The Birthday Dress Search
There are so many reasons us ladies buy new dresses. I’m right, aren’t I, belles & beaus? We spend hours searching our closets, trying to find the perfect dress to wear to a celebration because we want to look perfect.
This becomes even worse when it is for our special day. It doesn’t matter if it’s college graduation, wedding, formal, birthday. We just want to have the perfect dress that makes us feel absolutely amazing about ourselves. But this sometimes comes at a price.
I quite enjoy shopping. It’s something that makes me feel amazing. Especially when I find the exact thing I’m looking for without even really searching for it. This happened my junior year in high school when I saw the dress I wanted to wear to my Junior Prom. I saw it on a mannequin as we walked out. Mumsy and I ended up finding it online in California for $289.99 with free shipping and no taxes. It was priced at nearly $800 in the store where I’d originally seen it.
So it’s absolutely and painfully obvious that I am picky when it comes to what I wear. If I don’t like it, it won’t even make it home with me. Which is why I typically dislike going into Francesca’s some days. I adore the ladies who work there, because most of them are around my age, but I really don’t like it when they keep telling me about things. I have such a picky color palette because between being blonde and pale, I have to be careful about what colors I wear. Certain colors just wash me out and some styles don’t flatter me. So shopping becomes a crazy guessing game for me. I look in the mirror and I think it looks horrible, but then one of the ladies sees me in it and says it looks good. And sometimes, I just need one of my besties’ opinions so I snap a picture and send it to them.
But the point is that I’m extremely picky when it comes to what I wear. I won’t buy it if I know I won’t wear it. And if I wear it once, I usually try to get it up on my Poshmark so I can pass it along to someone else because if I wear it once and don’t let it, there is no point in it staying in my closet.
Right now, with my birthday coming up in a month or so, I’ve been looking for a dress that will make me feel amazing but will also pull a double duty. So therefore, the search began. It’s not that I don’t have dresses in my closet that would work. I have quite a few that I’ve been looking for some reason to wear again. Like my dress from graduation which is my only expensive Lilly, that I actually only paid $50 and shipping for. I absolutely love this dress and just haven’t found something to wear it to.
But because we’re not going out on my birthday because I’m not taking off work for my birthday – Okay I totally should do it, but I’m not because I should have that weekend off – then the dress isn’t for that day specifically.
See, my new best friend – who is also my sorority sister- has her art show going on from April until the first weekend of May when they’re having the reception. So my dress has to work for both the reception and us going to dinner after to celebrate both. But I also have to be able to play cornhole in it.
For those of you who don’t know what cornhole is, I’m planning on doing a post about it including where I got the measurements for my boards and how you go about playing as well as a step by step on how I painted my boards and how I made my bags!
So the dress has to be easy and breezy as well as long enough to play cornhole in because I’m gonna be honest, belles & beaus, even though I’m a Southern Belle of the utmost high, I have a bad habit of forgetting I’m in a dress and I’ll bend over to pick something up. I love dresses that I can bend over in and I don’t have to worry about flashing my tush. But the dress also has to be able to pull the double duty of being dressing enough to go to an art show reception.
Oh and did I mention that all this criteria has to be winery worthy?
Yeah, I know. Lots of criteria for a a dress. But have no fear, Francesca’s came to the rescue this time! Granted I went to the store physically because we have one nearby. I suggest if you want to order something online – go try it in stores. Seriously I can range from smalls to larges in their clothing because of the difference in make of each dress.
Belles & Beaus, the only reason I really ended up at Francesca’s is because all of the boutiques I follow on Instagram and those that are local did not have a single thing that screamed “Wear me!” So today after looking at every boutique we have and nothing screaming at me, I went to Francesca’s. Literally, I adore the ladies there and they are always so helpful. Like one of them actually helped me find the perfect jewelry and clutch for my Kardashian inspired New Year’s look. So, they’re pretty knowledgeable when you walk in and tell them what you’re wanting.
So in I went and to looking I started. Sadly nothing was calling me when I first started looking, but in came the manager who was working solo to help. She knows me when I come in, so she kinda gets my style. She just started pulling dresses for me. One of which I really fell in love with but it was far too dressy for cornhole. I may go back for it eventually but not right now.
The two I got are made exactly the same. An Historian knows because we’d been chatting all day and I was asking her opinion on some of the dresses I tried on. I don’t want to ruin the surprise because I totally plan on doing both in their own Outfit of the Day posts, but I will give you all color swatches!
I know I’m being such a tease! I tried their blushy pink in the dress, but it was way to light. Now if I did my fake tan with the Jergens lotion, then it would look amazing! But I’m not about that life currently.
I can’t wait to share not only these dresses with you, belles & beaus, but also the fun that we are bound to have in the next month!
What would you wear to a winery for cornhole and an art show? Feel free to share in the comments!
