Young aristocrats in elegant pearls and extravagant feathered headpieces laugh in unison over strong cocktails, flouting societal norms with their wild debaucheries as the world teeters on the brink of World War II.
These renegaes are the subject of the 2003 film Bright Young Things; their devil-may-care attidute serves as the inspiration for Eliza Starbuck’s clothing line, which bears the film’s name. Embracing the movie’s themes of escapism (minus the tragic ending, of course), Eliza designed her Little Black Dress (LBD) as a versatile, season-less piece that disobeys fashion norms. It can be styled with any accessory to create any look that spans the breadth of one’s imagination.
On a gray summer afternoon, Eliza, carrying a clear, plastic umbrella mounted on a cerulean handle, sits at Franklin Fountain. In describing her dress, she looks out and remarks, “It’s the ultimate basic piece that goes with every color of the rainbow.”
Eliza originally created the LBD in 2009 for the Uniform Project: an avant-garde experiment in which one woman, Sheena Matheiken, wore the dress for 365 days, constantly restyling it, in order to raise awareness about sustainable fashion and, in turn, charitable funds.
This summer, Eliza launched the dress as part of her line Bright Young Things, in order to make her canvas of self-expression accessible to everyone.
“Anyone can tap into their imagination and design the dress with their personal style,” she says.
Ayasha Guerin, a sophomore at Penn, earned at internship with Eliza, and is working as a photographer on the BYT Street Team. Across campus, she has captured pictures of Penn students accessorizing the LBD with various pieces from their closets. One girl, from Penn’s Yalla dance troupe, draped her belly dancing hip scarf around the dress. A Whartonite chose to tie a handwoven scarf from a village in the Himalayas of Kashmir as a belt for the LBD.
Eliza produces the dress locally to avoid what she calls the “disconnects between design and production.” In doing so, she participates in all parts of the process, and is thus able to detect any wasteful activities along the way. In an industry that rarely promotes sustainable lifestyles, practically refusing to recycle clothes from the season before, Eliza manages to promote an eco-dress of sorts.
To demonstrate her dedication to her mission, Eliza participates in a “wear-a-thon”, where she incorporates the LBD into an original, creatively designed outfit on a daily basis.
On the occasion of our meeting, Eliza dons the dress as a casual romper, accessorized with a fuchsia suede belt she purchased from a school thrift store. The fluorite jade-colored stone on her necklace, is from her personal collection. Her strappy metallic sandals are from an old roommate, who was about to dispose of them.
And her patterned headband? That came from a bow wrapped around a gift she received for her 6-month yr old daughter. “We actually take turns wearing it. I put it on my baby and then I put it on me.”
She licks her icrecream cone topped with two scoops (peach and blueberry), chuckling to herself. As raindrops continuously splatter on our table, she then comments, “I love summer showers, it’s like being 5 years-old again.”
As it happens, the beauty of her dress is that it allows us to play out our childhood dress-up fantasies, yet simultaneously carries a sublte, dark message about the fragile state of our environment. Yet, even on a dreary day in South Philadlephia, it offers hope that reconciling these differing poles of existence is possible – just by styling a little black dress.
