Outfit Details:
Cutout Dress (L'Amour Nanette Lepore): jcpenney
Jelly flats: J.Crew (old)
Heart ring: Urban Outfitters (sold out)
Daisy ring: Mom's
This is the dress that I mentioned in yesterday's post. I wasn't planning on getting a dress from JC Penney (is it JC Penney or jcpenney? Has this changed? I never know), but when I saw this one in the juniors section, I knew I had to at least try it on. I love the shape and vibrant color, and the print is so interesting, with the hand-drawn anchors, lions and daisies.
I thought these two rings were really appropriate for this dress (and the name of the line)!
I learned a really valuable lesson about sizing the day I got this dress. Specifically, a lesson about not getting hung up on sizing! This dress (and whole line) is from the juniors' section. When clothes are cut for a juniors line, they really aren't well-fitted for larger bust or hip sizes. Logically, I know this, but there is a certain amount of vanity involved when shopping for me; not only do I want to look good in clothes, but I do get a certain satisfaction about knowing I am a size ___, etc. There have definitely been times where I don't want to buy something in a size larger, because I don't want to have to think of myself as wearing a size 10 (instead of my normal size 8)!
When I went to try on this dress, they were out of size 9, which would be my first pick for my size in the juniors' section under normal circumstances. So I tried on the size 11, thinking it'd maybe be too big, but could work. To my shock, I couldn't even zip it up! I really loved the dress though, so I decided to try it on in a 13 for kicks, expecting it to be too big. Lo and behold, the dress was pretty much perfect on me. It looked great, but I definitely felt bummed about having to wear a dress that was two sizes larger than what I thought my normal size would be.
And then I tried on a different dress from the ladies' section. They were out of my normal size 8, so I took the size 6 they had into the dressing room, assuming it wouldn't even zip. It ended up fitting perfectly. So here I was, able to wear both a size 6 and a size 13. I'm fairly certain the other dress I tried on probably ran a little big, but it just goes to show that you can't get too hung up on the size you wear. Because I've bought quite a number of vintage items on Etsy, I've gotten pretty good with knowing my current measurements, which has been helpful. But when buying items in a store, you kind of just have to take a chance sometimes, since we don't have universal sizing. I know people who cut out the tags in their clothes, which I think is a good self-confidence booster, but I think I can just be secure in the knowledge that you never really know what'll work until you try it on. :)
My grandma is coming up from Florida today! She's here for the 4th of July, though we're not doing really anything exciting that day -- we're having our big family party on Saturday instead. But I don't get to see my grandma very often, so I'm looking forward to spending time with her!
Have a wonderful Tuesday!
xox Sammi
