What I Wore: New Year’s Eve 2018

If you read my previous post about my NYE outfit deliberations, then you probably won’t be surprised to read that I didn’t make my final decision until, literally, 2 hours before I had to leave for the party, and after trying on ALL of my special occasion dresses … some of the more than once. Luckily, I had my BFF there to help me. As it happens, my final choice was completely serendipitous, and it wouldn’t have happened had she not been there.

But I am getting ahead of myself a bit.

Per my previous post, the obvious front-runners for NYE were a sparkly Armani Collezione dress and a slinky Tadashi Shoji sheath dress. Both of these dresses were new (to me) and sufficiently fancy for the occasion; but for the various reasons I already touched on, neither stood out as the clear winner. By the time December 31st rolled around, I was almost decided on another dress – a Nicole Miller black and white red carpet-worthy number which I last wore at my previous firm’s 2016 Christmas party. It had a lot of advantages; it’s elegant and extremely figure-flattering, but also shockingly comfortable (no Spanx required). Food is a prominent feature of our NYE party, so the latter consideration was important. Still, I wasn’t 100% feeling the Nicole Miller dress.

At my BFF’s instigation, I started to try on every other possible option in my closet. I am talking Every. Single. Cocktail. Dress. I. Own. It was a fun exercise, but nothing jumped out as a better choice than the Nicole Miller. At some point, I walked into my bathroom to have a better look at an outfit in the mirror there (the lighting being brighter than in the bedroom) and my eyes fell on the bundle of clothes I had thrifted on Boxing Day and was in the process of cleaning.

“Jenni,” I said, “you gotta see this vintage Le Chateau dress I just found.”

We had been talking just the day before about aspirational brands of our youth – Le Chateau being one of them, back in the days when spending more than $20 on a dress was a real stretch, budget-wise.

“Yeah, ok,” she replied.

And that, my friends, is how it all started.

I put on the dress – or, more accurately, poured myself into it – and my BFF immediately loved it. “Serving some real 90s Versace glam” is what we eventually landed on, as far as the overall vibe of the dress. Looking into the mirror, I had to admit that it was definitely a very flattering (though not comfortable) dress. I had not thought of it as a possible option for NYE when I bought it because it struck me as being somewhat on the casual side (more for a date night than a dressed-up occasion) but I began to see the potential. I added a couple of gold-toned, blinged out necklaces as a further tribute to the Versace inspiration, and the Manolo Blahnik shoes I had planned to wear all along. The overall effect was undeniably good. I quickly steamed then (at home) dry-cleaned the dress, and I was set – with minutes to spare.

The only obvious drawback was the (unavoidable) need for Spanx, which made me hesitate for a moment. I hate Spanx with the fire of a thousand suns, especially when I’m planning to enjoy an evening of extensive dining. I tried to substitute some control-top nylons instead, but hated the way they looked with the peep-toe shoes. Beauty is pain, they say. So, I bit the bullet and wore the Spanx. By midnight, I felt like I was just about ready to turn back into a pumpkin, but it was worth it.

Here’s a closer look at my necklaces:

From inauspicious beginnings, this NYE story had a very happy ending, and an outfit that will no doubt be a favourite in years to come. I don’t know if and when I’ll be able to wear this dress again, but it was $12 well spent for the memories alone.