Monday, April 16, 2012

Dress Shopping

There are few things in life that leave me realizing how fat I still am than dress shopping.  In fact, it might prove to be a good strategy to make myself go try on dresses anytime I lose workout motivation.  There is great danger that it could backfire and I could go into an emotional tailspin where I come out on the other end of a dark eating binge... but there is also a good chance that realizing how shaky and jiggly and large everything is will encourage me to get myself to the gym.

We are going to a wedding in a few weeks.  It's been ages since we had reason to dress up.  I like dresses- when they are comfortable and flattering.  So I wanted something new, something fun, and something a little stylish.

I am not a shopper.  Not at all.  I don't like to shop.  I don't like trying on clothes.  I don't like going through racks and finding things to try on.  I don't like trying to create outfits.  It makes me tired.

So when I decided that Saturday was going to be The Day I Find A Dress, I wasn't going to fail.

I had no idea it would be such a dramatic experience.  Here's the bottom line.

I bought this dress.  It was outside of what I wanted to spend but I thought it was super great.

Until I got it home.  I didn't have the magic mirror or the sale ladies telling me how gorgeous I looked.  I still liked it- don't get me wrong.  But for the price of the dress ($90) and the belt ($50), I really needed to LOVE it.  There were some make up marks in the white area that mostly came clean in the store (they used clorox type disposable wipes) but for $90, it needed to be perfect.  So I decided to take it back.

Plus, there was this other outfit that I really loved there.  I wasn't going to get it.  It was CRAZY expensive and way outside of any clothing budget I might have set.  But I kind of felt like I bought the black and white one as a consolation prize for not getting the outfit I really loved.


That dress? $160. The shrug- $60. And the $50 belt.  Even if I went and found a shrug cheaper and a belt cheaper, I can't imagine spending $160 on a dress.  No matter how amazing I felt in it.

So I was home and frustrated.  I posted on Facebook that I really need to make a list of friends who like to shop so that I can have serious help in the future.  I also knew that if I didn't find a dress right away, it was going to really bother me and I would lose the interest in buying something new.

So Teagan and I headed to JCPenny.  And she helped me pick out and try on a few things.  Had a couple outfit options that I liked and then Teagan found The Dress.  I found a large black belt to go with it.  Dress- $40. Belt- $15.


Now trying to determine the Perfect Shoes is the next great challenge.  Opinion seems to be going with a deep red for accessories.  A friend loaned me a great bracelet and I think I have a necklace and earrings that would work well with it.  I'm thinking these shoes might be a good choice.

This girly thing is absolutely exhausting.

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7 comments:

Unknown said...

The only other thing I can think of that's more horrifying to do when you have body issues...swimsuit shopping. Meh.

(and I count myself as having body issues, even though I'm what people call 'very skinny'. For me I'm too skinny, all I see are twig arms and stick legs when I look in a mirror and I absolutely hate it.)

I thought the black dress looked cute on you. But the black and white? Fantastic.

Unknown said...

First of all, your Jeff is lucky, because a woman who loves to shop can be very expensive. (Just ask my Jeff!!!)

The top dress....LOVE IT! Very Eliza Doolittle-ish. Love that one. Remember that you can always find the accessories (belts, shrug, shoes, etc) cheaper. But, it is nice to just buy it all and be done.

I like the dress you ended up with at JCP a lot. You might want to pick up a black shrug so that you can wear it on an evening that might get a bit chilly. I think red accessories would be awesome with it.

Good job, Liz! You look great in all 3 dresses.

Nej said...

They are all great!!! You could use dark red, orange, deep purple, royal blue.....any bold color would be great for accent!!!! Love it!

Mellodee said...

The first dress looks wonderful!! It is slimming, classic, sophisticated yet casual, and fun. The other two are nice, but are not as flattering to you. The prints on both of them are so busy, they distract from YOU! $90 is a lot, yes, but a little make up will come out after a good dry cleaning. Sometimes sales staff are telling the truth when they tell you you look amazing!!

Karen M. Peterson said...

All three of those dresses are fabulous, but the last one is especially gorgeous!

Katherine said...

I love them all!

Dresses and swimsuits...no other shopping makes me more insecure.

Garret said...

I absolutely love your final selection. Va va voom!