From Woodstock to Mackie: My Mexican Embroidered Dress Obsession

My aunt Janet has an amazing yellow dress covered in colorful embroidery that she breaks out every summer, retelling the story of how she wore it to Woodstock. This summer, my sister Molly's sister-in-law Jen found a company selling similar Mexican embroidered dresses in a myriad of colors: The Mackie. Molly had to have one. So did I. And soon, so did all of our girl cousins! I had such a hard time picking a color, I left a note in the checkout page of the website asking for a surprise color! The dress arrived in Orchid and I couldn't be happier! I got the "Classic" length and then hemmed it to above my knee, because I was worried "Beach" length would be too short. It was fun to see all the cousins in their Mackie dresses at a recent family reunion, no two are the same! Note Janet wearing the original.

I'm a little obsessed. Despite a rather difficult website with far too few photos of the colors available, I'm considering getting another one! I have my eye on the orange with solid white stitching, if it ever comes back in stock! There's an interview with company founder Pam Cameron on the Wild Precious Life blog, which features my favorite quote about the Mackie dress: 

"The great thing about the Mackie is its versatility. There’s the 'day to night' aspect of it. I’ll wear it with flip-flops at the beach or to lunch and then at night with wedge heels and earrings to dinner. However, a friend of mine recently pointed out that she likes the 'night to day' strength of the Mackie. She wears it to bed, wakes up and wears it straight out to get her coffee and drop the kids at school! It looks great with a big broad brimmed sun hat, espadrilles and a belt for something like strolling through the farmers market."

The Mackie goes to work! I felt that the black belt, cardigan and ballet flats dressed it up for the office.

Molly ordered a size up (small instead of XS) to leave room for the baby in her belly :)

Dresses can be ordered at themackie.com and there are better pictures on the company's Facebook page.