The Angry Birds dress

[RobinJ]

I was picturing something so much worse...I was pleasantly surprised.  For some reason I was picturing something very red, very short and involving a lot of feathers. 

Me too!

I like the dress.  I'd never wear it as it is not my style at all but for her (considering he DH) why not?

[P-p-p-penguin]

I think it's totally awesome!  I love Angry Birds and I thought it was a great way to show support for her hubby.  It's a nice dress and was appropriate for the occasion.  I fail to see how it could be rude.

[WillyNilly]

I think it was appropriate for the event, for her body type and quite frankly to her station in life - Angry Birds helped make her husband successful (the profits from the game no doubt in large part helped her get to a place to be invited to such an event and be able to afford a custom dress).

I see nothing rude or any etiquette breaches whatsoever.

[Winterlight]

I think it's fine- she's appropriately clad for the occasion.

[lollylegs]

When I read the OP, before seeing the picture, my first thought was, "It's a bit crass to self promote at a state dinner." Now that I've seen the dress... I don't know. It's very pretty, bright, fun and definitely appropriate for the occasion, and if the Angry Birds connection hadn't been pointed out to me I wouldn't have even know, but... I don't know, I still think it's slightly crass.

[Minmom3]

I have no idea if it's polite, but it's a pretty dress and it's funny!  And I agree that it's subtle enough to just look like a regular dress if you're not looking for the bird.

The dress could have been okay, but the placement of the eye is questionable, which is probably at least partially responsible for the criticism.  That aside, it's actually kind of pretty. 

That is a good point. I once bought myself a beautiful t-shirt with a tiger face on it--and after the first time I wore it, relegated it to sleep-shirt status. Because I realized the tiger's eyes were...strategic.  I don't think it's rude, but it does draw the eye.

A bug-eyed tiger?

I don't think there is anything wrong with her dress, it's long and elegant.  Unless it's pr0nographic, I don't see that the colour/fabric pattern of a dress falls into etiquette territory.

Snerk...  When I was in high school, back in 'ought 2... (early 70's actually), my darling Grandmother game me a happy face t-shirt for Christmas.  Fugly.  Thing was chipmunk cheeked.  Which my boyfriend and all the guys I knew thought was WONDERFUL, and mortified me.  It became a sleep shirt post haste...

[Ereine]

I don't mind the dress, though it's not really to my taste.

That said, I think that an argument can be made that it wasn't maybe really appropriate, for reasons that don't probably make sense unless you're Finnish. Independence Day is a celebration, but not really in the sense I imagine it's in the US. It's more of a remembrance as we came very close to losing our independence during WWII and Independence Day is mostly about that. The only parades that happen are either military or students with candles who march to graves of fallen soldiers (Finland retrieved most of the bodies so all cemeteries have an area of "hero graves"), there's always a famous war movie on tv and the biggest event is watching the party at president's palace on tv (I think that about a quarter of population watches it live).

It is mostly a frivolous party but even it is partly about the war veterans (I think that we should also find some other forms of celebration but for many people Independence Day is only about the veterans and their sacrifices). So before the party the tabloids run stories about who's invited (certain people are guaranteed invitations, like members of parliament, both domestic and EU, diplomats, representatives of churches, police force, military and so on. There will also be some people the president has met on her travels, artists, athletes who have done well, business people, war veterans, all in all 1500 guests) and what they will be wearing. Some people will say that the party is a bad idea and takes away from what Independence Day should be about, it's a very serious day after all. Then there's the party. It's incredibly boring tv, there's couple of hours of people shaking hands with the president, hoping that someone will wear something crazy and then there are interviews about what Independence means to you (mostly they are grateful for the sacrifices of the war veterans). It's pretty much the same every year (except next year we'll have a new president but the party will still be there). Then the next day the tabloids and newspapers have pictures of the dresses, polls about who was the prettiest and stories about who had the craziest outfit and then some people will be upset because people weren't respecting the serious occasion and that it shouldn't be about them standing out but about honoring the work of the people who had built the country. There will always be people who wear crazy clothes but it isn't really a red carpet event (despite the red carpet) in the sense of Oscars or something like that so I guess that if it can argued that if you can't wear clothes that are too crazy at a wedding then you shouldn't at that party. Personally I don't really mind and have only watched it on tv because of the outfits. There were some things this year that did break etiquette, like these ones (the first ones are about having your hair down which is apparently awful. Then there's a woman in a suit that isn't formal enough and a member of parliament who always dresses like that).

[DCGirl]

Thank you, ereine, for supplying the Finnish perspective.  That was very interesting and very helpful.  With that said, I posted the story here because I thought the dress was eyebrow-raising (although, honestly, it was about as tasteful as a dress decorated with an angry bird could possibly be).  Now, I think I'm leaning even more in the direction of not appropriate for the solemnity of Independence Day in Finland. 

[Yvaine]

That said, I think that an argument can be made that it wasn't maybe really appropriate, for reasons that don't probably make sense unless you're Finnish. Independence Day is a celebration, but not really in the sense I imagine it's in the US. It's more of a remembrance as we came very close to losing our independence during WWII and Independence Day is mostly about that. The only parades that happen are either military or students with candles who march to graves of fallen soldiers (Finland retrieved most of the bodies so all cemeteries have an area of "hero graves"), there's always a famous war movie on tv and the biggest event is watching the party at president's palace on tv (I think that about a quarter of population watches it live).

It is mostly a frivolous party but even it is partly about the war veterans (I think that we should also find some other forms of celebration but for many people Independence Day is only about the veterans and their sacrifices).

That makes sense. It sounds like your Independence Day is more like the US's Memorial Day. The US's Independence Day--while there is attention paid to more recent conflicts--is more based on events in 1776 and so emotions aren't really high about it anymore, and for most people I know, it's mostly about barbecuing and blowing things up.  (I have a half-joking theory that it's a subconscious surrogate for a midsummer fire festival.)

[lady_disdain]

While it is a formal dress, etc, I don't think that serving as a walking billboard for your husband is in good taste.

[JenJay]

Oh. I was picturing a nice dress with a small Angry Birds decoration like a brooch or something. That was... different. I personally wouldn't want a giant white eye right on my boobeh while wearing a red dress, but I'm funny like that. 

I wasn't sure if it was appropriate to the occasion or not until I read Ereine's post. Now I'm thinking it's not.

[Fleur-de-Lis]

No wardrobe malfunction, no foul. (Pun notwithstanding.)

I would hardly call it a "walking billboard".  I would also not be surprised if her husband is on the guest list *because* of the success of the game.

[SuperMartianRobotGirl]

I guess it could be argued that it wasn't an appropriate venue for advertising. I'm on the fence.

[ShadesOfGrey]

I dont really have an issue with it, and actually think it's clever, though I do think the placement of the eye is a bit tacky (though I do recognize it's probably the best place, fashion-wise).

that said, it's a "fun" dress, and if it's a solemn occasion, then it's not appropriate. But my lack of knowledge of finnish culture keeps me from stating that with certaintly, kwim?

[Fleur-de-Lis]

I dont really have an issue with it, and actually think it's clever, though I do think the placement of the eye is a bit tacky (though I do recognize it's probably the best place, fashion-wise).

that said, it's a "fun" dress, and if it's a solemn occasion, then it's not appropriate. But my lack of knowledge of finnish culture keeps me from stating that with certaintly, kwim?

I think it's far more restrained than some of the things one would see here in the US at an occasion of similar solemnity.