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| Monday, June 19, 2006 |
| Dress me up, dress me down |
The impending Darwin wedding meant that Ata and Another Bridesmaid did a dress shopping run on Saturday.
There were several factors weighted against us in this particular challenge - the first being season. For a wedding in Darwin, we required summery-type dresses. It is winter in Adelaide. This means that, although formal wear remains as flimsy as always, it only comes in dark colours. And almost uniformly floor-length, where we wanted three-quarter-length dresses. The second issue was size - or rather, shape. While Ata and AB take the same size in dresses, she is of a dainty figure. Positively perky. Where Ata is... well... not. So there is a twinned struggle of finding a dress which makes her look a little more curvy and Ata a little less like a milk cow.
Okay, that might be overstating things a little. But not much. Anyway, moving on.
The third problem was the third bridesmaid. A much younger friend of the Bride, she is in Darwin. Her mother intends to make her dress. Given that Ata and AB felt it was more-or-less impossible to have dresses made and ready to wear in two weeks, we decided that attempting to have the same dresses was an uneccessary stress.
So. We met at Marion Westfield Shopping Centre at 10:30. It was supposed to be 10:00, but we'd both been out the night before. Marion was chosen as a starting point because it was (a) big, and (b) halfway between our houses. About a 45 minute drive for each of us.
We quickly discovered that there was only one suitable dress at Marion. David Jones had an ideal cut, suitable colour, ideal length dress for $189. But before we could think that our bridesmaid dress worries were over, we discovered that they kept only sample stock on the shelf. The dresses had to be ordered in. This took 10 weeks. We made a half-hearted effort to convince them to sell us the shelf stock, to no avail. We spent some time deriding the flocks of 12-14 yr olds who had turned up to the Girlfriend Model of the Year (or whatever it was called), all apparently delighted to spend half their Saturday standing in line to collect their pink bag of Girlfriend goodies and be churned through the makeover department to have the same hairdo and makeup stamped on them all.
Our next port of call (after some fortification in the food court) was Harbourtown. Harbourtown has outlet stores. Hooray! Last season's colours! Last season's dresses! We thought we had hit the jackpot in the first stop there, and tried on a number of dresses. No good. Being an outlet, they have what is on the shelf and no more. Not the right size? Too bad. Could be perfect in a different colour? No luck.
Oh well. Next stop, Burnside Shopping Centre. Burnside is an 'old money' area of Adelaide. Posh clothes for sure. And while we found many posh clothes (and many daggy clothes, just overpriced), they really seemed to be more mother of the bride than bridesmaid. Again, unless we wanted floor-length evening gowns in dark colours, which we didn't. A quick stop on Glen Osmond Road (which is where one used to find outlet stores, until Harbourtown was built) to ascertain that there was nothing there, and we settled on heading into the city as a last resort. It is just as well Adelaide is so easy to get around.
One of Ata's favourite shops is a little one called Copycat. It is downstairs from Rundle Mall (the major shopping district in Adelaide City), although they used to also have a seconds-outlet not far away, at which Ata has purchased some of her favourite clothing items. We stopped in there before proceeding to the Myer Centre and after a quick tour of several over-priced and under-stocked boutiques in one of the arcades that run off the Mall. On a rack at the very back of the shop, we found them. Two dresses, shimmery pink, in a style very similar to the bride's dress. The wrong sizes, of course - a 12 and a 14 - but surely we could have them altered to fit. And wonder of wonders, marked down to $65. We ummed and ahhed, concerned about the need for alteration, while the saleswoman (who must have been high on something when she put her makeup on) tried to pretend they fitted perfectly. By now it was 3:30.
"We don't suppose you have them in any other colours?" we enquired.
"Oh, no." she answered. "These are very popular. These are the last two, so you'd better take them now."
"What time do you close?" we asked.
"Oh... five o'clock." said the salescow. "Or earlier."
"Well, we want to check out the Myer Centre first, just in case. If not, we will come back." we decided.
"Oh, you won't find anything there." asserted the woman, who seemed determined to get these dresses off her hands. "This type of dress would be two or three hundred dollars at Myers."
"Hmm." said we. "We will check. Just in case." And made our escape.
Predictably, there was nothing suitable at Myers or any other Myer Centre shops. For any price. We sat in the bottom of the David Jones building and drank hot chocolate and coffee to review our options. The candy-pink, shimmery dresses at Copycat were all we had come up with. That was it. After a full day of shopping, we had turned up only one option. The likelihood of finding something else at another shop seemed slim, and given the time constraints we were under, we didn't fancy another day's expedition. But the horrible woman at the shop had been so pushy that we didn't want to go back.
In the end, it was inevitable. Treading just a little of our pride underfoot, we braved the salesthing to purchase the pink dresses. On our entry to the shop, she gave us a bland expression.
"Oh. You're back." sayeth she, without intonation.
"Yes." sayeth Ata, with determined cheer. "Do you still have them?" Just a trace of malice in the sweetness.
"Yes." is the response.
Honestly, after her earlier performance, one would think she would be pleased to have the sale.
On the way back to the car, Ata sighs. "Oh, I am glad that's over. I've had enough of looking at dresses."
"Yeah," agrees AB, "I've just had enough of taking my clothes off."
Anyway. We have dresses, and Ata has now been given the task of attempting to find similar fabric for the Youngest Bridesmaid's dress to be made from. And then there are shoes to find. And a wrap. And the dress to be altered. |
posted by Ata @ 11:45 am  |
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| 5 Comments: |
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Anyway. We have dresses, and Ata has now been given the task of attempting to find similar fabric for the Youngest Bridesmaid's dress to be made from. And then there are shoes to find. And a wrap. And the dress to be altered.
And the pictures to be posted on your blog ...
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Holy hell, that makes me want to play the lesbian card and go to weddings in a suit.
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*sniggers at Em*
Yes, though. What a pain! Why does getting married have to be such a hassle?
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A hassle, indeed. My brother and his fiancee waited for a bus special to Vegas, eloped, and sent us all postcards to say that they were married. Nice and simple.
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Anytime something is to be Special, it is likely to be a hassle. If we had more than 2-3 weeks to get organised, it would be Much Easier!
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Anyway. We have dresses, and Ata has now been given the task of attempting to find similar fabric for the Youngest Bridesmaid's dress to be made from. And then there are shoes to find. And a wrap. And the dress to be altered.
And the pictures to be posted on your blog ...