the search for a black, patent leather belt
Apparently this week was my week for shopping adventures. I had a slightly hectic weekend, so they’re all getting posted now, but on Friday afternoon, my friends Jen, Briann & I went to Cambridgeside in search for a black patent leather belt. We didn’t think the task at hand would be so challenging, but we spent almost 4 hours perusing the mall trying to find what we each had in mind, and it turned out to be quite the challenge. I think what we found in the end was a pleasant surprise, although not what any of us had pictured.
Jen bought this dress at Express for a dance we have coming up, a gorgeous satin racerback that I’ve been staring at for weeks. The problem? Jen weighs 99 lbs, and shes an absolute stick. the dress fit well on her chest, but was baggy around the waist. It needed to be cinched somehow, so when she called me on Thursday afternoon from the fitting room asking my opinion, I told her she should pair it with a fun belt, and that we’d go shopping Friday to find one if she didn’t find one at Express or somewhere else in the Pru. She found one at the Ann Taylor there, but it was $50, and considering she only paid $35 for the dress, she decided that was a little out of her price range.
What I had in mind was something like this:
Of course, this belt is $3.50 at forever21.com, but there are no forever 21’s in this area, and to pay $6 for shipping when it isn’t even guaranteed to arrive for 10 days [the dance was in 8] isn’t worth the risk.
In the span of two hours we went into Express, New York & Co, Aldo, Aldo Accessories, Macy’s, H&M, Claires, Ann Taylor Loft, Arden B and Old Navy. Nothing. We saw a few that we liked, some out of our price range, most didn’t fit jen’s tiny tiny waist. We ended up in Macy’s sale section trying on other dresses, but of course after 20 dresses we only had 3 that we were iffy on, and the third had a broken zipper that Jen wasn’t willing to risk taking home. We even tried on some chain belts, but we decided that they clashed too much with the ruffles and defeated the purpose since they didnt cinch her waist enough.
Eventually, defeated and frustrated that all paths had failed, we wandered into Wet Seal. Although we’d tried on a skinny silver belt at Ann Taylor for $30, we hadn’t thought seriously about the silver until we saw the belt in Wet Seal. It was a bright, popping silver, wide enough to make a statement with a buckle that wasn’t too obnoxious. for $10.50, we had our winner.
passion for fashion 