Long time no see! I've once again neglected my blog... sorry! I've started back at uni and being my final year it's all go. Dissertation, dissertation, essay hand in's and some more dissertation so I've been a little bit pre-occupied with all that exciting stuff. I finally had a wee bit of free time today so thought I'd get a blog post up!
A couple of week's ago I had a black tie event with my boyfriend and I didn't particularly want to spend too much money on it as Christmas isn't too far away and I've got quite a few birthdays coming up and I'm going to London at the start of December as well! (Money, money, money! I really wish money tree's existed haha!) The other thing that I wanted to consider - would I actually wear this dress again? Let's face it girls, we are all pretty guilty of buying gorgeous dresses and wearing them once and they never see the light of day again. Grad ball dress, I'm looking at you! Hence, I wanted to do black tie on budget. First stop was finding a dress! Now I found two that I fell in love with, one from ASOS (which is the one I went with) and one from House of CB. The House of CB dress wasn't so budget friendly at £110. I really wanted it so I tried really hard justifying spending that but I just couldn't do it! So I ordered the little Club L number from ASOS and guess how much it was?! £28!! Yes ladies, £28! Aaand I got my 10% student discount so all in all it was only £25.20 which was amazing and I definitely think it looked much more expensive. I paired the dress with a nude pair of heels & nude handbag (I just tucked the chain inside to make it a clutch) which I already owned, so saved myself some cash on accessories.
Tips for doing black tie on a budget:
1. Shop around! There are loads of online retailers where you can get ball gown type dresses that are pretty inexpensive. My favourites are ASOS & Missguided (both have a petite section as well). My bestie also just got a gorgeous dress for a ball from PrettyLittleThing so check them out!
2. Use accessories that you already own. Staple pieces in black or nude will go with everything and most girls will own one or the other (or both!). There's not much point in spending £50 upwards on fancy shoes/handbag that you will wear with that one-time dress and then they will lie in your wardrobe gathering dust.
3. Be brave! Dig out a dress you've only worn once before! Who cares if you've had photos taken? If you look good & it makes you feel good, get it on! Plus, the chances are no-one else will remember that you've worn it before. You could even it mix it up with a new pair of shoes since you're saving money by not buying a new dress.
4. Hire it. If you've fallen in love with that super expensive dress that's over-budget and you know you'd only wear it once, rent it out. There are loads of shops that hire dresses out online at a fraction of the cost price. Guilt-free spending!
Dress: Club L at ASOS
Heels: Office
Bag: Gucci Soho Mini Chain
