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Help!
I need some ideas for what to wear to my 17th (gulp) school reunion?
Some details -
1. It's in Sydney Australia - so it's Spring.
2. It's in the evening for dinner.
3. It's not incredibly posh - I would think that overdressing is a no-no (see point 1).
4. It's at a restaurant on the beach, so there may be chinwagging on the beach late into the night.
5. It was an all girls school - not sure that this is entirely relevant, but for the majority of us there won't be any opportunity to "pickup."Any more shopping websites you can point me to?
Nicole
Nicole isn't the only one with reunions on her mind just now; Rach at Come as You Are Party is going to her husband's 20th reunion this month, and she's not sure what to wear either:
Oh no. What if I look like...like...a stay-at-home-Mom??? ACK!!! Heaven forbid I should be unable to clean myself up enough as to prevent betraying my chosen profession. For once, I'd like to look like something better than tousled hair and dirty clothes and bags under my eyes. But that takes so much....work.
The first thing to remember when you're shopping for a reunion (or any occasion where you will see people you haven't seen recently) is to resist the urge to completely make yourself over, which does indeed take a lot of work. It is tempting to see this as an opportunity to break out of your daily rut and become someone else, someone sexier or hipper or whatever it was you wanted to be the last time you were with these people.
Don't do it. Be yourself.
But wait, you say, isn't the whole POINT of the class reunion to return as that person I aspired to be when I was in school? Sure, if that's really who you went on to be. But if you are someone who wears flat shoes every day, putting on a pair of stiletto heels for this one night may leave you with sore feet and not much else.
Be yourself, but be a polished and sophisticated version of yourself. You know, be your best self.
What should Nicole wear to her reunion? For a spring beach function, I would recommend either a simple dress or a skirt and blouse in a casual fabric, like cotton or linen. A skirt is dressier than shorts or capri pants, but a summer-weight skirt or dress is still beach appropriate and not TOO dressy. Add some beautiful sandals, either a wedge or an embellished flat, and some really fantastic jewelry, and Nicole is set.
Garnet Hill has a nice selection of dresses, including the cap-sleeve linen wrap dress pictured here (available in sizes 2 -18, for $98.00). Garnet Hill also has a terrific washable wool crepe dress, by Eileen Fisher, for $198.00, if you're looking for something a little more cocktail dress-like.
Cynthia Nellis, at About.com, has some terrific tips for pulling your whole look together: "Don't worry too much - Everyone else is stressing too! Once you get there and start seeing old friends, catching up, sharing baby pics and swapping email addresses, you'll find that your preoccupation with looks will start to disappear."
Having said all that, though, let me end with this: sometimes, it takes a reunion to break you out of your fashion rut. Cindi, at Another Day in the Life, went to her husband's class reunion this summer, and he surprised even her:
Before I get too far into the pictures, though, I need to mention something. After Ted finished working this morning, he went out and bought himself some shirts. He had said that he didn't have a decent shirt to wear tonight. My darling, dear, sweet, wonderful husband is a rather conservative man, and would prefer to fade into the background whenever possible. I respect that. So when he came home and showed me the shirts he bought, I just sat there with my mouth open. It's not that I didn't like them (I did), but I never in a million years would have imagined that he would have chosen to wear shirts like those he purchased. Ted is a pocket t-shirt kind of guy.
