Rivky on Repeat: The All American Dress

Rivky on Repeat is the series where I commit the fashion crime of wearing the same exact clothes for 7 days IN A ROW. 

Here are the rules I follow:

💛The repeat item has to be worn all day

💛Accessories can be changed throughout the day

💛Accessory combinations cannot be repeated day to day but individual pieces can be re-used. (For example I can wear the same shoes paired with a different bag or jewelry)

Let's see just how far we can take The All American Dress

 

Day 1: Monday, August 29

I love the idea of kicking off the Rivky on Repeat series with the All American Dress because I know I have some limiting beliefs around denim. This week I'm committed to expanding those horizons.

Today I have a pretty regular work day so I went with puffy Toms and my short wig for the comfort factor and added on a black butterfly headband for some extra cute points. 

The day started off with my mom at the paint store. She's repainting a few rooms and wanted my opinion on color, so we picked out a few options and headed back to her place to try them out on the wall...where I immediately got some paint on my dress. *cue eye roll* A wet paper towel, 5 minutes of scrubbing and a sore arm later- the dress was saved and my painting privileges were revoked but we went on with the day.

The headband played well with the denim and I put the waist up version of this outfit to good use by recording a few reels, then took care of some paperwork and continued planning for the pop up tour starting on Sunday. 

Whenever I can, I walk home. I find that those 10 minutes are a great way to decompress and slowly transition into Mommy mode. It was about 80 when I left the studio and while the All American Dress is not one of my go-to heat pieces it held up pretty well. I certainly wasn't dripping and to be honest I don't think I was sweating any more than I would in something lighter. 

Day 2: Tuesday, August 30

Right off the bat, today's look did not go as planned. My husband and I have a night out scheduled with friends and I wanted to get dressed in the morning to suit that activity. Alas, I could not find my orange headband so instead I wore this grey one, which still had the sporty look I was going for, even if it wasn't quite as much fun as the orange I wanted to wear. I threw on my sneakers to complete the look and got my day started at the studio.

Pop up prep is in full swing so after answering a mountain of customer emails and catching up on DMs, I sat down to refresh my register skills. Shopify, the system that I use to run my website, has totally changed their in person selling program since the last time I used it so a few YouTube tutorials were in order.

Then my husband picked me up from work so we can head off to...Citi Field! We are huge Mets fan so it's always fun when we can get tickets to a game. Honestly, I can't think of anything more Americana than hot dogs at a baseball game so The All American Dress definitely blended right in. And yes, my orange headband would have been better but the grey worked just fine also. 

This was an especially fun game because Edwin Diaz's trumpet guy was there in person (google it if you want to have a song stuck in your head for the next three days). My favorite part of any game is the food, which I very much enjoyed. Plus it was nice to know as I was sitting and just generally being comfortable that I didn't have to worry about buttons gaping because of the extended placket on this dress.

Unfortunately we lost and it started raining so I was a bit wet by the end of the night, but overall it was a fun night in a great look.

Day 3: Wednesday, September 1

I'll admit that when this morning rolled around, I was feeling a real need to mix things up. After two days of basically only changing up the shoes and hair I wanted to challenge myself to do something very different.

While I was rifling through my closet for some inspiration, I came upon this floral dress that I love but wear super rarely because it has cap sleeves. A lightbulb went off when I realized I could wear The All American Dress open over that floral dress and voila a super cute and unique look was born. I added some black and grey toned flats, a headband and a messy-not-on-purpose braid to finish off the look.

My day today was pretty standard, I took care of some podcast editing  and continued prepping for the pop up tour by picking up signs and cards for Sunday. There was a small part of me that felt a little 'too dressed up' for a full day in the studio. Almost like the outfit was wasted on today and would be better used when I'm heading into the factory or meeting a friend for lunch. But life is worth getting dressed for, right?

When I got home, I threw my All American Dress in the washing machine (inside out, by itself) and then laid it flat to dry on a towel overnight. The trick with laying anything flat to dry is that you need to really straighten out all the seams and make sure it's lined up properly with itself. This is called blocking and trust me, those 5 extra seconds make a world of difference. 

Day 4: Thursday, September 1

Today's look was all about function. The Pop Up Tour is starting on Sunday (eeek!) which means that today is packing day. Whenever I have a lot of physical work to do and no meetings, I skip the wig and wear a beanie. (On days when I have a lot of physical work and also meetings I'll usually wear a wig and just take it off when I get to the heavy shlepping. There are some real perks to working mostly by yourself in your Mom's house.) I wore a set of green Toms that I abuse on the regular. I have to say, I started wearing toms when I was pregnant because they were literally the only things I could get on my super swollen feet, and I've held onto them since. They really are great shoes!

I started off the day with a somewhat vague idea of how I was going to pack up all of my inventory and move it to different locations. If I'm being perfectly honest, it's such a huge task that I sort of blocked it out and told myself Target would have the answers. And boy did she! I found these enormous drawer sets that can move around pretty easily. It took a few hours and 2 Targets but I managed to find enough to fit what I need and headed back to the studio to pack.

Packing is one of those tasks that you need to just suck up and do. So by this afternoon it was time to start shlepping, while keeping everything organized and neat. The drawers were super helpful with this and about two (maybe three, I'm not totally sure) hours later everything coming to the pop up was in a drawer, labeled, and ready to go. The pockets on The All American Dress came in super handy while I was doing this. For those 3 hours I was basically just running around the studio trying to make sense of a huge job and not having to constantly go back to my desk every time my phone buzzed was a huge time saver. (You can see an entertaining time lapse of me running around like a crazy person here)

The day ended with one very tired Rivky taking several deep breaths on a calming walk home. I also stopped off at Eshes Chayil, the local boutique hosting Sunday's pop up to check in, say hi and make sure everything was in order for the big day.

I'll admit that I'm really nervous. I haven't done pop up shops in years, and I've never done a huge coordinated tour with this much inventory and this many locations. I've already heard from so many Lovelies that they can't wait to try on certain pieces and I'm feeding of all of your energy to make the final push to get everything done in time.  

Day 5: Friday, September 2

Fridays are a workout, there's no way around that. And I wanted to challenge myself to incorporate the All American Dress into my usual Friday uniform of a headscarf, t-shirt dress, and sneakers.

So that's exactly what I did. I put on my usual uniform and then tied The All American Dress around my waist and let me tell you it felt so...glam. Almost like I was wearing a hi-lo skirt but it all felt so natural for the Friday run around.

My day started like it usually does in Fridays, with a trip to the grocery store and some time in the kitchen prepping for Shabbos. Then I headed off the the studio to put the final touches on the preparations for the Pop Up Tour starting on Sunday. Remember those paint colors we picked out earlier in the week? Well that work had started and so I took the All American Dress off from around my waist when I got to the studio because I did not want it swooshing and twirling into any paint.

I went into Shabbos feeling energized with some pretty great ideas and looking forward to the pop up on Sunday.

Day 6: Shabbos (Saturday), September 3

I will be the first to admit that this look was more of an intellectual exercise because I was not planning on leaving my house this Shabbos. And to point out the obvious, these photos were taken on Friday.

So how does one make a denim dress dressy enough to wear on Shabbos? It's tricky because the fabric is inherently casual. No one wears jeans to a wedding, you know?

To dress up The All American Dress, I decided to focus on adding as many details as I could to the look. First, I layered with my Ready Topper. The lace is so exquisite, it automatically elevates everything it comes near. Plus, the side ties were another way to add interest to the denim dress. I wore my nice wig and some gold wire crochet earrings, that I paired with gold sandals and a chunky silver bracelet. Mixed Metals are an easy way to keep everything coordinated and it's one of my go-tos.

At the end of the day, I really ended up liking this look. To be clear, I wouldn't wear this look to shul (synagogue) because I just don't think it's respectful to wear denim in shul, but for a shabbos afternoon out, it works!

Day 7: Sunday, September 4

It's Pop up Day! Today is the first stop on my pre-holiday pop up tour and that meant I needed to feel cute, get dressed up, and also be able to schlep a heck of a lot of inventory.

I kept my styling today elevated but simple so it wouldn't be in my way and added a braided stretch belt and my long wig to The All American Dress along with nude flats that are also super comfortable. 

The day was incredible. I barely had a second to breathe and didn't get a chance to take many photos and videos but I did get to chat with and style all the Lovelies who came and it just reminded me why I do what I do. By the end of the night, the dress held up so well even though my feet certainly did not.

Over this last week wearing The All American Dress every day I feel like I really got to explore it in a different way then I otherwise would have and I think my biggest takeaway is how with just a little bit of thought we can take our clothes out of the boxes we put them into. I've always known that when you invest in fewer higher quality pieces you get more mileage out of them but I've never put it to the test in this way. I hope this motivates you to explore your own closet and see where it takes you.