Throwback Thursday: 2005 Hair, Dog, and Dress

While searching for some old jewelry photos, I came across this May 25, 2005, photo of me and the late, great Gigi the dog.

My first reaction was, “OMG! She looks so young and beautiful!” I mean, I look okay, but Gigi was ravishing. Clearly, she had just been groomed, because she hadn’t gotten one of her hair ribbons out yet.

Gigi left us for dog heaven in 2017 at the grand old age of 16, and these photos were taken 16 years ago, and for some reason, I’m weirded out by the repetition of the number 16 in this sentence.

My hair was its natural wavy texture in the photo with Gigi, so upon first viewing the photo, I thought, “Oh, this must have been my ‘Natural Texture’ Year.” Then I got confused because of this photo with fairly straight hair that was taken the next night — May 26, 2005.

Upon further investigation, the Gigi photo was, indeed, midway through my “Wow, I Really Do Hate My Natural Texture” Year. In March 2005, I was fully committed to going wavy.

In the May 26 photo, I’d probably just styled my hair straighter, but by August 2005, I’d apparently had enough of that. I’m sure the look below resulted from a chemical treatment, rather than flat-ironing.

My peeps, don’t bother telling me you love the natural look. If my hair guru Keith Carpenter — who has cut my hair for half my life, literally — can’t persuade me, you definitely will not.

By the way, the vintage dress seen in the third photo was photographed in 2011 by New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham. (Few things made me as happy as a photo by Bill!)

I still have that dress, but I’m 10 solid pandemic pounds away from being able to fit into it. My commitment to slow fashion — which requires fitting into old clothes that I still truly love — has made me sad about my unstoppable cookie binges and the collapse of my decades of exercise discipline. But Will Smith has come to the rescue!

This photo is so cute: Will is serving face AND realness. Plus, he shares my baked-goods fixation! I’m now inspired to get back in shape with Will, even if YouTube is only paying one of us to do it, and that one ain’t me. Will, use some of that YouTube money to buy some Wendy Brandes Jewelry as a non-caloric treat for us both!