Last weekend, I attended the Cork Marketing Institute Ball with my friend Kate (aka FQChefess). It was a rare night out without my boys so I went all out and wanted to wear something dry clean only, put on makeup and do my hair in some complicated up-do. First stop? YouTube for tutorials to inspire me. Then one week beforehand, I knew I needed a new dress for the occasion. Something long, elegant and that fits my post-baby curves. Knowing fancy dresses do not get worn very often in my current activities, I didn’t want to spend a fortune. And since I try to shop second-hand first, I set aside two hours to visit all the fab second-hand and charity shops in Cork City on the day before Saint Patrick’s Day.
The first shop I visited was Oxfam on Cook Street. It is bright and cheerful and organised nicely. I do not go there very often because their dish selection is limited but know they have nice dresses so I made a beeline for the shop.
Once inside, I scanned the racks out of habit for interesting and beautiful patterns, textures or colors. I grabbed about six items in every color of the rainbow and went to the fitting room. I love non-black formalwear so I tried to avoid basic black and succeeded. I even had orange! The orange ensemble was too short for my height though. I then slipped into a long blue dress. It was one I grabbed because it wasn’t black and it fit perfectly. The halter top flattered and the maxi style made me look even taller than my tallness. Sold! I paid €15. Later, when steaming the dress after it was cleaned, I noticed it was 100% silk and from Coast. They call the color Petrol Blue. The length even want with navy peep toe shoes I already own.
For the ball, I covered my shoulders with a vintage handknit golden beige shawl I bought in Bruges a few months ago. For a splash of color other than Petrol, I clipped a peacock feather in my hair that I got at Penney’s two years ago. The green in the feather coordinated with a green silk clutch my husband bought for me in China for our first wedding anniversary.
A better close up of my hair:
The evening was great fun and going with a friend was the best. See!
And I was even more thrilled to have found the dress at Oxfam because of their recent work to bring respect, awareness and fairness to women cocoa workers.
This was the menu. Of course, my appetite wasn’t great because this was before my liver surgery and space was limited in my abdomen.
