear NOW. Instant gratification and all that jazz. Anyway…)

Here’s the problem with stylized nighties. What showed on the runway for Fall 2009 only resembled lingerie; it wasn’t real, live underwear. The latter’s a whole lot cheaper, but if you can’t manipulate it to look like a dress or a top or whatever, you’ll just look like you forgot to get dressed. Quite the pickle.

I came across Gillian O’Malley’s Floral Chemise on a recent trip to Target; I bought it because I was bonkers about the print. (I also couldn’t afford two Gossip Girl dresses, and figured a $16.99 piece of lingerie was a decent compromise as long as I could tweak it appropriately.)

The babydoll cut screams underwear, so my goal was to give the thing some semblance of a waist. My belts weren’t up to the task for multiple reasons; the leather ones kept sliding all over the satin-esque material, and the fabric ones created unsightly bunching about the torso. Enter the wrap top.

The black one’s Only Hearts, jacked from Mom’s closet. The cream silk scarf was also one of her castoffs. The tights were $5.99 at Burlington. That means the total out-of-pocket cost of this outfit is approximately $23.00plustax. We likey.



The red wrap top is DVF, and was a dress in a previous life (damage discovered after Mom bought it on sale made it mine – I obvs scissored to my heart’s content). I added an American Apparel striped skirt under it for absolutely no reason. Take it or leave it.