So, it’s the first day of March, the first day of One Dress, One Month, and the first outing of The Dress.
It took a good two weeks and far too much time in changing rooms to find something I could bear the idea of wearing for 31 days straight. Ironically, considering my hope that this month would be something of an anti-fast-fashion statement, I ended up getting my dress in a shop that must surely count as one of the biggest purveyors of throwaway fashion – New Look. Oh, and going out and buying something new? Not really in the spirit of things either, but practical considerations – mostly involving not starting to reek by about day 5 – meant that choosing a dress I already owned just wasn’t going to work.
I realised early on during my dress-hunt that I was going to have to buy two identical dresses. This may well be considered cheating – but, honestly, there’s no way I’d be able to launder one single dress every night in time for the following morning. This meant, then, that I couldn’t pick anything too expensive – I had to be able to afford two of them, and, what’s more, most of the dresses I looked at from the usual higher-end high street suspects, such as Whistles or Reiss, were dry-clean only and therefore totally out of the question. (It may surprise you to hear that the vast GU Guardian budget does not stretch to staff dry-cleaning costs.)
When it came to colour, though, black was always going to be the only option. (I wonder if there’s anyone participating this month who hasn’t gone for black?)
In the end I picked this black jersey skater dress; hopefully it’ll prove a versatile choice…
Today’s extras:
Cameo brooch, Starry Starry Night, worn as choker with black velvet ribbon from Mandor’s Fabric Store.
White woolly tights, M&S
Black thigh-high boots, vintage
Black ruffle-fronted cardigan, Reiss
Know someone taking on the One Dress, One Month challenge? Support their cause by donating online to Macmillan Cancer Support here!
