15 statement evening dresses not for the faint of heart

3 minute read

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The minute I saw this dress, I thought, "Oh hell no, I can't pull that off."

And for the record, I'm a firm believer in wearing whatever makes you feel good, confident and command a room -- even if that means in hindsight you look back at said decisions and perhaps cringe a little. I know I've had plenty of moments like that in my 9+ years of blogging. And the beauty of keeping a visual diary like this, is that the internet never forgets. Ever (although I wish it would at times). The good, the bad and yes, the sometimes ugly.

As long as I had fun wearing it, that's all that matters, right?

So when I was browsing through options to borrow from the Carolina Herrera team who so graciously offered to dress me for the Harper's Bazaar Icons party during NYFW (major pinch me moment!), this dress caught my eye initially. The polka dots were playfully oversized, unlike any other polka dot dress I had seen. The two tone details were right up my alley. And the sequins added the right glam factor for the evening. Everything about it was screaming, yes, yes, yes and yet, I couldn't get past the sleeves, thinking to myself, "Am I the kind of girl that can pull a statement sleeve like that off?"

I'll pause here to acknowledge we have much bigger and more important identity questions than the aforementioned statement sleeve question, but despite it's frivolity, I do think the underlying issue here is how often we ask ourselves, "can I pull {insert clothing item, job promotion, client pitch, etc.} off?" I know I'm certainly guilty of it, more than I'd like to admit. And it's one of those self-doubt questions I'm trying to break myself of -- to rephrase things into a, "How can I pull that off?" or "What's standing in my way to pull that off?" I'm by no means perfect at it, but I'm definitely trying to be more aware of when I do it.

Because at the end of the day, sometimes the best way to "pull something off," is to just fucking go for it. Statement sequin sleeves and all.

In case you're looking for a little drama for your next evening event, I've rounded up my favorite statement evening dresses for all budgets down below. And PS: to all those wondering, fear not! No ketchup was dripped on this dress. 🙂

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