Oh, This Old Thing?

[eye_of_a_cat]

I need(1) two new dresses for miscellaneous university-related events. I've bought one of them already, which is probably a waste of money even for a big shiny party thing(2) and at any rate cost more than I'd usually spend(3) but, hey, it's pretty. I'm still looking for Dress B.

So, here's my question, in re: Fifties-style strapless dresses like this one:
a) How the hell do they stay up?
b) Does the answer to a) still apply if you're dancing?

Since the mannequin in the picture presumably doesn't move very much(4), it's difficult to tell how those things work. And this is for a ceilidh, and ceilidh dancing is fast. I could always sew straps on it (or try to pass off duct tape as a very trendy accessory), but maybe there's some anti-gravity system at work there. People walk about in those dresses, don't they?

(1) For 'need' here, read 'am required to' for Dress A and 'am not required to, but this is a Big Fancy Event in a Big Fancy Place and I don't own anything that fancy and it'll just be wrong if the event and the setting and the boy on my arm are all looking prettier than me' for Dress B.

(2) Having discussed this with my dear friend J, who went to the kind of school where they throw actual balls with actual ballgowns every year, I am partly reassured on this. My dress probably cost about half a sleeve's worth of ballgown. And, yes, I got it cheaper because the stitching's coming away at the back, and it doesn't look quite as shiny nor as expensive nor as new as a ballgown, but AT LEAST MY DRESS NEVER TOOK PART IN A SOCIALLY EXCLUSIVE EDUCATION SYSTEM, SO THERE.

(3) Well, sort of. I'd usually spend nothing - I don't find myself at many occasions that warrant fancy clothes. The last time I bought a dress for a big event like this was when I was 17 and in my last year of school, and a bunch of us clubbed together to hire the function room above the pub down the road, which let's just say didn't involve ballgowns. My dress cost £13.99 from Mackays. And I still have it. And it still fits me.

(4) At least not until after dark when the shop's quiet.

Comments

[eye-of-a-cat.livejournal.com]

Advice from the flatmate: "Nothing strapless at a ceilidh! Nothing! Are you out of your mind?"

Maybe persuade my mother to sew thin straps to it and get a decent strapless bra? It probably is going to end up costing more than the dress! Really, I think I should be able to claim this on university expenses (under 'Preservation Of Decency At Ceilidh'...)

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

Isn't your mother hundreds of miles south? If need be, I volunteer my services for shepherding you around bra shops (well, it worked for catnip_junkie - if you heard how much her graduation ballgown cost, you might be feeling reassured about the cost of your Armstrongs dress), and having gone insane trying to find a dress and bra for the wedding last year I know most of the places by now. Since you're a relatively normal size, I may end up standing there and hissing as you actually find bras in the shops, instead of being told time and again that they're out of your size) and strap-sewing; there's Edinburgh Bargain Stores opposite me which might have useful stuff, failing that John Lewis is only a short hop away.

Sewing thin straps to the dress and a strapless bra is a good compromise, I don't think I'd venture further if there's vigorous dancing involved. If you go for a strappy bra too, on the one hand it won't do odd things to your back (with certain dresses that sort of thing doesn't show, though) and it won't start shimmying down and need hiking up throughout the evening, but on the other the straps will show and that might be annoying.

I'm now being tempted to finish off adapting that brown/orange/pink dress and wear it to the barbecue tomorrow, but it's far too dressy. I think. Plus the problem that it's moderately indecent: let's put it this way, when I modelled it to D the other week, he ended up staying the night and he hadn't planned to. Er, what do people wear to Liberal Jewish community annual barbecues? I know I went to the one last year, but I can't remember! Pictures can be retrieved if need be, it's the one I put up that post about a few posts down my LJ. It's probably at least half an hour's sewing. Tonight's plans involve some tidying of the living room and some work, I could probably get the sewing in there. It also depends on whether that backless bra thing I got from eBay (which is posing as the La Senza one and I suspect isn't because the front doesn't plunge as much), and which, incidentally, I bought because I'm not overly fond of strapless bras (this dress is so tight I can hopefully just sew the bra thingy into the front) actually fits properly. Not to mention tomorrow's weather. In some ways I suppose it's just a summer dress that's a little sexier than some of them; the plan was to wear it with a plain dark brown scarf, and I wear scarves to everything these days.

[eye-of-a-cat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but the parents are coming up for the little brother's graduation next week - probably not with Mum's sewing machine, but We'll See.

If you go for a strappy bra too, on the one hand it won't do odd things to your back (with certain dresses that sort of thing doesn't show, though) and it won't start shimmying down and need hiking up throughout the evening, but on the other the straps will show and that might be annoying.

Yep. J suggested one of those with see-through straps, which do look really obvious if you're wearing something strapless but maybe less so if you have thin straps there anyway - strapless bra and a lot of tape sounds like a good plan, though.

Er, what do people wear to Liberal Jewish community annual barbecues?

Well, if you don't know...

The brown-y dress is gorgeous - very summery, though, so here's hoping for good weather if you go with that one. I don't think it would count as too indecent, especially with a scarf. How are you adapting it?

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

The straps have been quite thoroughly altered, there used to be a weird macrame thing above the bust which has been taken off, and which is why they cross over in that unusual way. I haven't yet sewn the lacing behind the cut-out, and I am going to put a layer of flesh-coloured chiffon behind it. I also intend to sew one of those strange backless bra things in for added support and decency. You still get a fabulous view of my breasts, to be honest. On the warmth front, it's lined at least. I'll start on it tonight and see how I do, and if I get it done then I can always poke my nose out of the door tomorrow morning and decide on the weather, plus wait for D's reaction ("No! Put me down! I asked whether or not it's suitable to wear in public, I didn't ask you to take it off me!").