Our shopping mission a couple of weeks ago was a success!
The final decision was made via text messages. Based on the camera phone pic BM1 said this one was her first choice, BM2 agreed it was one of her favourites, and it was in my top three.
Which is about a close as a consensus as you can hope for.
So here they are, (imagine how much nicer they will look after they have been pressed):
They are from the brand Katherine from David Jones and were on sale for $139, down from $239.
I'm happy with the neutral colour which should work well with the bright native flowers I am hoping to have. And the beading on the shoulders looks good and it's a neckline that the girls are pretty happy with.
Although had a mini-drama after bringing the dresses home.
While prancing around in one of the dresses to take photo for absent BM I somehow managed to get a stain on the bodice. Eek! I don't know how, I seem to be a magnet for dirt and grime.
I did what I thought was best and dabbed the mark with a damp cloth.
Bad bad move. It just caused a water mark. Arggh!
I dashed into the drycleaners- who made me feel like an idiot for dabbing it with damp cloth ("the label says 100% silk dry clean ONLY- nothing on there about damp cloths") and seemed to enjoy dispensing bad news ("there's no guarantees we'll get it out. And there is a good chance some of these beads will come off") Great.
I had to wait a week, but to my relief the stain and the water mark were both gone.
But some of the beads have come off. (If you click the photo to enlarge you can see.)
It's okay though, each dress came with a little sachet of spare beads. So I will get those sewn back on, (but not by me who is now too scared to even touch the dresses.. I'll get someone who tends to repell dirt rather than attract it to help me.. someone squeaky clean like my Grandma.)
And anyway I'm actually thinking of replacing some of the clear crystals with some jewel toned ones, just to add some colour and tie in a bit with my earrings..?