Graduation Dress

This past week, I graduated high school. As bittersweet as it was, I'm so proud of myself and the others in my class, especially my IB class for making it through these insane high school years and moving on to pursue our ambitions and our future.


For my school, graduation is an incredibly ceremonial affair (as I imagine it is elsewhere) and comes with a number of traditions. One is senior white; senior ladies are expected to have a white dress to wear to senior events and graduation, as the female graduation gown is white and anything other than a white dress would show through.


I think I speak for a lot of other girls when I say that the search for the perfect white dress was an object of great concern. In a sense, it's a little like a culmination of the development of your style throughout high school (I'd say all the girls I know, myself included, have come a long way since freshman year). I know it was really important to me to find a white dress that really showed off my personal style and would still stand out amid a sea of white.
I'd like to say that I succeeded :)


After much stressing and deliberation, I settled on a dress from (you guessed it) ASOS. It was very unique and unlike any of the dresses I saw on other girls at senior functions, which made me happy :)

It was quite affordable and turned out to be a very flattering fit. I loved the details like the dip in the back and the multiple cross-over straps, although they made the dress a little impractical at times. 

It was a fairly revealing dress and not one I would usually wear to school, but most senior white dresses break school dress code anyway, and I figured that would make it a better summer dress. My boyfriend said he really liked it on me and in general no one had any objections. It'll be a great dress for when it gets hot and I know I'll get a lot of wear out of it this summer.


A picture of me in my dress with my parents after the graduation ceremony :)

I'm not the only one that stresses about dresses for such occasions, am I?

Until later,
Annika

I Own This: Colorblock Collar

Hey guys! So I've come up with a new series for this blog. The idea behind this is to share with you some of the dresses I own-- not with the intention of showing off or bragging, but to remind myself to appreciate what I have admist all of the lust for things I don't have. Also to share my personal taste, style, tips on how to wear similar items, and stories as to how I came across these pieces.

World, meet one of my favorite dresses ever. Please excuse the lame mirror-phone shot.

I bought this dress last fall, when I had just discovered ASOS. I thought (and still think) this dress was absolutely beautiful-- from the bright coral color to the black contrast peter pan collar. When I saw that it had been marked down to about $32, I couldn't resist.

 

I thought this dress would make a fantastic transition piece to wear during spring and fall. I also liked that its length and cut make it school appropriate. It's simultaneously conservative and playful.

I confess that I love this dress in real life even more than I did online. I love the bright grapefruit pink, the adorable collar and tie, the pleats, and the airy feel of the dress. It's very comfortable, fits me well, and the cut flatters my figure nicely.

I love that this dress is an outfit in itself. I usually simply pair it with black shoes and feel no need to accessorize. On the days when I lack  the inspiration to coordinate a top and bottom, I throw it on. It's an effortlessly cute dress and I always get complimented a lot when I wear it. One of my classmates commented that the dress made me look like a retro pilgrim. She meant it in a nice way, and I quite like the description.

Do you have a go-to dress on lazy days?

Until later,

Annika

Prom Trends 2012: A Retrospective

What girl doesn't love stalking through people's prom pictures, eh?

This prom, at my school's prom especially but also at others, I noticed some very obvious trends.

The first was white dresses.

 Ironically, black was also a popular color. This was less surprising than the white trend, however.

Another new trend was high-low hems, which seem to have become more and more popular in casual wear as well (I've seen many a shirt, dress, and skirt with this design walking down the school hallway)

Mega sparkly dresses, whether ultra-sequined or gem-encrusted, were a trend still going strong from past years. The motto seems to be the more embellished, the better.

I also noticed quite a few very feathery dresses. I wouldn't call that a trend though. There weren't all that many of them, but the ones that were present were enormously noticeable.

Cut outs of all kinds were popular. Back, sides, so on and so forth. Some were unique and tasteful; others not so much. I was pretty amazed by how risque some of this year's dresses were.

Peachy oranges, corals, apricots, and varying shades of bright blue were the most popular colorful colors.

I thought before concluding this post, I'd include a guy trend I noticed. An enormous percentage of the boys at prom this year were sporting silver tuxes.

Hope you enjoyed this post. Did you notice any trends at prom this year?

Until later,

Annika

One Year Late

This is just a quick post to make up for one I completely failed to do last year. I wrote posts and posts freaking about about prom dresses and then never tied all the loose ends by sharing which dress I chose. I ordered this one from ASOS.

It was a lovely dress, but I had to return it for a size smaller because I had overestimated my size. It was albeit a bit informal for prom, but I wasn't the only person dresses informally that year. It was comfortable, but the strapless design was such a bother that I was determined to purchase a non-strapless dress this year.

Overall, I really enjoyed wearing this dress for the evening. However, ultimately the price of the dress was too high for what it was, and I couldn't see myself wearing it again, so I returned it the day after prom.

I leave you with this lovely candid shot.

Until later!

Annika

Follow Up: Success

Hello internet! It's been awhile. My last post was concerning a vintage dress I hoped to buy as a prom dress, but unfortunately that didn't work out. I was deeply disappointed, but quickly cheered up in the joy of hunting for a new prom dress.

I knew I wanted a few things in my prom dress this year:

1. I wanted it to be floor length. This ended up being an extremely good decision, as play rehearsals resulted in extremely scabbed and bruised knees. That would not have been pretty.

2. I wanted it to be simple. No huge embellishments, wild prints or neon colors.

3. I wanted it to be classy and elegant. Nothing very revealing or risque.

4. I wanted it to go with a pair of heels I already owned as I was not interested in shopping for prom shoes.

5. I wanted it to have straps-- my prom dress last year did not, and what a pain that was. I have sworn off strapless dresses and tops ever since. They just don't work for me.

With these preferences in mind, I spent much frustrated time searching in stores and online. After much time, careful deliberation and consideration, my parents and I finally settled on a dress. Though the purchase was a bit last-minute and I wasn't sure about it at first, I ended up really loving the dress I chose.

We chose a beautiful, floor-length, dusty-pink/mauve dress from Nordstrom by Adrianna Papell (this is really a designer to check out for classy formal dresses). Though it didn't look exactly the same in real life as it did online and I did have to get it hemmed quite a bit, the overall fit was good and the dress grew on me more and more every time I tried it on. I loved the one-shoulder look, the crossover bust, even the tiny sequins embellishments. Ultimately, it was everything I was looking for. Beautiful, comfortable, flattering, and elegant. And I've been absolutely obsessed with this color the past few months.

I was also very pleased to find that I was the only one at prom wearing this particular dress. That was my biggest worry. I really dislike owning the same clothes as other people I know, and it would really have bothered me to be wearing the same dress as another girl at prom. My dress was also the only mauve or dusty pink dress I saw. Curiously, white was an extremely popular color this year.

It was an investment, but this is a dress I will keep for as long as it fits me. It was well worth the money and the service of Nordstrom's website was excellent. I highly recommend this dress to anyone who is looking for an elegant prom dress. I have every intention of wearing it to any and all special occasions I can. I'm absolutely itching to wear it again.

Overall, prom was a massive success. My beautiful friend Jackie, the girl in the white, is a complete makeup guru and has her own makeup blog. She agreed to do my makeup and did an absolutely fantastic job. I asked for a silver smokey eye to match my date's silver tux and my silver accessories.  She made me look as close to flawless as I ever have and I felt really beautiful.

I decided to do my hair myself and was quite proud of what I came up with :)

My sweet boyfriend became the first guy to ever ask me to a school dance. He left me lots of post it notes and duct taped a rose on my car.

He turned out to be the absolutely best prom date ever. 

Although he hates taking pictures, he was such a good sport as our parents clicked endlessly away. He seemed mildly amused at my attempts to make the situation less stuffy with a series of silly faces.

My group consisted of my best friend, my boyfriend, and my best friend's boyfriend (who is also my boyfriend's good friend). They were the best prom group ever.

Jackie's lovely mother made us an absolutely delicious dinner (free of charge!) and my date and I were lucky enough to snag a ride in a ridiculously fancy limousine. Prom was held in the Science Museum in the large atrium. It was decorated with the theme of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, and it was pretty magical. The music wasn't very good, but my date and I had a great time dancing anyway. Overall, it was a fantastic, fun, and very successful night that I will always remember.
I couldn't have asked for a better dress, date, prom group, or senior prom.
Until later,
Annika

Prom Dress?

This year, I'm shopping ahead. Way ahead. This is a dress I tried on in a vintage-inspired boutique in Richmond this past summer (July, to be exact) and really loved it. Hopefully this week I'll have a chance to drop by and see if they still have it, and if they do my mom said she'd buy it for my birthday this month. And of course I'd wear it to prom. I hope this works out, it's a really beautiful dress that I could easily use for many other occasions. And it would make the weeks leading up to prom a lot less stressful and frantic.

Happy New Year!

It's been about 5 months since my last dress purchase, mostly because I just haven't come across any dresses I absolutely love. But a while back, I found the Russian Roulette dress by Mink Pink, and I was absolutely smitten. I'd been looking for a nice velvet winter dress, and oh. my. god. This one is beautiful.

I saw it first online, but then I found out Urban Outfitters had it, so I tried it on the next time I went by and was blown away. The fabric, swing, colors, and cut of the dress are absolutely gorgeous. But at $118 is too pricey for me, even though I was totally willing to splurge on an investment piece like this. Luckily, over the past year I've learned a few things about smart shopping online, so I shopped around and managed to snag an  awesome deal, and got this dress for $70.
You can imagine my excitement.
To be honest, $70 is still pretty steep for a dress, but I'd already tried it on so I knew how beautiful and what high quality it was. I wear dresses all the time, so I know I'll get a lot of use out of it. Apart from that, I really wanted it, I'd just gotten my allowance and I was itching to get myself something really nice after blowing all my money on Christmas presents for other people (although I really do love buying other people presents).
Now the only regret I have is that I didn't have it on New Years Eve. I'm currently eagerly awaiting it in my mail, but the website said that due to inventory issues it won't be shipped until the 9th... that's okay. I've already waited this long, I can wait just a little longer :)