What I Wore: Fancy Friday

I had a lot of fun with Sequin Sunday in March and April, so when I ran out of sequins, I decided to move on to my fancy frocks with Fancy Friday. Now, to be clear, I didn’t actually start dressing up in cocktail attire every Friday – working from home with children is challenging enough without having to do it in high heels. But it was a nice excuse to post something a little different to my IG account once a week. After all, it’s not like I’ll be getting the opportunity to wear these dresses in real life any time soon.

If you were ever curious about my special occasion dress collection, wonder no more. Here it is in all most of its glory:

One of my favourite dresses of all time, this Lela Rose for Target number (part of an old Nordstrom collab) is one I always recommend to people. You can still find it, very reasonably priced, on ebay – where I got mine years ago – and it’s perfect for weddings and similar occasions. The quality is shockingly good and it’s just a beautiful dress. I’m wearing it with my own belt, rather than the original belt that came with the dress which is only part that’s a little bit shoddy, quality-wise.

This is a very cool Tracy Reese dress – the bodice is partially (real) leather, which gives a nice contrast to the pretty lace. I love that it’s dark blue (not navy) rather than black which makes it stand out a bit more as well. Good for weddings, cocktail parties and the like.

Photos do not do justice to this Tadashi Shoji dress. The dress is made out of ruched layers silk and has an iridescent sheen to it – it looks reddish purple at some angles, and purplish blue in others. It’s the kind of body-con style that I tend to avoid in general, but I will make an exception for a special occasion and for this dress.

This Betsey Johnson dress is the stuff that goth-ballerina-princess dreams are made of. I love tulle, I love pleats, I love subtle sparkle. This dress has it all. The photos don’t capture it well, but there are micro-dots of glitter all over the dress, which make it twinkle under low lights. I’ve worn this for NYE before, and felt like a million bucks.

Another fabulous Tadashi Shoji number, this one a lovely dark forest green. I especially love the lace-mesh combination at the top. Since this dress is a bit loose on me, I decided to belt it and make that the focus, accessory-wise, but this is a dress that would look amazing with a proper statement necklace.

Last but not least, this BCBG number was a relatively recent addition to the line-up and I cannot wait to wear it for real. Again, photos don’t really capture its amazing details very well. The sleeves are unusual (I normally hate “cold shoulder” but I think the cutouts here are very well executed), there is a flattering slit, and the back detail is chef’s kiss.

*** Honourable mention to these dresses which I somehow forgot to add to the Fancy Friday line-up:

From left: Adrianna Papell dress, Armani Collezione dress, Nicole Miller dress.