On Friday I had the day off and decided to go shopping to look for a party dress as I am going out with a friend in a couple of weeks for a night out and need one.
The first that caught my eye was in Next. I spied it on a wall poster and then spent ages trying to find it on the racks because it looked really good in the pics and I thought it was worth searching for. Eventually I found it on the other side of the shop. I hate that. As it happened, they didn’t have it in my size – there were only two left and one was way too small and the other too big. Also it was £75 which was a little more than I was planning to spend, so I mentally marked it as a “possible” and moved on.
It’s on their website listed as “Stripe Sequin Dress” but currently showing as sold out.
The next shop that I went into was Top Shop, and two dresses caught my eye. One was a simple black dress with silver woven into it that I really liked, but they didn’t have my size.
Then I saw this dress (pictured) and it absolutely wowed me. It’s listed on their website as “Two-Tone Sequin Bodycon Dress” and is sequinned all over, but the sequins are reversible. On one side they’re silver and on the other side they are a bronzey-gold. You stroke the dress to flip the sequins over, which means you can draw your own patterns and designs on it. Even better, it fit me perfectly when I tried it on.
My only reservations were the price (£68, and sadly not in the Black Friday sale) and the fact that it is a little shapeless and not especially flattering. However, the reversible sequins swung it for me and I bought it.
Now that I have it home, I’m not 100% sure I’m going to keep it due the aforementioned issue of it being a bit shapeless. I’ll need to try it on again and have a really good think about it and then decide. Maybe I will post a pic up of me wearing it for the purposes of critique and opinion.
If I do keep it and do wear it for my night out, then I’ll have to be careful that people don’t doodle on it, or draw a cock on my back! 😀
I then popped into Select Fashion. I like their stuff (as I have mentioned in the past) and can often pick up something nice in there for a reasonable price.
On this occasion, I saw a Snow Leopard Faux Fur Jacket that I rather fell in love with. At £34.99 it was a bit of an extravagance, but it should go with a party dress really well. Also, it turned out that it was eligible for 25% off due to Black Friday which means I ended up being charged £26.24 which softened the blow somewhat.
The next shop I went into was Quiz, and this is where I struck gold as far as a bargain was concerned.
I spotted a lovely dress that I was immediately drawn to as it had an Art Deco vibe to it (in my eyes anyway). I’ve since found it on their website where it’s described as “Gold and Grey Mesh Flower Print Dress”. I decided I should try it on, so did so and whilst I was in the changing room I took a pic of myself in it.
I was really happy with the look and the fit. The price was marked as £75 but it had been hand-amended underneath to £49.99 with Tippex and biro. I checked the other dresses to make sure they were the same, and they were. I also noticed a Black Friday sign saying “£20 off all original prices” but I wasn’t entirely sure what the final price was going to end up as it was unclear which price they’d be taking the £20 off.
After rather a long time queuing for the till, where it seemed they needed two people to operate one till, I got served and initially they wanted to take £20 off the un-discounted price of £75 and charge me £55, but I pointed out the £49.99 price. They were initially a little sceptical (I wasn’t offended – it’s possible somebody could carry around a bottle of Tippex and a biro), but when they saw all the dresses were similarly amended they honoured it. And then they took the £20 off that price as well, so I got it for £29.99 – barrrrrgain. That pretty much made my day I can tell you.
Looking on Quiz’s website shows that the on-line price is £59.99 so I definitely did well there.
By now my feet were starting to hurt and I was beginning to feel a bit “shopped out” so I stopped for a coffee, and then went looking for a handbag. However, I didn’t find anything I liked and my feet were really starting to complain by now so I decided to head home.
What I should have done when I got home is take proper pics of me in my new purchases, but I was quite tired by then and I didn’t feel like it.
However, I did take a pic of myself in the outfit that I had been “out & about” in, to go with the selfie I took in the car (which you will already have seen on Flickr).
I’m pleased with how this outfit turned out. The vest top (which is from New Look) is low enough to give the impression of cleavage, but not low enough that you can see the tops of my breastforms. It’s a close-run thing though. The short-sleeved cardigan offset it nicely too. Also it made it easy to try on dresses as I only needed to remove the cardigan, which is what I was aiming for when I put the outfit together. Mission Accomplished there, I feel.
So, all in all quite a productive shopping trip and I think I’m well on the way to getting an outfit together. I just need to decide on shoes, bag and accessories.
I’m hoping that I can get away with existing shoes. I have one pair of very elegant heels but they are agony to walk on within five minutes, so they’re instantly ruled out. The red ones from a previous pic might be contenders if matched with a red bag. I’m not sure if they are dressy enough but they’re certainly comfortable enough. Otherwise I have some black court shoes that have figured several times in these pics which might do the trick too.
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