All Dressed up & Nowhere to Go

I dug into my wardrobe archives last Sunday and wore my Samba dress from J.Crew's 2007 Summer collection (pictured above). This is one of my favorite pieces because of it's bright colors and simplicity plus it looks pretty fierce when I spin around in it as the skirt is a little over the top in volume. To be perfectly honest this was the first time I actually wore this dress. I brought it 5 years ago in anticipation of all the invites I would get during wedding season but I never ended up wearing it because I was waiting for an event that I thought would be worthy of it and the weddings I had gone to required very casual dress. When I dug it out of my closet I decided that I had waited long enough and wore it to church on an average Sunday morning. I felt great and wore it to church largely unnoticed throughout the service until I went to leave and stepped out into the parking lot. A woman stopped me and said "That's a beautiful dress! I hope you're on your way somewhere where people will see you in it." I graciously said thank you for the compliment but to her & my dismay I was not on my way anywhere. Actually when I left there I went to Panera as I do on most Sundays to get lunch and I didn't even get out of the car because my feet were hurting from my heels so I utilized the drive-thru. As I was sitting there waiting for my food I realized that it is rare that I am ever going anywhere where I am meeting up with someone or a group of people that would realistically warrant dressing up for and it made me a little sad.

Ever since I graduated with my Master's 4 years ago I have tried to update my wardrobe in a way that shows I'm still relatively young and fun but should be taken seriously. I never know when a new opportunity may come my way (or I may run into someone from my past who used to treat me like crap) so I try to dress my best whenever I leave my house. Rachel Zoe has a saying on her website "Be Glamorous Everyday" and that's a motto I like to live by simply for the fact that it makes me feel good. I like dressing professionally for work because it makes me feel important and I think I work better when I dress the part. I like dressing up or dressing cleverly stylish for lunch or dinner with friends because I think it's fun. It's rare that I get invited anywhere so there's been a lot of times when I'm fabulously dressed at a table for one. We mainly only have chain restaurants here where people dress so casually at times you would think they had just gotten out of bed but I like to treat dinner like an event. Imagine my excitement when I get to dine in the city at a bistro or some chic downtown sushi bar. I usually get stares or judgmental glares when I dress up to go out in town because I imagine they think I look ridiculous or overdressed but when I go to the city I usually garner a few compliments from the women there and for once I feel like I belong.

I am also guilty of buying date approved outfits although I am not dating nor have been on a date in about a year and a half. I brought a super cute outfit for the apology date that I expected to be going on with my ex but I'm fairly certain that will never take place so now it has been hanging in my closet for 3 months. I know I should just wear it anyways but it kinda reminds me of what will never be which quite frankly just sucks. I will give him credit though, when we did go out on dates he would acknowledge that I was dressed nice although I'm pretty sure it was to feed his own ego to let me know that I was worthy enough to be on his arm for the evening. I shouldn't be seeking approval from anyone else with the way I dress and I do dress the way that makes me feel my best but it would be nice to have that someone special in my life to dress for. I'm not sure that men take notice of me because I try not to make eye contact as it makes me nervous but I'd like to think that every now and then they think "Hey that girl's got it going on". Ok, I don't think people say things like that anymore but you know what I mean.