Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Float On (Emily and Fin Esther Dress in Floating Daisies)


As many of you know, whenever I am traveling for work (or for pleasure, on the rare occasion), I like to treat myself at local vintage shops or boutiques. One of my favorite places to do this is Seattle, WA.


Lucky for me, Seattle will always be somewhere I travel to since my company, Dell EMC, has an office there right on 1st Avenue South. I specify where it is located because it's in a pretty central spot downtown, making shopping in Seattle quite convenient.


Every time I am in Seattle, I try to visit more and more shops. I usually only have an afternoon to myself so I usually pick a shop and visit. It's become quite the fun tradition. This time around, I knew I had to make my way to Capitol Hill to find Pretty Parlor, a vintage and repro boutique on Summit Ave that I have heard so much about via social media and other gals visiting when in Seattle.


When I arrived on a rainy and gloomy afternoon (no lie, only an hour after arriving in town and checking into my hotel), walking into Pretty Parlor was like arriving home. After being on the road for a week, it was nice to be in a room filled with pretty dresses, vintage treasures, and petticoats. It was like having a piece of home with me.


I stupidly didn't take any photos while there, so all of these photos of the shop are courtesy of the shop's website or Google images. I have a good excuse! I was too busy chatting and shopping!


And let me tell you, I shopped. Oh I shopped. As I selected more and more items to try on, the shop owner, Anna, added to a fitting room for me across the shop. As she came and went, we talked about everything from Viva to brands we liked, to meeting designers like Bernie Dexter and Betsey Johnson, to telling her about my plans to go to Nashville Boogie in May.


When I told her I was a Bostonian visiting for work, she seemed genuinely excited that I stopped by and even took my blog's card (if you're reading this, Anna, HI! HELLO THERE!!). She was such a gem!


Upon leaving, I had purchased this Emily and Fin Esther dress along with the beautiful vintage pearl necklace I am wearing with it, and a Heart of Haute wrap sweater.


I love getting to shop in person when I get the chance and I usually will let myself splurge if I find something I like regardless of spending freezes and trying to be good because it is rare that I get to experience shopping in person. It's not like stores like Kohls or Target sell my style in their stores.


When I get to visit these shops, I can try things on that I have strayed away from when shopping online due to not knowing how they'd fit me. This Emily and Fin dress, for example. I don't own that many E&F dresses because I never know what style will look good on me and what may not. I just admire from afar instead of risking it.


I actually tried this print on in the Florence style first, thinking I'd like that cut better on me. Turns out, it was not flattering at all. There was too much room in the bust and sleeves so it sat on me weird and certainly didn't do me any favors.


I then took this Esther cut into the fitting room and tried it on to see the difference and well, I loved it. I would have no way of knowing this if I hard ordered it online. It would have been a bummer to receive the Florence dress in the mail only to dislike it.


The 40s cut of this dress is just lovely. A little different for me, it adds just the right touch of elegance to my wardrobe and so easily matches these cute little magenta BAIT Footwear shoes. Could they be a better match? Nope, they could not!