I've been sitting on this post because I wasn't sure what I wanted to say exactly. It involves a whole bunch of things I love. Shopping. FREE stuff. Old Navy. Crowdtap. A friend. Yet, there was a whole lot of frustration as well.
As a member of The Old Navy Style Council (via Crowdtap) I once again got the opportunity to do a Sample Share. This time it was for The Old Navy DRESS Event. A FREE dress?! Words a girl like me loves to hear!! Needless to say I was super excited. I figured it was be a breeze picking out the perfect dress.
With my lack of knowing what to say you can guess that picking out a FREE dress was a little more work than I intended. As the last sample share I did for Old Navy there was a coupon for a FREE dress for me and a FREE dress for a friend.
This time I chose my friend Crystal to go shopping with me. She is a great shopping buddy. Fun, honest, cute as a button and basically lets me (politely & with love) boss her around. I'm constantly asking her thoughts on something and when it wasn't something she loved telling her she had to try it on anyway. =) We all need that one person to push us off of our comfort box. I'm hers.
We'd both checked out our prey on Old Navy's website, checking out all the pretty dresses we had to choose from. Sadly the maxi dress I loved the most is an online option only and not eligible for this promotion. FYI: Online items only are RUDE in my opinion! Just sayin'. Anyhow, I had my eye on the Ruffled Crepe Dresses in Country Moss (it's similar to a black ON dress I have that I love) and the Smocked Chiffon Dresses in any of the colors available because they were all great! There was actually a pretty long list of dresses I was excited to try on.
After dressing myself for 30 years I know what cuts to stay away from and what cuts work best for my um...busty body. I fall in love with dresses all the time that I know would look horrible on me, like strapless and one shouldered, and I steer clear of them. Old Navy has always provided me with a lot of clothes that fit me pretty well. For the past 3 to 4 years I've been wearing a medium in shirts and dresses from ON. I've always liked that I didn't jump anywhere from a small to an extra large in the ON brand. Somewhere between the last time I went dress shopping at ON (a few months ago/Fallish) and two weeks ago things have gone wonky.
I tried on dresses from a size small to an extra large. Most of the time one size was too small and the next size up was too big. Not fitting into any size is the most annoying thing in the world. Okay, ONE of the most annoying things in the world. I mean, Paris Hilton is still out there. I found a black Draped Jersey-Tank Dress in a large and it was slightly too tight in the bust area but other than that it fit like a dream. Of course, the next size up was way too large!
Most of the dresses I tried on fit like that or fit okay but there was always something just a little off. Sometimes I could pin point it but other times I could not. As my top choices dwindled down and my search for a dress, any dress, turned a bit frantic I widened my search criteria to ANY dress. Swear to God I tried on just about every dress choice in that store. Save for the strapless, halter and small busted dresses.
Seriously, you'd think with all the dresses in the store finding the perfect dress would have been a lot easier. I guess I did give ON a challenge. I'm more Dolly Pardon than the typical girl next door. Plus, my shopping buddy is 4'11" and is what we lovingly refer to as Pygmy sized. Needless to say, Crystal was having about as much luck as I was, except she was staying away from all the maxi dresses. They literally were at least a foot to two feet too long. I kept telling her she could cut off the bottom and make a skirt or something but she wasn't having it.
Many of the dresses we tried on are no longer on the website and many that we saw were never on the website to begin with. Plus, many of the ones shown on the website weren't at the store...which was/is a major bummer.
I ended up with a dress that isn't listed on the site. But it's pretty similar to the Draped Jersey-Tank Dresses, except it's not draped and the bust is cut a bit differently. Crystal ended up getting the Tiered-Jersey Tank Dresses. I think it was actually the first dress she tried on.
With heels Crystal is almost regular human size. =)
So at 5'4" I normally feel like Gigantor next to her when we both have flat shoes/no shoes on. I never feel like Gigantor or Amazonish.
It's a good thing I love her and she's so dang cute!
Plus, she loves shopping.
P.S. We're perfect models...we had a bad photographer.
I swear. =)
The Best:
I chose the red/pink color because it was different. But black is way more slimming!
I also wore leggings as to not blind anyone or break the camera by my whiteness.
The Not Quite's:
Weirdly poofy under the bust.
We both loved this dress but were way too distracted by the poof.
Too snug top.
Too snug in hips.
Wrong coloring.
The Ugly's:
Busty girls and bust ruffles are a big NO!
I can't even believe I showed this one. There is so much wrong here. Oh, man was this dress cute on the mannequin!
Too snug everywhere but too large a size up.
Too staticy.
SAD FACE.
Loved this dress on the hanger & online!
The pink & green colors are drool worthy.
Wrong size & wrong in the chest area.
Sad face since this dress is ADORABLE!
Chest ruffles ruin it again.
New dresses have arrived in store since our shopping trip and I am looking forward to going and trying them on. I think if I get a chance to Sample Share again I'll go a couple times if need be before choosing an item. I'm sort of a instant satisfaction sort of girl so it's just so hard to not get something when you go, especially if it's FREE.
I still love Old Navy and being able to get FREE clothes from them.
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