“Look at it! Isn’t it Beautiful?”
One of my all-time favorite television shows is I Love Lucy. Not only is the show utterly brilliant, Lucy became an instant style icon for me. One episode she’d be wearing a wonderful slacks number, the next a gorgeous embroidered gown. Later in the series Lucy and company find themselves in Hollywood as Ricky is to star in a film. While in Hollywood, Lucy sees this as her only opportunity to own a Don Loper Original and she and Ethel go off to Don Loper’s salon in Beverly Hills where Lucy ultimately ends up in Loper’s celebrity wives charity fashion show after agreeing to purchase a dress without seeing the price tag, which turns out to be way over how much she told Ricky she would spend.
The amount proves to be so much, she is fearful of a reprisal from Ricky and intentionally gets a sunburn so Ricky will feel sorry for her and thus not get upset over the hefty price tag, however she is then told that instead of wearing her original dress for the show, that she is told by Mr. Loper that she needs to wear a recent tweed creation of his (because, of course, tweed is a sunburn’s best friend!), however in return she will receive the dress she already purchased for free.
The fashion show is a wonderful display of some of the most stunning garments of the 1950s and all worn by the real-life wives of famous stars of the period including the wives of Dean Martin and William Holden.
Ever since I saw this episode (titled “The Fashion Show”) I found myself with a hunger to own a Don Loper dress of my own. However, the usual price tag of a Don Loper is a bit uncomfortable for me, although much less than what a dress cost originally in 1955. I wasn’t sure how I would get my hands on one, but I knew one day I would. And today, my years of patience paid off.
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Love it– so classy and feminine!
Oh my goodness! That dress is amazing, and you just look thrilled.
What a gorgeous dress – and you look sooo happy!!
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You lucky, lucky woman! I love the colour and print of this dress and it looks AMAZING on you. Congrats.
I love Lucy…especially her hats & hair. This dress is fabulous, but more than anything you look fabulously happy in it. I am so happy for you!
I’m so glad you finally hot your dress! It’s nice when long held dreams come to fruition. I love your Lucille Ball hair and poses for the photos…very appropriate and pretty to boot! I must confess to being a bit of an I Love Lucy fan myself. xx
That dress is perfect for you. Glad your patience was rewarded!
How awesome that you finally got your dress! You look stunning in it!
I said a swear when a saw it. Its so wonderful! Congrats!
Wow! What a lovely dress, great colors and fits you perfectly, you are a lucky gal!
Love the dress and the blog post is fab 🙂
How great! That dress looks wonderful on you, what a find! I sincerely do love Lucy (I’ve had a Vitameatavegamin poster on my wall since I was 10) and she really proves that you can be funny and gorgeous.
WOWZERS! What an amazing find! It looks amazing on you and looks like it was made for you. 🙂
pretty! that was a good purchase
How fabulously awesome that one of your dream dresses came true – and what a complete and total beauty it is!!! I remember that episode of Lucy, though it’s probably been about 20 years since I saw it last. Lucy was one of my first vintage fashion influences, too, and I’ve always loved the fashions she sported in every episode as well.
♥ Jessica
So lovely,and it fits you perfectly, you really lucked out! I also love Lucy…my favorite episodes were when she was pregnant with little Ricky. Im very fond of vintage maternity wear, and she inspired me to make numerous vintage maternity outfits when I was pregnant.
It’s so perfect for you! It fits wonderfully! What a gorgeous dress! My mom LOVES “I Love Lucy” (she took a Vitameatavegamin sign with us everywhere we moved), and my sister and I grew up watching all the episodes. SO fun!
Fabulous! Vintage dreams do come true!
All I can say is that Rhiannon is a very good friend to let you have 1st dibs on the dress!
OH. MY. GOODNESS. That’s a headturner, for sure! And I love the Loper provenance, gosh, it’s so neat to find something you’ve been looking for for a long, long time! Congrats!
I love the print on that dress. It fits you perfectly, too! Just awesome, I love it when that happens.
Stunning. That colour is amazing on you and what a cut!
Oh that dress was just waiting for you to own it!!!! You look ridiculously gorgeous, that dress is perfect on you :3
That’s so cool! The dress is lovely. I Love Lucy was such a terrific show. Everything on it was so creative – I think because a lot of the plots have been copied people forget that all the ideas were brand new. And you have the lovely red Lucy hair that goes so well with the color of the dress.