But first, a little background information. You remember that I had planned to wear the Ames watercolor dress at a wedding that I will be attending in Seattle in May. Besides the "chill" factor that many of you have pointed out in the comments to that post, I received the invitation last Saturday and I found out that it's an evening wedding (I don't know why I was convinced that it would be a daytime wedding). I think that I can still wear the potpourri dress at the rehearsal dinner (pretext to keep it) but I need something else for the celebration. So I have been perusing the Jcrew and other retailers websites for a party dress. I really wanted a simple but classy dress, something that Audrey Hepburn could have worn and that could become my "occasion" dress, to wear again and again.
I have a few LBDs but they are more cocktail dresses, because of the fabric (they are wool or chiffon). This time I really wanted a party dress, in silk taffeta, possibly black, with a full skirt. Jcrew as you know makes many silk taffeta dresses, but the ones that are available on the website aren't my size, or are strapless (and I don't want to do strapless, at least not ideally).
A good section of the sample sale was dedicated to party/occasion dresses and these were $60, a good very deal if you can find your size. The first problem is that they won't let you try anything on(this is really a silly policy). Buying a dress without trying it on is a big risk already but in this case it is aggravated by the fact that most of these clothes don't have a tag with the size, so you have to figure.
So when I found this dress that looked like the one that I had in mind I was happy to see that it had a tag and that it was a size 0. I have never been between sizes in Jcrew dresses (I have always been a 0), so I took a risk and bought it.
What I liked in this dress is that it has the bodice of a shift dress but a full skirt. And I LOVED the color, an indigo blue that could look very chic with the right accessories. I could even try the uber-chic black and blue pairing because it is the right shade of blue.
When I tried it on at home, I had a first (bad) surprise: the bodice was VERY fitted and I almost couldn't zip it up (the zipper is in the back). In the end it closed and even if a little bit uncomfortable at first I think that a 2 would have probably been too big around the armholes:
You see that little bump on the right side of the bodice? That's my rib-cage that is showing!
I still liked it and thought that I could make it work (also I am almost sure that my husband would like this style). I tried it with the BR blazer velvet black blazer, for the above-mentioned black/navy chic effect:
So why it is such a bad deal? Let's look at the back of the dress:
You see that spot at the bottom right? Yes, that's a big cutout. Let's call it a HOLE:
How could I buy this (you are entitled to ask)? Well, obviously I didn't see it while I was there! I forgot the rule number one of sample sale-shopping: always inspect carefully the merchandise before buying. Actually I did check the seaming of the bodice and skirt but I didn't check the hem. I mean, you wouldn't think there would be a hole there, it was hard to see.
Now I have basically two options: live with it and try to make it work or take it back today and exchange it with something else (exchanges are allowed during the sale). The good thing is that is not in the middle of the skirt (in that case I wouldn't have a choice) but at the hem, so if I have the skirt hemmed I can still wear it. But I'm questioning the result. It is true that it is not a petite dress and I have some room for hemming, but I'm afraid that it will loose its proportions (I have to cut at least 2 and a half inches), not to mention that it will cost me at least $30 bringing the price of the dress to $90-$100.
But on the other side, I'm not really looking forward to go back to the sample sale. Today is the last day of the sample sale, so it's today or never. I'm sure that I will find something, that's not the issue (there were still a lot of cashmere sweaters and necklaces) but my daughter doesn't have school today and the location is pretty far from where we leave, so it would mean a day-trip with possible lunch-in-a-box.
What do you think? Is it worth to have this dress hemmed? What would you do? Please don't say "You can do better" because honestly I'm not sure. I am not that good at party dresses as you probably know if you have been reading this blog for a while.
