Party dress picks

Back when I started my ‘Buy Less, Buy Better’ resolution I also resolved to try some brands I previously stayed away from because I deemed them out of my price range.  Having stuck with the same brands (Primark, H&M etc) from when I started working in a supermarket at minimum wage up until now I decided I needed to review how much I thought was ‘too much’ to spend on a single item and branch out to brands who offer more well-made clothes with longer life-spans; clothes that I would feel nice wearing, essentially.  When I pulled out of my wardrobe all of the clothes I didn’t wear anymore ready for the car boot sale on Sunday I was shocked that almost all of them were Primark.  It just shows how much more thought you put into buying clothes that are that little bit more expensive.  

My previously frugal ways meant I wouldn’t be able to jump straight from budget high street to high end/designer (and nor does my wage packet!) so I thought I’d try some shops I’d previously walked past in shopping centres/avoided in internet searches.  This led to rather large orders from Warehouse and Anthropologie earlier in the year, both of which contained items I now really treasure.  I love finding things that are a little bit different and the sort of thing you know you won’t see three other people wearing when you turn up to a party.

Talking of parties, as I’ve mentioned in my last few posts, I’m already thinking about Christmas and a few Christmas party invites have already snuck into the diary!  If you follow Where Are My Knees, which I’m a contributor for, you might have seen that we’ve all made ‘ten week pledges’ for goals we’d like to hit before Christmas.  I’ve pledged to lose 10lbs, and if I manage it I’ll be 20 lbs lighter than when I started the year (that feels crazy to say that!) Naturally this has got me thinking about slipping into slinky dresses when I hit my target.  Here are the dresses currently on my ‘party dress wishlist’ – links to all items are at the bottom.

1 // 2 // 3
4 // 5 // 6
7 // 8 // 9

In particular I love the lace dress on the top left and number 6 with the studded collar.  Despite the fact that studs are very ‘in’ at the moment I’ve tried to pick dresses with classic shapes that will still hold their own in party seasons to come.  I’ve been thinking a lot about ‘investment wardrobes’ recently and particularly enjoyed Becky at Lifestyle Flash’s article on the same – definitely going to make my own Investment Piece Wishlist!

Have you started to think about party dresses for the party season yet? Do you have a favourite little black dress?