My job occasionally requires me to don an evening gown, strap on some fancy, high-heeled sandals, and drag out the pearl and/or rhinestone jewelry I keep in a shoebox in the back of my spare closet. Gala season is quickly approaching and the hospital's gala is in a few short weeks. It's a black tie affair at the Palmer House Hilton.Cue the tension headache and hyper-ventilation!
I stress about these hospital-sponsored events where I have to dress up in cocktail attire. I work for nuns, so that immediately means 3/4 of the dresses are out of the question. Plunging neckline to there? Leg slit up to where? So short you cannot walk without it hiking up to your waist? Yeah, you get the picture.
Plus, I just hate dress shopping (it's an impossible combination...finding a dress you love, that fits well, that costs less than $100, in less than an hour). I hate going to the mall and believe it or not, tend to avoid the mall. I do hit the outlet mall, but that's only if I need a couple suits or black heels for work.
So imagine my surprise when Jack spearheaded Operation: Find Inexpensive, Flattering, Semi-Modest Dress for Dorrie in One Hour. I laughed at the sheer ignorance of his boyish enthusiasm.
Yet I actually found my gala dress at Macy's, the second store we visited. It was quick, the dress is flattering, and I found perfectly-matching high-heeled dancin' shoes at DSW. In short, it was a miracle.
The above picture is the closest I could find to the dress. Except mine is a midnight blue satin (with midnight shoes!). So now I'm excited to attend the gala...I have something to wear on the big night!
My parents brought down some items from their basement to make room for more wine-making paraphernalia. At this very moment, I am sitting next to a collection of bridesmaid and formal gowns that my sister and I have collected since 1991. That's right, even my sister's prom dress from '91 is in my presence. So, would you like to borrow something? Perhaps a certain silver satin dress that we both wore over 12 years ago?!??!
ReplyDelete(Why do I have these dresses? Well, they will be donated to an organization run by a local high school for girls who can't afford prom dresses, and quite frankly, some of my semi-formal dresses from college might just be good enough. The remainder of the dresses will be going to the high school's drama department, which would be the only place some of these dresses would still be appropriate, but only if the play takes place in the mid-90's. At the very least, they can use the fabric of these severely outdated dresses.)
Babe- Yes, I'm back to blog reading. It's been months, if not close to a year. I hear ya on the clothing, esp. since my new supervisor thinks everyone should wear dress clothes every time they go to Mass. I'm done wearing jeans to church when I to go "the work church" b/c even though he's never said anything, you can feel the uber-conservative eyeballs judging me. And dress clothes are much tougher than work clothes, so I feel your pain. If only I was there with you, we were skipping philosophy or theo class, and we were at a certain South Bend shopping mall. Sigh... those were the days...
ReplyDeleteMuch love,
Kant Think, a.k.a. The Epistemological Doorknob
To Nurse Starbucks- A former colleague of mine and her sisters (there were 4 of them) had collected numerous bridesmaids/maid of honor dresses from being in one another's as well as friends' weddings in the 1970s and early 1980s. They saved all the dressed and then had a fashion show with them when her daughter got married, in 2005. What a riot! Though, I think the ways you're getting rid of them are great too. Several of the dresses I bought with Dorrie over a decade ago (my GOD we're getting OLD!!) were given to a friend who owns a salon out of her home. She rents formal gowns for $10/night to girls who can't afford their own.
Nurse Starbucks...I FORGOT about the silver prom dress! Thanks again for letting me borrow that...but next time, FORCE me to go tanning before wearing silver. Learned my lesson when my face didn't appear against the backdrop of the picture staging area! :)
ReplyDeleteTo Epistemological Doorknob- I'm glad you're back! I've missed your witty and nostalgic comments in blogville. And I donated about 10 dresses from college and bridesmaidville when we moved. Jack was like, "dude, how many wedding were you in?" I replied that those were SMC dresses (he was referring to that shimmery red one I bought when you and I skipped the Thomas Aquinas fest to go shopping the same day as the SMC formal!!)
WHAT?!?! We never skipped "mandatory" Religious Studies events to go to the mall and buy sparkly dresses (I donated that one) from now defunct formal dress shop chains. What was the name of that chain? Donna's? Dana's? I don't know... Ok, anyhow, my witty, wiseass remarks/nostalgia have returned.
ReplyDeleteIt was Gantos! Cue the Britney Spears song, "Oops, I did it again!"
ReplyDelete