Does anyone have a formal dress for sale? Recs also appreciated

[naomi01]

Hi everyone,

I am growing a little sick of my search for a formal dress for DD to wear to an evening Bar Mitzvah in March. She is currently a large (93rd % height and weight) 3 month old, so I suspect a 6-9 or 6-12 will fit her well then. I have hunted around a lot for something formal but not Christmasy without as much success as I hoped. Most of the holiday stuff also have short-sleeves, which I just don't understand in most US climates - and Boston will still be cold in early March.

My ideal is a formal dress in 6-9 months, long-sleeves, strong colors (black or purple would be great - pastels are not the best for her skin tone). J+J has something perfect looking... only they were all sold out of her size;
http://www.janieandjack.com/shop/dept_item.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=1291061&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=1296429&bmUID=1105916589374&productSizeSelected=0

I would rather not spend too much... as it will likely be a single use outfit. Anyway, it suddenly occurred to me I could ask my dear BBB friends and maybe someone might have seen something good or wish to offload a not-so-christmasy holiday dress that won't fit their DD in March. Anyone have any suggestions or something to sell?

Thanks so much!

Naomi
DS 12/02/02
DD 10/18/04

[lotsofjoy]

I might have something. I'll look and if I do I'll take some pictures. and post later.

[Mommyto3]

Did you check the Strasburg outlet in Wrentham?? This is where I have been able to find most of my kid's dressier clothes...also, maybe try the Wooden Soldier..they usually have pretty dresses with long sleeves. ITA...it is crazy that most formal dresses have short sleeves...and it's not easy finding a sweater to go over it. Good luck!

[AbbieF]

Have you seen the dresses by Victoria Kids? They are really beautiful and dramatic. Although many of them have short sleeves, most come with matching sweaters. Check out ebay, I've seen a few available through there. To get some suggestions, for children's lines that you'll want to be on the lookout for, check out www.bestdressedkids.com for some ideas.

Abbie
Mom to Maddie 4/17/04

[naomi01]

I am not actually in the Boston area, we live in kansas, but the function we are going to is in Boston. I usually do like to hit the Wrethem outlets though, although I never noticed a Strasberg - I will look for it when we are there, but it will be much too late for that weekend. Does Wooden Soldier have a website? I have heard the name mentioned but never seen them IRL or found them online.

Thanks again,

Naomi

[vikivoly]

I don't have anything for you, but just wanted to post that I have that J&J dress in an 18-24 (obviously too big), but it is gorgeous IRL. I paid full price for it and didn't even have buyers remorse. Sorry I couldn't help.

[vikivoly]

Ignore

[naomi01]

Do you know if I called a real store if they might mail it to me if they still had it? I did like it - please enjoy! Also, does J/J run big or small? Our IRL store here in KC hasn't opened yet.

Thanks again,

Naomi

[vikivoly]

We don't have any J&J's near, so I had to order online. Maybe someone else on the board would know. This is her only J&J outfit (we also got the sweater & hat). If anything, it was a tad smaller than I expected it to be. The dress is 18-24, but the sweater was a 2T. We wore it in October and she was still wearing 12-18 in pants (mostly due to the waist) and 18-24 in tops. I'm glad I ordered the 2T sweater because with the long, slightly puffy sleeves, it needed to be bigger.

[wreckgirl1]

If you don't need it to be long, how about the Ralph Lauren velour Madeline dress in navy? It is truly a classic dress - simple, but beautiful on every baby. I think Polo.com only has it in red left, but lots of us bought it for Christmas - I think mine is 9 months, but I've seen lots on Ebay, too.

I'll try to email you a picture, but you can probably find one if you do a search on this board for "madeline dress" around Thanksgiving.

Cynthia

[shaygirl]

They will ship it to you from a store, they charge a flat shipping rate (I think $7?). The Valley Fair store (San Jose, CA) still had some of these last week but I'm not sure about the sizes. The dress is beautiful, I have a boy but I always check out the girl clothes and that was one that I always lingered over. Good luck!

[shaygirl]

sorry, duplicate

[AvasMama]

My daughter wore this dress for her birthday on Saturday and it is gorgeous! Very classic. I heard that Marshalls and/or TJ Maxx had them too, but I bet you can find one on eBay. It is *much* cuter IRL.

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/19999.jpg

The J&J dress is stunning too, I love it. Look up the store list on janieandjack.com and start calling stores. I bet one of them will have it in your size. I would think a 6-12 would work best on your DD -- Ava is 12 months and still fits 6-12 with even a little room to grow.

Robyn & Ava

[Mommaof2]

My DD wore this at 10 months - but looking at the pics it could have been a lot longer and it even looks short in the sleeves. It was right after x-mas and I had bought and she never wore it during the holidays. Her stats were: 17 lbs and 27.5 inches. You can borrow it and just pay me for shipping it if you're interested.



http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/20005.jpg


http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/20006.jpg

[jvorhis]

Hi Robyn

Ave looks adorable in her birthday dress :-) I was just wondering about the chair in the pic -- is it the one from Baby Style?? I was thinking about getting it for DD room and wanted to know what you thought about it.

Thanks

[naomi01]

Hi Robyn and Angela,

Ava and Victoria both look lovely in their holiday pics! Thank you both for the cute pics - its great to see real kids in these dresses. Angela - an absolutely lovely offer but DH is convinced red is too christmasy (although I don't think yours is) - thank you anyway, it really was so sweet of you.

Cynthia - thank you too, I did take a look at the Madeline (looks like Robyn's if I am getting the right pic) but it is almost but not quite right, I prefer not to have the white color so close to her face (she has my skin tone!)

Unfortunately the longer I look the more I realize I am hooked on that J&J dress - even if the price is a little hefty .. but I think I am going to try and find it on sale. I may do another post mentioning it in the header and hope someone might have seen it recently and help pinpoint which store to call.

Thanks again to everyone for their input and generous offers,

Naomi

[ribbit1019]

Naomi,
My J&J near me has this dress in 6-12....I called about another dress and remembered your post. Lyndhurst, OH 216-691-0323 I can get it for you if you want, but I do not have Paypal currently. Up to you!

Christy
Maddy's mom

http://lilypie.com/baby1/050609/2/13/0/-5/.png[/img][/url]
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/steitzsmith/superpower.gif http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_garnet_6m.gif

[naomi01]

Thanks so much Christy, I just called them and they put it on hold for me until tomorrow. Ironically the J&J in KC opens TOMORROW, and they said they may or may not have old lines... so if I wait, I might get to see it IRL - only if they don't have it I will have to pay tax to order it from Ohio because I'll then have a J&J in my state.

The photos look stunning!

I only wish it had been marked down just a little more so I could justify it better to my conscience! (still 34.99.... must decide QUICK!)

Thanks everyone,

Naomi

[iluvmy2boys]

my 2cents = $34.99 for a dress that is THAT beautiful and that was once $98?! I think you are getting an awesome steal!! that's nearly less than 2/3 of the original cost!!

Get it if you can IRL or if not, get the one from the other store, I can't see how you'd be disappointed!!! Do you plan to get the coordinating cardigan?

[naomi01]

Ok - I think you've talked me into it. If DH balks, and even if he doesn't, maybe I'll ebay it later. I was just feeling a little overwhelmed with the overall cost of kids clothing because I just spent all afternoon putting away DS's clothing for storage (2 years worth!) and there was just sooo much of it, and so many things he hardly wore - including things I loved. But I agree this dress looks just too beautiful to pass up, even for a one time wear.

Naomi