Sensibly Styled

Dear writers at my new favorite blog,
So I have a problem: I’m a bridesmaid in my soon-to-be sister-in-law’s wedding in December, and I need a dress! She’s letting all the bridesmaids pick their own dresses, with a few stipulations: 1. It has to be black. 2. It has to be knee-length. 3. It has to be sash-friendly because we’re all wearing matching sashes (no ties or removable ties only around the waist). I also need the dress to be modest, and hopefully something that I could wear as my LBD to future events. A lot of stores sell black dresses, but not a lot of them are formal enough for a wedding party, and fewer of them are both formal and modest. I have a budget of $200. Can you help?
Love from,
Mary P.
Raleigh, NC

Hi Mary!  I love it when brides think outside of the box and give bridesmaids a chance to buy a dress that they would wear in real life, and one that suits their personality, too!  Especially the idea of a little black dress, it’s perfect!  I’ve found a bunch of options for you, and they’re all under $200, so don’t look at prices/links until you pick one that gives you that feeling of “ooh, that one is so me!  I would LOVE wearing that dress!”  You know what I mean?  This is a chance to get something fun for the wedding and for regular life after that.  Some of them are more fitted in the skirt, and some are fuller.  A fun idea is to wear a tulle slip under the dresses that have a full skirt.  It would be very festive for a wedding and take it up a notch on the fanciness scale.  In the second picture, the dress in the middle (the blond girl) would look killer with a tulle slip.  So would the dress in the bottom left of the first picture.  If you’re into the tulle slip idea but want one of the dresses with a more fitted skirt, Vintage Hem has one that has less fullness and so it would be just a peek of fun from underneath the fitted skirt.  The slip pictured in the first picture is from Shabby Apple and has a little more fullness…they’re both great, it just depends on what you’re looking for.  Have a great time and send us a picture of you in your cute little black dress!
Love, Emily

Picture 1:  V-neck dress, Ruffled dress, V-neck dress with pleated hem, Tulle slip, Puff-sleeves belted dress, Silky ruffled dress, Shift with gathered neckline, Flutter sleeve dress (p.s. The dresses in the top left corner were found from this post from cable car couture, a great modest fashion blog!)

Picture 2: Ruched neckline dress, Satin dress, Belted A-line skirt dress, Sweetheart necline dress, Capsleeve shift dress

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3. Anthropologie ‘Black and Bright’ Dress