The GREAT Dress Debacle!!

Spring has sprung, and if you're living in or around an Army community (Signal Corps to be exact), than you know that it's just about that time of year again... for formal balls!!

There are many perks to living in Korea, one of which is that there are custom tailors everywhere, to make just about anything your little heart desires. So of course, I have been researching for weeks on end and found 2 dresses that I would like to have custom made for me for the 2 balls we have coming up in May. May 5th is the 304th Signal BN Ball- "Ready Always Ready" Hooah! While, May 20th is the 1st Signal Brigade Ball- "1st To Communicate" Hooah! (Okay, so enough of that!) Ha!

The two dresses that I choose are:

Option #1:

Photo Courtesy of Nordstroms

Now with dress option #1 (mind you, I need 2 dresses for 2 different balls, where I'm going to see the SAME people within the course of about 3 weeks!), the plan is was to get this dress made in a solid black, probably satin material; and I would accent with silver shoes, black and silver clutch and silver and diamond statement jewlery, most of which I already have in my closet, with the exception of a bracelet I would borrow from a friend. 

Option #2 

Photo Courtesy of Nordstroms

For this dress, I plan planned to get made in an emerald green satin material (much like shown in the picture), and accent this dress with gold jewlery and clutch, both of which I would be adding to my closet after purchase. So of course, after bringing budget into the picture and finding some awesome deals on accessories, I opted to still continue my plan.

Now on to the tailor search... I recieved a price quote from the tailor who made some awesome looking suits for B, and he quoted me a reasonable price for each dress, I would say comparable to what I would pay in a department store. The only issue was, in his shop I never saw any dresses that he made...only suits. Now ladies, we all know that there is a HUGE difference between the fitting of a suit on a man and a formal gown on a lady. This was my first red flag.

Then I decided to consult some of my friends who have had dresses made for events. After speaking to 3 different friends, who both stated that they were middle-of-the-road satisfied with their end product (from 3 different tailors in addition to the one mentioned above), and later found out they paid an outrageous price for a cocktail dress (knowing that my dresses would require double the material of a cocktail dress). I started thinking about whether this whole tailored dress idea was going to be a complete bust, and if so would I be pleased with my end product. Finally after all of my research and talking with friends, I basically determined that I will most likely end up with a dress looks like I should be attending my first high school prom, or one that I should be wearing down the aisle at a wedding, neither of which is the look I am going for.

Therefore knowing myself (yeah, I know I'm being a little picky...but I'm okay with that), the look I am going for and wanting a dress that I can re-wear again at another duty station...I opted to scratch the entire above plan, for fear of ending up with a product I've dumped money into and am completely disastified with.

So, onto plan B. 

I scoured good ole' Nordstroms from page to page and came across these two beauties...

Photo Courtesy of Nordstroms

Photo Courtesy of Nordstroms



The teal one shoulder has been ordered and will hopefully arrive within the next week or so. This gown will be worn to the May 5th ball, and I still plan to accent it with gold jewlery and clutch. While the black gown will be worn to the May 20th ball, and of course will be accented with silver tones of jewlery and accessories.

So there you have it... the GREAT dress debacle: extensive research, a little frustration, 4 dresses narrowed down to 2, and hopefully 2 that can be worn, re-worn and even maybe loaned to fellow Army spouses a few times throughout the next couple of ball seasons!

Till Next Time,

XOXO from Korea!

Mrs. GC