The $40 dress is gorgeous! I’m sure you can find a perfect pashmina shawl or other wrap for it and still come in under budget! What a deal!
Another vote for the $40 dress!
Love the dress and the price. I would look for shawl or bolero. My friend wore a similar grown and color to her D’s late fall wedding and she found a beautiful multi-colored shawl that looked stunning and more youthful than the boxy jackets you usually see. I can’t recall unfortunately where she found the shawl.
Do you have a Steinmart near you? They usually have some pretty wraps or dressy jackets that might work
Another vote for the first one. I wouldn’t even bother with a jacket, I think those sleeves look great. Maybe a shawl if you are apt to get cold. But then I don’t mind people looking at my less than perfect arms. I just feel like the other dresses look unfinished the minute you take the jacket off.
So glad to see that you’ve found some great options. I especially like the first one. You might ask the seamstress about making you a simple wrap. I have one that’s a fairly crisp organza (I think), semi-sheer, a double layer with one color on one side and the other on the reverse, plus a wide band of one color at the end of the other (like a 8-inch wide border on the ends). The organza is slightly iridescent. It’s a really nice look with a bit of interest but not so bold that it would detract from the dress. You might try royal blue with plum, for example. I bet the seamstress could made one in a snap, and help you decide on the best dimensions and how to style it. Many on-line fabric stores sell organza and similar fabrics.
At that $40 price, you could buy another one of those dresses and have a seamstress make a matching wrap or jacket! Although, I think something complimentary but not matching would look great.
@walkinghome – my MOB outfit was very similar to that dress, by the same label – also found at Ross. (I had a jump suit rather than a gown, but almost identical color. I also had the same issue: sleeveless, when I am stuck with 62-year-old flabby arms that I prefer to keep covered.
I found a lace bolero shrug at JC Penney’s that worked well - I couldn’t match color, so I just went with white – so it was a white bolero shrug over a blue outfit, but I think it looked very nice.
(Also, this was my 2nd wedding outfit that came from Ross --when my son got married, I also found a wonderful tea dress at Ross. This time around I wasn’t being cheap --I traipsed around at all sorts of boutiques and department stores, finding nothing - and then found exactly what I was hoping for on a rack at Ross)
The $40 dress is the best of the linked dresses. Note that it has a lace back, and that is a great little detail I would hate to hide under a bolero or a jacket. Definitely a wrap! A lightweight silver-ish wrap maybe?
http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/bernie-of-new-york-silk-chiffon-wrap/3002281
I concur with the $40 dress–what a great find! I was also thinking about dressmaker to make a wrap. What are the wedding colors? Maybe that can be incorporated, especially if silver.
I hadn’t noticed the pretty lace back!
Although I am not suggesting this exact wrap, I like its styling. It has enough body to be somewhat structural, for lack of a better word. This is the type of thing I was trying mightily to describe in my earlier post. Royal is kind of a tough color to pair with others, isn’t it? Agree with BB that silvery could work.
Silvery, white or cream could work. The lace back is s nice touch. I agree it would be nice to talk to a dressmaker to see if she has ideas about something that could complement the dress, especially since you got it at such an anazing price.
I would go to a fabric store and get some chiffon, georgette, or lace material to make a wrap. A seamstress could finish the edging on the wrap and add silver/white/champagne lace/pearls or if the fabric store had some small embroidery patches/embellishment that could be stitched on the wrap that would look very nice. I do this all the time. (instead of buying ready made wraps)
Do a search on amazon on the word “dupattas” and I bet you will find tons of wraps that would match with your dress.
(Dupattas is another word for wrap meant to cover the arms)
Here is an example. Like a shawl you would just wrap it around your arms and let it hang on your back.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A6QDRFM/ref=twister_B01KXPQAL4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Another option would be to get a pashmina shawl.
I did a search on “blue shawls” on amazon and came up with this.
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dfashion&field-keywords=blue++shawl&rh=n%3A7141123011%2Ck%3Ablue++shawl
Or something like this
https://www.amazon.com/Falari-Womens-Woven-Pashmina-Shawl/dp/B00N15WT96/ref=sr_1_16?s=apparel&ie=UTF8&qid=1473115722&sr=1-16&nodeID=7141123011&keywords=blue++shawl
Wow, what a lot of great suggestions! @carolinamom2boys , I do have a Steinmart near me. Good suggestion. Here’s the thing - I am one of those generally cold people so that’s why I wanted a jacket. I have gone with bolero’s before but I think because I’m short, they somehow make me look even shorter. I tried on a dress with a bolero top and it just wasn’t flattering. I like the idea of asking a dressmaker for suggestions. I do like some of the wraps that you all have suggested, especially the ones from Nordstrom. @zipyourlips , could you find something that looks like what you are talking about? It sounds very pretty.
What a pretty dress! I see what you are saying about the sleeves. I’m sure you can find some kind of jacket or wrap. Lots of great suggestions here.
How about something like this silver shawl?
Look at what BB posted. I don’t think you want something that knots. The dress is really too nice for that.
For outdoors in November, you will wear a coat. Indoors…won’t they have the heat on? Plus…you should be dancing!!
Before you go with the shawl or drape, consider if you have any ‘duties’ at the wedding - lighting candles? going up on the alter for something?
I find the shawls and drapes to be cumbersome, but you might be more coordinated than I am.
I really love that first dress and what a deal!
No candle lighting or reaching required, so a wrap wouldn’t matter for that.
I love to dance at weddings and that’s another thing about the wraps - they get in the way when dancing, but I’ve been at weddings in the fall and I AM COLD so I wear the wrap and it looks silly to be wrapped up all the time. I have many pictures of myself at weddings where other people are bare armed or wearing jackets or have nice gauzy sleeves on dresses and there I am wearing a wrap, looking, well, wrapped. I like sleeves, not just for their point of covering up my white fluffy arms but also for their warmth. I know that they don’t have to be regular fitted jacket heavy, but I’ve found that even silky see-through sleeves somehow provide a slight layer of warmth. For this wedding, I just want to be comfortable and look super.
I like the look of BB’s flowy, see through wrap and I agree it would look nice with the dress. From everyone’s comments about the niceness of the dress, I do feel that I should keep it, even if I don’t use it for this coming wedding - I do have two more kids!