Why Is Dress Shopping So Difficult?

I need a dress. Sounds simple, right? Well, I need a dress for a charity league graduation luncheon/tea (don't judge me, it's all about the college extracurricular list). That means it needs to be tea-appropriate, so not super-short or tight or sexy, but since I don't have to pay for it (!) I want something that I can take with me to college, so it needs to be actually cute and work for day or night.

Shoshanna Eyelet Dress, $368 at nordstrom.com, Printed Silk Chiffon Short Whitney Dress, $220 at jcrew.com, Porter Grey Short Sleeve Dress, $375 at shopbop.com. This eyelet dress is so fresh and spring-like, and the white-on-white pattern is subtle, but adds so much richness to the overall look (and how cute is that ruffle?!). I love the cut of that J. Crew dress. I wish is was a little shorter, but the drapey chiffon and the ruffle at the waist are the best kind of Grecian girly. It's hard to tell her, but that Porter Grey dress has a sheer, Swiss dot overlay. It's very cute, a little unexpected, and extremely versatile.


Haute Hippie Ruffle Satin Dress, $425 at nordstrom.com, Vena Cava Sphinx Dress, $506 at lagarconne.com, J. Crew Linen Constellations Strapless Dress, $158 at jcrew.com. These first two dresses are completely unrealistic, but so cute. I love the slight ballerina vibe of the first dress, and the combination of what looks like a t-shirt top with the super-ruffly skirt. This second dress is my favorite. I love the shape (very flattering), and how the dove gray shade turns down the blatant girliness of that ruffle top. The print on this last dress is adorable (tiny pink flowers over red), the shape is easy and flattering, and if it wasn't strapless, I would have bought it already.


I'm going shopping tomorrow, and I'll update you guys on how that turns out! Probably not well, but we'll see...

Image Sources:
Shoshanna dress: nordstrom.com
J. Crew Whitney dress: jcrew.com
Porter Grey: shopbop.com
Haute Hippie dress: nordstrom.com
Vena Cava dress: lagarconne.com
J. Crew linen constellations dress: jcrew.com