My Gala Story

[This post may be kind of long, because it's kind of two stores in one post.]

This past weekend I had a big school party to go to - our annual "Gala".  I had seen a picture of the Waterfloral Pastiche cardigan that was coming out, and loved it, so I asked my personal shopper if there were any other clothes coming out in that pattern, and she told me about the Taryn dress, so I decided I would get that dress for the Gala, as this was my first time going.  I ordered it the day it came out, and had them overnight it to me, but in the end, it didn't fit!

It was too small in the bust area, and I was bulging out of the top of the dress all over - not pretty AT ALL!  BF tried to tell me that it looked okay, especially because I would probably be wearing a wrap or sweater, but I just couldn't wear it, knowing how it looked.  I will admit, I cried for longer than I should have.  I was really crushed - the dress is gorgeous, and it made me really upset that I couldn't wear it to the Gala.  I even tried calling around to some of the bigger, higher-end local J.Crews to see if by any chance anyone had returned a size bigger, but no luck.

(And for those of you in the area: I got a nice girl from Copley, a very rude girl from Atrium (SHOCKER), and a very, very nice guy named Ed from Natick.  I actually saw Ed last night when I was returning the dress, and made a point to tell him how nice he was, and how much I appreciated his help.)

So once I figured out that the J.Crew dress was a no-go, I had to find another one.  I might have a small dress problem, in that I am prone to buy whatever pretty dress comes along, even if I don't have a real need for it.  The good news was that this meant I had plenty of back-up dresses to pick from, and in the end, I went with a dress I picked up a couple years ago (but had never worn) from The Limited.  It even matched my shoes that I had picked out specifically to go with the Taryn dress.  BF actually said that he preferred the dress I ended up wearing over the Taryn dress.

On to the outfit!  First, here is the coat I wore.  It was actually chilly out the night of the Gala, so I dug this coat out of the closet, where it was languishing for a couple of years now, ready to be worn for the first time.  (See, I told you I have a problem with wearing new things!)  I love this coat - it's such a fun color, and I love the cut and design of it.  It even matched my shoes!

Here is the dress I ended up wearing.  As I said, it's from The Limited, and it's a couple years old, at least.  I think I would have liked it if it were a tad bit shorter, and I felt really exposed (I don't usually wear things so low cut), but I really liked it.  I love pastels, and it is a gorgeous shade of pale pink-purple, and the floaty chiffon is really lovely.  It totally reminds me of ballerinas for some reason!

Here is the back of the dress.  It crosses in the back, and is supposed to then tie in the back, but I wasn't able to tie it without it scrunching up the back, so I just wrapped the ties back around the front and tucked them down the front of the dress.  I think it looks much cleaner this way.  (Also, that is my loooong hair that appears to be sprouting from my armpit.)

Here's how I had my hair styled.  I don't know if you can see it well, but I was trying to channel Emily Blunt's hair from these pictures.  I rolled pieces of the hair back to create a sort of rolled "frame" on each side, and then I just pinned all my hair up in the back.  It fell out later, and this picture is from the end of the night, otherwise I'd show you the back as well.  (If you're friends with me on Facebook, you can see it from the front on there!)  This picture also shows the earrings I wore.

This picture is hard to see, but here is my purse.  I went with basic black clutch with some really pretty allover scalloped petals/ruffles.  This clutch is cute, but it is very tiny.  I brought my ID, debit card, camera, and my BlackBerry.  My camera and BlackBerry are not that big, but I could only fit one in the bag at a time, so it's definitely more form over function!

Lastly, here are the shoes.  I ordered these shoes on sale from Nordstrom, planning to wear them with the Taryn dress.  I thought the bright pink would match well with the pink in the dress.  I think they went well with the dress I wore, but I also think they were a bit too clunky for the dress.  I think a daintier shoe might have worked better.  Plus the shoes came with a big black stain on the them.

The Gala itself was a lot of fun!  It was the first one I've been to, and I had a lot of fun hanging out with my friends from school.

Here's the deets on the outfit!

Dress: The Limited

Coat: Express

Shoes: Nordstrom (forget the brand)

Earrings: Express

Clutch: Lela Rose for Payless

Ring: Tiffany

Nail Polish: Maybelline on fingers and OPI on toes