I have a confession to make…I have an addiction.

It’s not to drugs.  Or alcohol.  Or food.  Or even the wrong type of man… (actually, let’s come back to this one at another time.)

It’s not deadly.  Or debilitating.  Or harmful.  Or even unhealthy.

It’s just pretty.  Darn pretty.

Yes, I am addicted to pretty dresses and I don’t care who knows it!

Hello, my name is Tracy, and I am a dress-aholic.

I absolutely love pretty dresses and have way more than I need.  I’m not entirely sure when this obsession first started.  Believe it or not, I wasn’t really considered a girly-girl growing up.  And I’ve certainly never been thought of as a fashionista or trendsetter.  But, as I’ve matured in age, both my taste and style have matured as well.

I think this is the one area where I truly do envy the Real Housewives.  They always have a chic party to go to and a new outfit to show off.  Sure, sometimes the ensemble is a casualty in a cat fight or gets ruined by an extra-large red wine stain, but that’s a price they are willing to pay, and most Housewives can afford it.

For me, one downfall with pretty dresses – at least the ones I like – they are not cheap!  Another downfall – and this one is fairly significant – you need to have a place to wear them.

I have places to go throughout the year that allow me to get dolled up.  However, I am now at the point where my pretty dresses far outnumber the elegant soirees.  And god forbid I wear something twice!  (The horror!  The horror!)  So, when faced with the choice of limiting my dress collection, (and easing my limited budget), or finding more stuffy, formal events to go to, I’m obviously going to pick the latter.  And hence…my growing addiction.

But for me, it’s not just looking good that is the allure of the pretty dress.  It’s the way the pretty dress makes me feel.  It makes me feel more than pretty.  It makes me feel confident and poised and elegant and sophisticated and, most of all, beautiful.   And these are things I don’t feel in my everyday life, even though I wish I did, (and really have no valid reason not to).  I don’t only feel those things when I’m dressed up – no, that’s certainly not the case.  But, it’s the only time I feel all of those things at the same time.  It’s the only time I get to be Cinderella.

Yet, in all honesty, nowadays, when I get dressed up, I am not channeling Cinderella, or more so, the Housewives.  There are actually two other style icons to look up to, and they were both absolutely gorgeous…outside and inside.  What’s even more, they were real women.  No, not like the Real Housewives.  One shouldn’t even be allowed to utter the names of these classic beauties in the same sentence as the Housewives!  My fashion gurus are that of the late Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn.  One, a true-life princess, while the other, the epitome of style.  (After all, who doesn’t have a Little Black Dress or a pair of ballet flats in her closet?  I know I do!  I actually have two or three LBD’s…or is it more like nine or ten?  Again…the addiction.)

My fascination with these lovely ladies didn’t develop until I neared forty.  At the time, the Housewives and the Kardashians and other reality darlings ruled the airways, (and ironically, and disturbingly, they still do today).  These overpaid fame whores also began dominating the covers of fashion magazines, walking numerous red carpets, and coming out with their own beauty and fashion brands, allowing the “average woman” to look and be like them.  And while their styles were gaudy and over the top, (in other words: boobs, boobs, boobs), my style, although never too edgy, was starting to tone down and become more age appropriate.  And that’s when Grace and Audrey entered the picture.

Legendary.  Elegant.  Stylish.  Charming.  Graceful.  Kind.  Charitable.  Why wouldn’t every woman, of any age, want to be like Grace and Audrey?  In fact, I think if more women did, the world would be in much better shape.  But sadly, I think we got off track somewhere and the role models from the fairy tales and Old Hollywood were replaced by the foul mouthed, oversexed, overexposed, caddy, selfish, opinionated celebrities we see everywhere today.

Luckily, I only need to be accountable for myself.  And if I continue to exude the virtues of Grace and Audrey, I think I will someday become the confident, poised, elegant, sophisticated, beautiful woman I want to be, on a regular basis.  In the meantime, if I must continue to dabble in my addiction to satisfy my stylish cravings, then so be it.

And by doing this, I plan to conquer my doubts and insecurities, one pretty dress at a time.

Team Audrey and Team Grace all the way!

Do you have a style icon that feeds into a pretty addiction?