Dresses
Photo: Tanya Clarke 2016
When I was very young I only ever wore dresses. Not skirts. Dresses. I can still remember some of them. At least I think I can.
There was the short, purple, flowery one with long sleeves that I loved to wear when I was about 3 years old. At the neck, the fabric gathered into a soft ruffle, with a narrow pink ribbon tied in a bow. The ribbon had a raised velvet nap on one side. I liked to rub the ribbon between my fingers, the soft nap was comforting.
I loved a new gingham summer dress for school along with a pair of bright white ankle socks or no socks at all if wearing sandals. Oh, how I loved a new pair of sandals. I remember walking to school with the warmth of the sun on my bare legs absorbing some heat before a morning spent inside doing lessons.
My mum made many of my dresses including the gingham school ones. I had another dress she made I loved. I was maybe about 5. The dress, a complex affair, had two layers.
The first layer, a dress of navy corduroy, had long sleeves, a round neck and a full skirt that hung just above my knee. A second layer, a pinafore lay over the top and buttoned up at the back, the fabric a yellow Holly Hobby pattern popular in the 1970s.
I loved this outfit.
One memorable day, with me wearing my best dress, involved a car journey with our dog Kimmy, an Irish Red Setter. I've no idea why our dog was with us. Maybe we were going to be away for the whole day — too long to leave her on her own in the house.
Kimmy lay on the back seat with me, her head on my lap, her head on my lovely two-layered pinafore dress.
Kimmy didn’t travel well and it wasn't long before she lifted her head, started to heave and threw up all over my best dress. I remember looking down and thinking her vomit looked like a raw egg, translucent with a yellow centre. I probably screamed, cried or shouted whilst trying to push the dog away from me while my mum and dad tried to figure out what to do from the front of the car.
We pulled over to get me out, the dog out and to clean up the car. The yellow pinafore (the best part of my outfit) came off to reveal the nice, clean navy dress underneath.
It was as if nothing had happened.
