Wednesday, February 10, 2010

What happened to formal gowns?

There seems to be no distinction these days between black tie and cocktail attire. Until now. I have a black tie event in May that requires a long gown. I haven't needed a long, formal gown since my high school prom. And finding that dress turned out to be quite the adventure.

Before prom, I had determined not to wear anything pink, purple, poofy, or beaded. Since that eliminated 99 percent of the dresses featured in Elle's Prom Issue or any store in Central Texas, I dragged my parents and best friend to the Houston Galleria...just a short three hour drive away. I knew the budget my father set was nowhere near high enough to get the type of dress I wanted but instead of breaking the news ahead of time when my father was in a calm and rational state of mind, I waited until the perfect opportunity...After shopping for hours and continuously sighing that I couldn't find anything cute, I ventured into a store well above my price range where I of course found the perfect dress immediately. It was similar to Reese Witherspoon's classic gown at the 2003 oscars. It was a black beaded gown with beige lining on the top so the swirled black beads stood out against the flesh tones. The back was open and the bottom extended into a slight train.

The dress was undeniably beautiful, so even my frugal mother understood the desire, but insisted I continue to look for something cheaper. Unfortunately, after I pulled out this glorious dress from behind a mountain of satin and beads, every girl in the store wanted to try on this one of a kind. Since it was the only one in the sore, the shop girl refused to let me put in on hold claiming she could find 20 other girls that would buy it if I didn't.

With the agreement that she could borrow the dress anytime, my amazing best friend agreed to walk around the store holding the dress. Everytime the shop girl would ask her if she was going to buy it, she'd simply respond "I think so, I just want to try on every dress to make sure." One hundred stores later, I finally wore down my parents and made enough promises to do this and that (none of which happened), and my friend and I walked out the mall my beautiful black beaded gown!

Considering all this, I thought I might start early this time...but I'm asking for your help! When you're bored at work and internet browsing for things you don't actually need or want, peruse over to the formal gowns and send me anything you like my way!

3 comments:

  1. You're hilarious. Of course you would do that!

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  3. So now the secrets of your shopping strategies are out! I just want to remind you there is a list of projects you promised to do on a particular shopping trip a number of years ago. You will find it still hanging on the fridge door!

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About Me

Washington, DC
They say, "DC has Northern hospitality with a southern pace of progress." The same is true when it comes to fashion: southern style combined with the restrictions of Northern weather and Wall-Street black suit. My goal is to add some color to the mix on the limited budget most young professionals in the District face.