Oh the Pain of Fashion

On MLK day I celebrated by having lunch and a good gabfest at The Cheesecake Factory with two friends. Both of these women are amazing people with great insights and if you're Mormon in Cambridge and don't know them, well, a) you've probably been living under a rock, and b) get to know them right away. It will make your life more fun, if nothing else.

Afterwards we did a little shopping. Sometimes when I go to the mall I feel like everything is icky. The clothes hang poorly and/or are made of low quality (ie see-through) fabric and/or come in ugly colors and/or are just stupid-looking. That was the kind of shopping experience I had that day. Then I walked into Banana Republic to meet up with my friends and saw this adorable dress

on the mannequin, with this shrug

on top. So I went and found both pieces in my size to try on.

The mannequin wearing the cutest outfit in the store is such a good marketing ploy. So good in fact that when I went and found my friends and joined them in their dressing room (big enough for 3! Go Banana Republic!), I discovered that Peggy had the outfit too and Mary was currently wearing it. I didn't see it on Peggy, but I will say that you know you've found a good dress when it looks cute on both the size 2 girl and the size 14 girl (except the chest was a little large (which is really a shocker since Banana usually designs for A cups and neither Mary nor I are particulary lacking in the chestular region so I don't know who they thought was going to be wearing that dress exactly) and the skirt flowy so I'm going to say I probably could have worn a 12).

However, upon checking the price tags, I was reminded why I hate Banana Republic and never shop there. $200. For one outfit. Um, no.

But it was so, SO cute.