The Sisterhood of the Traveling Dress

by Ann

If you share my enjoyment of Young Adult literature, you most likely read The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants several years ago by Ann Brashares.  If you didn’t, it’s a cute story about four teenage girls who, in spite of their differences in size can (and do) wear the same pair of jeans, and when they do, great adventures occur.  My story today is similar, but rather than pants, it focuses on a magic dress that can fit almost anyone and is very flattering to all.  (Adventures, we await!)

My work as a professional development specialist for a high school district is both rewarding and fun, as I mentioned in my “retirement post” (where I said I am only sort of retiring) a few weeks ago.  Today’s post will illustrate why the ladies that I work with are such a great group.  (We only have one man in our office, versus ten females; poor guy – he leaves the office quite a bit.) 

Michele, our Ed Professions Coordinator was singing the praises of a dress that she had ordered online from  www.Dillards.com  to wear to a fancy Christmas party for her husband’s office.  She chose it based upon rave reviews from pleased customers, in spite of the fact that all cautioned to order the dress two sizes larger than usual.  Below is the model pictured from the store's website -- none of us are that young and perky looking, nor was this photo taken in a crowded office!

When Michele got the dress out of the box it looked tiny and scrunched up, even though she ordered a size 12 for her size 8 body.  Thinking it would never fit, she put it on and was thrilled with the results, so she brought it in for us to see for ourselves.  This is where the magic fits in – each of us are different in size, but the dress looked great on everyone that tried it on! 

Michele, pictured below, was a good sport and modeled it at work for us -- my guess is that it looked better without the black socks!   I was the only one that it was too large for in the shoulders and bust, so since we had this dress-sharing concept going, she offered to bring me another favorite dress of hers to borrow for my niece’s upcoming wedding that is much smaller in those areas. 

The following day we were telling the story about the magic dress to those who hadn’t been in the office for the fashion show the previous day, so naturally they needed to try it on!  By “day two” it had occurred to me that I had missed some photo ops for a blog post that would encompass many of our blog’s topics – fashion, fun, and frugality (why not share a dress that will only be worn once or twice with your friends, in hopes that they will reciprocate?).

So, out came the camera and pictured below are a couple of my officemates in the magic dress.  More of us tried it on, but I hadn't come up with the idea to get pics until these lovely ladies were the models!

And finally me in the dress that I plan to wear to my niece’s wedding in March! 
(Do you think I need to get a different bra?  Ha!)

P.S. -- If any of our bosses are reading this, we SWEAR that we get our work done!  Enjoying the people you work with makes you more productive....  I'm sure there must be a research study out there somewhere to prove it...