The Red Dress

Dress - here. (alternatives below!) Shoes: sold out - alternative here. Bag: here.

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Have you ever seen an item and just thought 'I HAVE TO HAVE YOU' - even if, when you're honest with yourself, you don't really know where you'd wear it, or if you'd even have the confidence to wear it. That was what happened with this dress. I saw it's fluted sleeves and frilled neckline and instantly knew it'd end up in my wardrobe. The only aspects of it I wasn't convinced by didn't seem to matter when I tried it on in my bedroom, but when the prospect of leaving the house in it became real, it suddenly seemed daunting; it's quite figure hugging on top - will people stare? It's a bit short - my Granny won't approve... (and going up the tube escalators would be a dangerous game indeed...) So, over the course of about a month, I tried it on again and again, liked it, but never actually braved the outside world. Red is such a 'LOOK AT ME' colour, and although this might be contrary to your opinion seeing as I put a lot of myself online, I'm not one of life's natural born performers. I don't really enjoy attention. Don't get me wrong - if one of my instagram photos gets over a thousand likes I'll print it out, frame it and bask in the glory of internet validation, BUT, that's not real life attention. If those thousand people were stood in front of me...looking at me... I would slowly edge backwards into the nearest hedge. Quite like that gif of Homer Simpson.

So, the dress hung in my wardrobe, unworn and unloved, until my friend Paige encouraged me to be brave. For the first portion of our day out I did feel quite uncomfortable, I felt like a lot of people were looking at me. I think a lot of people can relate to this when I say that I'm very good at giving advice, but not so good at taking my own. I do think it's important to remember that just because someone is looking at you, doesn't mean they're thinking something bad. More importantly - even if they WERE saying something bad, who cares. A stranger's opinion, especially about something as trivial as a dress of a pair of shoes, doesn't matter. 

What do you think? Do you have anything in your wardrobe that you're too scared to wear?

Photos by Paige Joanna.