The dress I didn't keep
So this is the Jcrew dress I didn’t keep. Perhaps I am a little particular, but my complaint was that the waist ended right where my tummy starts. Regardless, I still went with Jcrew, but I had to get my dress off ebay because they no longer carry it. My dress is the Jenelle dress. I can’t post a picture of me in it because Jo will see this, but it’s not too different from the one above, except the top ties around the neck. Kind of beach-like, but elegant and appropriate for an our door ceremony. More on that later.
Allow me to digress on dress shopping. I cannot express how happy I am to have a dress that only cost me $142 (including shipping!) I HATE clothes shopping. I started off my search on the internet. Googling white dress millions of times didn’t get me far. Checking Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, and all the standard department stores didn’t get me far either. Then I decided to go to Macys. My error hit me as soon as I walked in to ”Do you have an appointment?” I left Macys and ended up buying a Vera Wang gown for $20 at my favorite Thrift Store off Union Square. Next there was talk of my aunt making my dress and my mom and I discussed picking a pattern and sending material swatches back and forth. This was when I was convinced I wanted a simple white cotton dress that I’d likely find at Target once the summer dresses were out. At some point I tried on a couple cotton dresses at Century 21 and quickly realized that white cotton is not good on pastey pale skin. Next was an adorable Anthropologie dress I got for $99. After deciding it was too short, I reluctantly returned it. Next was JCrew dress number 1, which I ordered from the store (very odd experience). This was followed by a trip to Bridal Garden (dresses donated by designers, all proceedes go to charity), where the only dress I liked (Great work Lela Rose) started at $4K. Unfortunately being told it would likely come down to $2K didn’t help. I checked Bloomingdales against my better judgement. This consisted of me walking around in a daze wondering, ‘how does one shop here?’ I saw a handful of dresses that were almost do-able except for the terrible jewels and/or appliques, and eventually left, deflated. Next I scoured thrift/vintage and boutiques all over LES and SoHo with my friend Mari. After about 10 stores, a lovely sales man informed us that it would be very hard to find something in good shape and white, especially in winter. Next was a terrible experience at the Bridal run at the Union Square Filene’s Basement (Why me!?) Needless to say, I’m still traumatized. Note to everyone, don’t go and definitely do not go alone. You need a team if you’re going to endure that mess. After trying on one $700 dress with at least one stain and enough room for Pamela Anderson’s knockers, I left. At that point I emailed a friend to inquire about having a dress made. Her response came a couple days later, $2k. Yikes! Shortly after that, my friend Amber shared her dress adventures. She even offered to go to the expesive end-all-be-all dress store (starts with the letter K). I considered it. She followed this with her tale of finding ’thee dress’ and going back and forth between there and Pricilla of Boston to get the best price. Wow! Amber’s awesome but I don’t have it in me to do that. She also told me how she put an add on Craigslist and had 2 of the Project Runway guys say that could do her dress for her budget, under $500. That was tempting, until I thought about how much I didn’t want to spend $500, I wanted to spend $200.
The next evening I ordered the Jenelle off ebay. When it arrived, a bit wrinkled, I tried it on, and I didn’t cry. But I simply thought, “this will do the trick” and dress shopping was done.
