All I want is a plain dress ...

T

tiggycat

Member
Jul 29, 2009
3,703
21
#1
And they don't exist!

I've gained some weight and none of my dresses fit (I wear pants and tops to work, it's a casual office).

So I actually took a vacation day (because I know from experience it will take all day!) to buy a plain, nice dress to wear to an event at a nice restaurant I'm going to tonight (not a dress-up kind of party), that I could wear to work and church later.

I spent the morning combing three department stores and a big mall and all that is available are party dresses. Literally nothing - not in any size or colour, no dresses or skirt suits whatsoever except cocktail dresses and formal wear.

I asked the SAs in a couple of the department stores "do you have any dresses that aren't party dresses?" and they looked at me like I had two heads.

One of them even asked what I meant and I said "a nice dress to wear to work or church" and she still had no idea.

Doesn't anyone ever wear a dress other than to a formal gala anymore?

Too bad "exercises in frustration" don't help you lose weight - I'd be a size zero (but I still wouldn't be able to find a dress!)

On my way out to another mall ...
 
#4
2nd mielikki55's suggestions.

Also Ann Taylor.

Also, if you're looking for "plain" dresses in a department store, don't go to the dress section (which is just going to be cocktail/party dresses), go to the other sections like INC at Macys or Savvy at Nordstrom and search within those collections for the simpler styles.
 
#6
Sorry I didn't mention I'm in Canada - I wish we had all those great stores here!

All we have is Sears (which doesn't have nearly as nice a selection as Sears in the States) and the Bay (which is currently trying so hard to become "high end" that you can't find anything there other than designer brands) and Holt Renfrew (nice, similar to Nordstrom's I think, but too high end/expensive for a basic dress to wear to work in a casual office).

I travel in the States often and love JC Penney, Sears (as I mentioned, totally different from ours), Nordstrom's, Macy's, etc.

I gave up on my quest for today - sad that the stores are all crying for business and here I am, a nice middle-aged lady with a good job and several platinum cards and absolutely desperate for clothes! I don't mean just this one dress, I have trouble finding anything I want to buy, ever.

We have a dress code (relatively lax, but some rules such as no jeans, leggings, short skirts, sleeveless tops, cleavage) at work and my only other criteria is that the outfit not make me laugh out loud when I look in the mirror, and you'd be surprised how hard it is to find anything that even meets that description!
 
#9
tiggycat said:
I gave up on my quest for today - sad that the stores are all crying for business and here I am, a nice middle-aged lady with a good job and several platinum cards and absolutely desperate for clothes! I don't mean just this one dress, I have trouble finding anything I want to buy, ever.
Click to expand...

Not sure what platinum cards have to do with it, but here's my advice: I'd go to Holts and find a few high-end but usable pieces. If you really are desperate and you can't find what you want elsewhere why not invest in a few quality staples?
 
#11
You might have to spend more than you want to find a plain dress. I was looking for the same thing and eventually found the perfect dress by Theory... but it was almost $300 (3x my budget). I splurged anyway, and I have used that dress more times than I can count. I've probably worn it every other week for two years and it still looks great. I can see myself wearing it in 10+ years. It works for dinner parties, work functions, luncheons, showers, etc. I would recommend splurging if you need to!
 
#14
 
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#15
Old Navy.

I'm not kidding! I don't know how plain you want, but I was looking for just some simple, one-color dresses & they had a few I really, really like. Just take a look at their website.
 
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