While the pageant isn't for a few months I have been following a time line set by a "pageant expert" and bought my gown with enough time to get it altered and decide everything. It was incredibly important to me to buy it early because last time I received my gown only a month beforehand and didn't have time to get it altered and up until minutes before evening gown still hadn't decided what I wanted to do for my hair. I am determined to succeed at this pageant!
I arrived at Dolce Bleu in Sodo around 3:30pm with less than 3 hours to sift through the mountains of gowns and to make my final decision. This experience at Dolce Bleu was VERY different than my last one. Apparently it's prom dress season and I had to fight against so many teenagers and their poof-y gowns to get through the racks and into a dressing room. This time around I felt like I had barely any choices of a gown. In fact, I pretty much felt limited to one small section of their whole evening gown section. As a "Miss" contestant, I wanted something elegant, sexy, and trendy. Since it's prom season almost the entire floor was covered in simple , flow-y, "teen" gowns. My first round was of 5 dresses; one I had tried on last time and the rest, random dress I thought I might like. I didn't like all of them. I barely fit into the ones I was really interested in.
I came out of the dressing rooms ready to cry. Gone was my nice quiet atmosphere. My boyfriend who was so excited to go dress shopping had realized the reality of it and wasn't that helpful; although he guarded my dressing room like a pro! Ultimately it was the crazy amount of teenagers with their stressed parents, catty friends, and little siblings that made the atmosphere unpleasant. I was ready to give up.
I had saved long and hard, planned like crazy, and decided to not let anything ruin the day anymore. I was already stressed because of work and the lack of vegan food around but this is good practice for those days where nothing seems to go right. I then scoured the racks, dress by dress, pulling so many maybes. I was so sure I wan't going to find a single thing I liked. Most of the gowns weren't in my size and in styles I really hadn't thought about. Once 4 more were pulled, my boyfriend and I waited for a dressing room to open up. This is when I put my boyfriend to work! I made him pull and zip as I sucked in everything! After much deliberation, fast texting, and a wonderful consultant I managed to find the gown.
I'm not a huge fan of "pageant gowns". I would much rather do evening gown in an oscar style gown than anything else. Seattle is also limited by the fact that there is only 1 evening gown store in the whole PNW that's recommended for pageants. The gown I chose is something I didn't plan on at all. It has my favorite colors, is way more beaded, the beading is in a unique design, and the style was something a bit risky. I still have some doubts, as all do, about if this is the best gown for the pageant but I do know that I will feel confident and have fun while walking on the stage.
Now to decide hair, make-up, accessories, and shoes!
I came out of the dressing rooms ready to cry. Gone was my nice quiet atmosphere. My boyfriend who was so excited to go dress shopping had realized the reality of it and wasn't that helpful; although he guarded my dressing room like a pro! Ultimately it was the crazy amount of teenagers with their stressed parents, catty friends, and little siblings that made the atmosphere unpleasant. I was ready to give up.
I had saved long and hard, planned like crazy, and decided to not let anything ruin the day anymore. I was already stressed because of work and the lack of vegan food around but this is good practice for those days where nothing seems to go right. I then scoured the racks, dress by dress, pulling so many maybes. I was so sure I wan't going to find a single thing I liked. Most of the gowns weren't in my size and in styles I really hadn't thought about. Once 4 more were pulled, my boyfriend and I waited for a dressing room to open up. This is when I put my boyfriend to work! I made him pull and zip as I sucked in everything! After much deliberation, fast texting, and a wonderful consultant I managed to find the gown.
I'm not a huge fan of "pageant gowns". I would much rather do evening gown in an oscar style gown than anything else. Seattle is also limited by the fact that there is only 1 evening gown store in the whole PNW that's recommended for pageants. The gown I chose is something I didn't plan on at all. It has my favorite colors, is way more beaded, the beading is in a unique design, and the style was something a bit risky. I still have some doubts, as all do, about if this is the best gown for the pageant but I do know that I will feel confident and have fun while walking on the stage.
Now to decide hair, make-up, accessories, and shoes!
First gown I loved on Miss Idaho USA but it's just so popular and I don't know how I feel about crop top dresses (despite loving crop tops). It was also a size too small for me and omg the top was so hard to get on! The second dress I loved my first round of shopping but really just hated the mesh on the back. The last gown I loved but felt that it might be too young. I really loved it in white but that is not flattering if you have some jiggly thighs as white jersey shows EVERYTHING.