Queen of Babble in the Big City Read Online Free PDF

Nichols’s Wedding Gown Guide
    Know your…
    Wedding-gown sleeve lengths!

    Strapless—no sleeves at all, of course!

    Spaghetti strap—very thin straps

    Sleeveless—wider straps

    Cap—very, very short sleeves, usually just an extension of the shoulder. Not attractive in brides over forty (unless they work out. With weights).

    Short—lower edge of the sleeve usually falls straight across the middle of the upper arm.
     
    This length is generally considered too casual for a formal wedding.

    Above the elbow—this length works best on brides who are concerned about “chicken skin” beneath their arms.

    Three-quarter—this sleeve ends three fourths of the way down the arm, midway between the elbow and the wrist. Flattering on nearly everyone.

    Seven-eighth—ends two inches above the wrist. This is an awkward length for bridal gowns.

    Wrist length—this length works nicely for more conservative brides, or those trying to hide unsightly eczema on their arms.

    Full length—falls one inch below the wrist bone. This is the preferred length for brides favoring a “medieval” or “Renaissance” look to their gown.
    L IZZIE N ICHOLS D ESIGNS ™

Chapter 4
    Gossip is the tool of the poet, the shop-talk of the scientist, and the consolation of the housewife, wit, tycoon and intellectual. It begins in the nursery and ends when speech is past.
    —Phyllis McGinley (1905–1978), American poet and author
    M aybe Shari’s right. Maybe I do need to take things with Luke a little slower. There’s no need to start planning our wedding now. After all, I only just got my degree…or not even, actually, since I just turned in my thesis, and my advisor says I won’t technically graduate until January. Not that I’m changing my graduation date on my résumé, because, you know, who even checks that?
    Besides, Mom and Dad would FLIP if they found out I took off for Europe—let alone accepted all those book lights as graduation gifts—without actually having finished my degree.
    The same way they would FLIP if they found out I was moving in with a guy I met there. In Europe, I mean. I’m going to have to keep my living situation on the DL. Maybe I’ll just tell them Shari and I are sharing a place…except what if they talk to Dr. Dennis? Dang…
    Okay, I’ll worry about that later.
    Obviously, I need to use this time to concentrate on my career. I mean, how am I ever going to get interviewed by Vogue if I never actually do anything interview-worthy?
    Although Shari would look really cute in a cap-sleeved dupioni silk bustier bridesmaid top, with a tea-length skirt in a sort of antique-rose color, like that skirt on the mannequin in the window…
    Okay, stop it. Just stop. I’m not going to think about that now. There’ll be plenty of time to design a bridesmaid gown that will look lovely on Shari and hideous on Rose and Sarah. Right now I need to concentrate on getting a job. Because that’s the most important thing at the moment. What am I going to do with my life? I can’t just be someone’s wife. Anybody can do that.
    And okay, sure, I bet Vogue would interview me just for being the wife of a prince. Well, a pseudoprince. They do interviews with wives of pseudoprinces all the time. They call them “hostesses.”
    I don’t want to be a “hostess.” I don’t even like parties.
    No, I have to figure out a way to leave my mark on the world. Something only I can do. Which appears to be refurbish vintage wedding dresses.
    Which you would think there’d be a huge demand for. Doesn’t everyone have an old wedding dress in the attic they’d like to have fixed up? The trick is, how to reach all the women out there who need my services, while at the same time being able to support myself? Of course there’s always the Internet, but—
    Ooooh, that is the cutest Jonathan Logan red Spanish lace dress…shame about the rip in the lace. Still, that’s an easy fix. How much—oh my God. Four hundred and fifty