OOTD: The Birthday Girl Wears Prada

On Tuesday I had lunch with my dear friend to celebrate (again!) my birthday, as she had missed the pre-birthday dinner that I had with my other girlfriends last week and she insisted to invite me to lunch.
We went to Sfoglia which is probably my favorite Italian restaurant in the neighborhood if not in the city. It is a bit out of hand for anyone who lives below 79th St so it hasn't "destination" status but it truly is a wonderful restaurant. Not only the food is excellent but the décor is elegant without being pretentious and you really feel like you are in a villa in Tuscany.
My girlfriend always dresses up, especially when we go out to celebrate something, so I thought it was the perfect occasion to break out a sheath dress that I had since my vacation in Italy last year. This is a "runaway" Prada dress that I got for 50 Euros (no typos). In the little beach town on the Riviera where we vacationed last year (Alassio) they have this big clearance sale at the end of the summer where all the stores put out little stands in the streets and sell the odd ends of the season and season pasts. It is actually a lot of fun and I took pictures but they are prints (we had to buy a disposable camera as we forgot it at home in Milan) so I cannot post them as I don't have a scanner.
Anyway, the only problem is that you can't try on (because there is no store to speak of) or, if you are brave enough, you are allowed to try in the streets. There was this stand with very high end Italian brands (Miu Miu, Prada, Dolce and Gabbana) and the prices were crazy (all the dresses were 50 EU, skirts and pants were 30 EU and tops 20 EU). I immediately noticed this and another Prada dress (a sundress with a sailboat print) but they were both a size 38 and I couldn't even button the sundress.
I really liked this sheath but it was a smidge small around the hips and I couldn't even look at myself in a mirror so I put it back on the rack. Another woman immediately picked it up and tried it on. She was trying to make it work as well but this woman was at least two sizes bigger than me and seeing it on her (it didn't look bad at all) I regretted letting it go and though "If she can wear it, I certainly could have!" Luckily for me she couldn't zip it up, so she didn't buy it and it came home with me (I also bought a Fendi skirt that I wore a lot this year and you will see in another post).
What I like in this dress are the colors that really suit me. It is a tribal print that doesn't go out of style or if it does, it comes back. I think I lost a bit of weight since I bought it so it isn't as tight around the hips as it was when I tried it on. In fact it isn't tight at all. Granted, it isn't probably the most flattering dress ever on me but it looks good enough and you don't walk away from an original Prada dress at that price unless it is three sizes smaller than you are. I think it would look better if I removed the silk lining (so as to have a bit more room) but it feels almost like a sacrilege to remove a luxurious silk slip from a Prada dress (it is sewn into the zipper so I couldn't recycle it as slip). What do you think?
I accessorized it with my resin necklace and a resin bracelet that my girlfriend gave me last year for my birthday (it's from Brazil and I luuuuuuuurv it):

My friend not only invited me (BTW, I had the most delicious Rossini cocktail that I ever had) but she also had a gift! And the gift came in a JCrew bag! It IS actually a bag, the Bamboula for JCrew market tote for my trip to Greece, as the accompanying card said.
Now I would really like to keep it (even if I have an entire department of straw totes) because I thought it was so nice of her and in general I don't like to return gifts but after trying to carry it at home, I find it very uncomfortable, plus you can only carry it in your hand or the crotch of the elbow, since the handles are too small to be carried on the shoulder AND they didn't cover the handles with leather, so it is very scratchy on the skin. Those of you who have this, do you like it?
Too bad because I have the perfect top for it ;-). Look how nice it looks with my old Calypso crochet-trim top in the same colors (BTW, I am totally taking this top with me to Greece):

There is actually nothing that I vaguely want at JCrew right now so I might as well keep it. I am going to share my other presents in the next post, then I will be in the Hamptons again for a week and come back just in time to pack for Europe. I can't believe I have only a week left to spend in NYC this summer. Stay tuned!