{"id":22369,"date":"2015-09-17T00:02:47","date_gmt":"2015-09-17T07:02:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/barbarafalconernewhall.com\/?p=22369"},"modified":"2015-09-17T00:02:47","modified_gmt":"2015-09-17T07:02:47","slug":"wedding-wear-the-aunt-wore-black","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wedding-wear-the-aunt-wore-black\/","title":{"rendered":"Wedding Wear: The Aunt Wore Black"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"looking<\/a>
To get into this spandexy dress, I had\u00a0to pull it down over bust\u00a0and hips like a wetsuit. Very slimming, but what if I get out on the dance floor and the whole thing slides back\u00a0up around my armpits? At Nordstrom, by Eliza J, $104.90. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Barbara Falconer Newhall<\/em><\/p>\n

My niece\u2019s wedding was just days away and I didn\u2019t have a thing to wear.<\/p>\n

A beautiful, talented young woman was marrying a terrific young man. They\u2019d known each other for years. This was a handsome pairing, and it was going to stick.<\/p>\n

It called\u00a0for something pretty and danceable. Something to signal my auntly pleasure in this happy turn of events. Wedding at 6, followed by dinner and dancing — I\u00a0wanted to\u00a0show up with all the glitz and pomp I could muster<\/p>\n

A visit to the evening wear section of my closet \u2013 all four inches of it \u2013 turned up two pairs of<\/p>\n

\"red<\/a>
To show off my still passable legs,\u00a0the diagonal hem of this crepey Eileen Fisher dress, a pricey $378, needed serious professional\u00a0shortening. With the wedding just days away, there was no time for\u00a0that. The matching red shirt, $248, did nothing to improve the look.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"looking<\/a>
An Eileen Fisher dress. Photos by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

baggy black slacks and a couple of cautious, loose-fitting tops with sleeves down to the wrists.<\/p>\n

None of this would do. This wedding needed A\u00a0Dress. Wedding wear. A festive evening confection\u00a0with panache and color and sparkle.<\/p>\n

And skin. Lots of it. Arms. Legs. And, what the heck, d\u00e9colletage.<\/p>\n

The dress couldn\u2019t be white, of course. That\u2019s the bride\u2019s prerogative.\u00a0And it certainly couldn\u2019t be black. People might conclude that\u00a0I was an old fussbudget mourning the match. That meant that\u00a0finding The\u00a0Dress would be a bit of a challenge.<\/p>\n

I put on my best bra and off to the mall I went.<\/p>\n

\"looking<\/a>
I tried on a lot of colorful, but shapeless, dresses, including this Eileen Fisher sheath on sale for $93.98\u00a0at Nordstrom . .\u00a0.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"looking<\/a>
. . . and this Classiques Entier red print dress on sale at Nordie’s for $160.80 . . .<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Grey<\/a>
. . . and another Eileen Fisher, $248. I know what you’re thinking — why did she wear those sox? \u00a0Photos Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"looking<\/a>
This was $268 at Nordstrom. Pretty, but still a little shapeless. And too much arm.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"looking<\/a>
At $529,\u00a0marked down from $875, this\u00a0was out of my price range. I didn’t even try it on.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"looking<\/a>
Only $69 at Macy’s, but busty. Photos by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"looking<\/a>
Eureka! I found it — The Dress. It made me look terrific. If my waist is a little rounder than it used to be, people won’t notice because they will be too busy looking at that nifty plunging decolletage. That or my legs, which show up nicely\u00a0below\u00a0that short skirt. (Next time I shop, I’ll take along my strappy sandals.) The Dress is by Eliza J,\u00a0an doable $148 at Nordstrom. Yes, I know.\u00a0It’s black, but I gotta go with what\u00a0looks\u00a0good and makes me want to dance. I’ll dress it up with some splashy jewelry. And sandals. No problem. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Strappy<\/a>
The sandals. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"red<\/a><\/p>\n

This wedding called for a festive evening dress with panache and color and sparkle. And skin. Lots of it. Arms. Legs. And, what the heck, d\u00e9colletage. Read more<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,30],"tags":[1543,34,566,1544,55,1545,1137,82,963,866,1546,985],"class_list":["post-22369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-case-of-the-human-condition","category-my-changing-family","tag-decolletage","tag-dont-miss","tag-fashion","tag-macys","tag-family-stories","tag-niece","tag-nordstrom","tag-on-the-funny-side","tag-shoes","tag-shopping","tag-shopping-adventures","tag-wedding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22369\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}