If there’s one thing that deters me from shopping on ASOS, it’s the process of scrolling through the ASOS Party Dress category. There are hundreds, actually more like thousands and it’s soooo overwhelming sometimes that I end up giving it a miss. The only thing about that is, ASOS has such a good offering of party dresses that you really don’t want to miss out on the goodness.
Moreover, now that ASOS has such a massive offering of really good brands and retailers, like And Other Stories and Topshop, and is almost military with their delivery, you can always rely on ASOS to be the place to find a party dress that you actually want to wear and have the peace of mind that it will be delivered in time for New Year’s. This mostly applies to those of us that order within those odd days between Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve, which, let’s be honest, that’s most of us.
So, now that we’ve got sorted the ‘Where’ we are going to shop our New Year’s Eve party dresses, I’d like to propose the ‘What’.
Mini Dresses
If you’ve read my Magic of the Mini Dress article, you will know that I go head over heels for a short dress. Motherhood would have it that my legs are the last good bits left of my body and so I play up the good bits, instead of dressing for bits I don’t love so much. However, I rarely wear a short dress because I am a mum and despite how good getting my pins out might make me feel, short skirts and dresses are completely impractical. Nevertheless, when it comes to partying I don’t care for practicality. I want to feel young, free, maybe not single, but like a woman without a care in the world. That woman gets drunk and dances on tables in short dresses and high heels – maybe she doesn’t if she’s partying with her children, and if that’s you then I am sorry for you.
Midi and Long Dresses
If you’re heading somewhere slightly more elegant than an establishment that allows you to put said high heels on the table then it’s quite likely a longer dress will feel more appropriate. I’ve not worn a long dress in sometime now, but my general rule for longer dresses is they need to skim or drape over the body not suffocate or drown it. As I am bigger busted, an open neckline would be my rule of thumb, but as we all know rules are meant to be broken. Finally, needless to say, a nice long side slit, especially in a more voluminous dress is a must- because why not?!
The Sequin Dress
Last year I wrote an entire festive fashion edit on all the reasons to avoid wearing sequins, this year I have fallen head over heels for them, albeit still having to wear with caution. When navigating the sea of sequin dresses, I tend to opt for wrap dresses, dresses that are cinched at the waist or can easily be belted, like a shift dress and again those that are open at the neck. I absolutely love dresses by Retrofete, but I don’t love the price tag so much, so when browsing sequin dresses I keep in mind the general design aesthetic of Retrofete.
The LBD
An LBD will never go out of style, so while it might be hard to justify spending £150 on a sequin dress that you’re likely to find very little opportunity to wear, an LBD is a wardrobe must have that you can pull out for those occasions that always just happen to pop up. How little an LBD I opt for always depends on how I am feeling about myself at the time. The brilliant thing about the slinkier, slip style LBDs is, on those days when you aren’t feeling your best, you can effortlessly throw a blazer on over the top and have yourself a more elegant sexy LBD look. Which leads quite nicely on to…
The Blazer Dress
You may or may not know that I am married to an Italian man. Italian men take tailoring seriously, especially Italian men that work in the fashion industry like mine. It means that over the fourteen or fifteen years we have been together I have really learned to appreciate good tailoring and I can safely say, not all blazer dresses are made equal, but good, well tailored blazer dress can have you looking a million bucks. I love a blazer dress because whilst keeping you covered and nipped and tucked in all the right places (thank god for the blazer ), they are super sharp and super sexy.
Whatever you’re doing to see in the new year Ladies, I hope you’re doing it in style – it’s a new decade after all. Have a good one x
