Quest for the Red Dress - Part Two: The Plot Thickens

When we last left our hero...

She had been kvetching over her need for a good red dress. And lo did the million and one submissions pour in, and they were good. And thus did our hero find the dress she loved. The dress of her life. It might well have been "the one".

Well, when you fall in love, you fall in love without rhyme or reason. IN SPITE of the fact that I have never ordered anything online clothing-wise a day of my life and IN SPITE of the fact that my husband pointed out that it looked a bit more pink than red, I bought that baby right quick. Yesterday it comes in. It looks good. It looks good on me, more to the point. But it is (and here I think you will have to agree with me) ...

PINKISH

Not the flaming red I had envisioned.

Hm. Love is a funny fickle thing. So what am I to do? I'm not in the habit of spending umpteen bazillion dollars on dresses. I just did that.

Ipso facto, it is new plan time.

Like so.

The new plan states that I would like to possibly borrow someone else's dress. Yours. I would like to borrow your red dress. This plan has many things to recommend it:

1. I'm far more likely to spill something on my own dress than someone else's (or so history has proven thus far).
2. I could reimburse you for shipping.
3. Your dress could attend the Newbery banquet on my body.

It's win-win!

Therefore I have a favor to ask of you. If you happen to own a beautiful bright red dress of a size 4 or 6 . . . . um . . . . can I borrow it? Just send me a picture to my e-mail address (if you click on my Fuseman in the upper left-hand corner of the blog it'll direct you to it) and know that I'm notoriously picky picky. Oh! And maybe we'll have a big dress-off where I post all the photos and people get to vote. That'd be fun.

Now in the event that you all send me beautiful pictures of your dresses and none of them suit my fickle female eye, I will wear Dress #1 (which really is lovely and who's sole flaw is its pinky hue). Plus, and I cannot stress this enough, DO NOT SEND ME A DRESS! Just a picture for now will do.

And maybe none of you want to send a perfect stranger your gorgeous red dress. Still, it'd be mighty fun . . . . .

. . . to be continued . . .

Find Me a Dress

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find me a beautiful red evening dress. Preferably one that I can buy. You have one month in which to do so. You see, I'm preparing for the Newbery banquet with a sloth-like speed, and for such a banquet I need a dress. Preferably red. Ideally silk, but that's just me being dreamy.

I'm a little frightened to ask you all this because y'all are notoriously generous. Really REALLY generous, and I don't want to come into work tomorrow to find twenty potential red silk dresses overnighted to my desk. None of that now. I just need some shopping advice. Where does one go to get a pretty red dress for a reasonable price?

Def: Reasonable price = Affordable on a children's librarian budget.

As I live in Manhattan, you would think locating a red dress would be simple. Nuh-uh. It's springtime here in NYC and that means beige. Beige, cantaloupe, and cream. Red? Good luck with that. I found a close contender at an H&M near my workplace but it proved to be particularly pinkish up close (tarnation!).

So what are your suggestions? Remember: It has to be something I can wear to a banquet. No barbecue skorts. And as my "shopping" is normally limited to gleefully sorting through the leavings of my friend in the fashion mag industry, I bow to your superior judgment on this one. What should I do?