Shopping as a Teen and as a 20-Something

I have many alternately fond and terrifying memories of experimenting with fashion and makeup as a teenager. My best friends in middle school, who were far ahead of me at this, were always letting me in on the unknown (to me) rules of Girl World. One of these rules was that you could not "preview" an outfit at school the day of a dance. Your dance outfits were apparently supposed to be kept secret until sundown. But they gave me these tidbits of advice, most of the time, in a supportive manner. At least as supportive as 13-year-old girls are capable of being.

Dress Shopping

With my brother's wedding coming up in a few months, I was asked by my future sister-in-law to be her maid of honor at the church ceremony. Since my brother is Christian and his fiancee is Hindu, they are having a large, colorful Hindu wedding followed by a small church ceremony. The colors for the church wedding are pine green and ivory.

Having seen pictures of standard bridesmaid dresses, I initially wondered a) where would I find a dark green bridesmaid dress and b) did I have enough time to get it delivered. Many bridal stores have a 16-20 week waiting period, not counting alterations. Being 5' 2", I anticipated major hemming if I got anything that wasn't designed to be very short on a normal-height woman. Not able to wait 16 weeks (the wedding's in March) my mom and I temporarily fumed, then marched into Saks with a close friend of my mom.

We entered the evening dress section and, to our surprise, found several dresses in green. I tried on about 8 or 9 dresses. The final pick was a long green, stretchy, slightly slinky synthetic one-shoulder dress. It looked a lot like a Grecian goddess dress dyed green with a slit that hit just above the knee. And, obviously, without leather sandals (I found black satin heels the same day). I'm planning on also wearing this dress at my school's junior/senior formal, whenever that is. While it is a relief to be "done," there are still details to figure out - hair, nails, jewelry. But it can wait, because I've got the dress.