DressQuest part 4: Dun dun DUN
Aug. 28th, 2009 06:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ruI've been meaning to post this for a couple of days now, but school has been keeping me pretty busy, and I wanted to make sure I got pictures to go along with this. Why?
So as I mentioned, I went to a Dillard's that, according to Mum, had a very extensive formal section, and by golly she wasn't kidding. Their petite section was very large, with lots of styles and sizes. It was put next to the woman's section, which I also did some scouting in, as they also have the advantage of having dresses large in the chestular region, and there were several styles that didn't look old at all.
After scouting, I ended up with an ARMFUL of pieces to try. I think we had something somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 selections, which is pretty awesome, I think. There were some good ones and some bad ones, of course. I found a really lovely blue dress with a gorgeous gradient (as you may or may not know, I'm a sucker for a gradient), but I utterly failed at finding the right size. But that's okay, because I still managed to find the DRESS. As what often seems to be the case, it was the first one I tried on.
Unfortunately, because my camera is the suck, I'll try to go into detail about the dress. As you can see, it's almost the exact same shade as the backup dress. I find it somewhat funny that more often than not, when I have a formal event to go to, I end up in purple. I'm not entirely sure why, but anyway. It has some nice beading around the waist, and it has multiple layers of floaty goodness, which I love. The top layer is parted in the middle, so I can spin it out when I'm twirling. Yes, I was twirling in the dressing room. I'm a goof.
The thing I love about it is that it has lots of little clever bits, particularly in the top. What's somewhat hard to see in the picture is that the straps are actually semi-transparent, like the first top two layers of the dress. There is an actual legitimate strap underneath, but it's hidden by the gauzey layer. What all THIS means is that I can wear a proper bra! Yay! The only trick is that it needs to be flesh-tone, as the white bra I was wearing was peeking through a bit, but once that blends in, there shouldn't be a problem. What's also kinda fun is that the bust fabric doesn't immediately appear to be attached to the straps, as it's part of the bottom layer, so it actually gives the illusion that I'm wearing a strapless dress, something which I'm normally unable to do for reasons previously stated. It's floaty and lovely and I totally LOVE IT. So yays on that!
I'm still not done yet, though. Because it's sleeveless, and because we're going to a fall wedding, I think I need some sort of a wrap or something to act as a cover in case I get cold. I still really like the idea of making my own. That way I can pick out fabric that I like, and it'll be a fair bit cheaper. I'm thinking I should go for a gold, which would pop really nicely against the dark purple. And of course I need to accessorize as well! I need to find good shoes and some way to put up my hair. Exciting!
Now the other question is what to do with the backup dress. Trying to figure out some way to make it work for me has made me somewhat endeared to it. As I've said, it's a very nice dress, even if I wasn't enthused with wearing it for the wedding. If I do the wrap in a neutral color, it could work for both dresses. And since I associate bolero jackets with more business-associated events, I could use that for something like a formal dinner. If I end up going to the dinner for ASB next year, I could use it for that. Hmm.
So as I mentioned, I went to a Dillard's that, according to Mum, had a very extensive formal section, and by golly she wasn't kidding. Their petite section was very large, with lots of styles and sizes. It was put next to the woman's section, which I also did some scouting in, as they also have the advantage of having dresses large in the chestular region, and there were several styles that didn't look old at all.
After scouting, I ended up with an ARMFUL of pieces to try. I think we had something somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 selections, which is pretty awesome, I think. There were some good ones and some bad ones, of course. I found a really lovely blue dress with a gorgeous gradient (as you may or may not know, I'm a sucker for a gradient), but I utterly failed at finding the right size. But that's okay, because I still managed to find the DRESS. As what often seems to be the case, it was the first one I tried on.
Unfortunately, because my camera is the suck, I'll try to go into detail about the dress. As you can see, it's almost the exact same shade as the backup dress. I find it somewhat funny that more often than not, when I have a formal event to go to, I end up in purple. I'm not entirely sure why, but anyway. It has some nice beading around the waist, and it has multiple layers of floaty goodness, which I love. The top layer is parted in the middle, so I can spin it out when I'm twirling. Yes, I was twirling in the dressing room. I'm a goof.
The thing I love about it is that it has lots of little clever bits, particularly in the top. What's somewhat hard to see in the picture is that the straps are actually semi-transparent, like the first top two layers of the dress. There is an actual legitimate strap underneath, but it's hidden by the gauzey layer. What all THIS means is that I can wear a proper bra! Yay! The only trick is that it needs to be flesh-tone, as the white bra I was wearing was peeking through a bit, but once that blends in, there shouldn't be a problem. What's also kinda fun is that the bust fabric doesn't immediately appear to be attached to the straps, as it's part of the bottom layer, so it actually gives the illusion that I'm wearing a strapless dress, something which I'm normally unable to do for reasons previously stated. It's floaty and lovely and I totally LOVE IT. So yays on that!
I'm still not done yet, though. Because it's sleeveless, and because we're going to a fall wedding, I think I need some sort of a wrap or something to act as a cover in case I get cold. I still really like the idea of making my own. That way I can pick out fabric that I like, and it'll be a fair bit cheaper. I'm thinking I should go for a gold, which would pop really nicely against the dark purple. And of course I need to accessorize as well! I need to find good shoes and some way to put up my hair. Exciting!
Now the other question is what to do with the backup dress. Trying to figure out some way to make it work for me has made me somewhat endeared to it. As I've said, it's a very nice dress, even if I wasn't enthused with wearing it for the wedding. If I do the wrap in a neutral color, it could work for both dresses. And since I associate bolero jackets with more business-associated events, I could use that for something like a formal dinner. If I end up going to the dinner for ASB next year, I could use it for that. Hmm.