where do you buy dresses (party dresses, not wedding)?

BostonGayGal · April 2010

I need a party dress to wear.. I tried White House Black Market, Talbots, Nordstrom, Etsy, and a couple of vintage dress sites, but I am having no luck.
I want a NON-black party dress, fancy but not long, and more fun than sexy. Any recommendations?

Shazzie116 · April 2010

BCBG is the first that comes to mind for what you're looking for.

october010bride · April 2010

Lord and Taylor always has a nice selection and there are always sales! I also love Anthropologie but they not be as fancy as you need.

jquirke9881 · April 2010

Ann Taylor Loft?

noodle_oo · April 2010

I'm becoming *obsessed* with Nordstroms. They have beautiful dresses, but they can be expensive. I found a gorgeous dress recently at Nordstrom Rack (their discount store, there is one in Natick and one at the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers). Great deal, a $178 dress was only $45!

jkepros · April 2010

Lord & Taylor has some awesome dresses, and even though I haven't been in years, Bloomingdale's at Chestnut Hill used to have an amazing dress selection. Betsey Johnson has super fun party dresses, and a lot of the Priscilla of Boston bridesmaids dresses are gorgeous (plus they come in lots of colors!). BCBG makes great dresses (my favorite dress I own is a BCBG party dress I bought at Bloomingdale's like 5 or 6 years ago), and Bebe & Arden B sometimes have cute ones--although they can both be more trendy than classic, so depending on the trends at the time versus the style you are looking for they may be hit or miss.

Online I always recommend shopstyle.com because they have dresses from lots of sites, so they can be a good resource to at least get some ideas of the cut/style you are looking for. I

chloeandreese.com, but their dresses are pricey. Modshop has cute dresses too--although a lot of their dresses are more casual.

Galaxy8227 · April 2010

I found a bunch of dresses I loved at Lord & Taylor in Natick about two weeks ago, they had a huge selection. I also found a bunch at Macy's on sale, where I usually don't have any luck.

clbartnicki · April 2010

I would typically suggest Nordstrom, or White House Black Market. Since you've already not had luck there, I would try Macy's, Lord and Taylor or BCBG. I've also gotten a few cute dresses for weddings at Martin and Osa (burlington mall).

ipuella · April 2010

Definitely all great suggestions above - in addition, have you seen RuffleSwap.com? I just found it and it's quickly becoming an obsession -- it's a site like Craigslist where people only post fun party dresses for sale. It's small and sort of just starting out, but you may come across a great deal!

Oops - meant to add, it's fun because you can search by color, occasion, size, brand, price, etc -- whatever your priorities are!

JBs_Bride · April 2010

Ditto jkepros on Betsey Johnson. I pass by the window and I want every single thing.

livandrich · April 2010

I spent $700 at Betsey last spring in a fit of "it's my wedding and i can buy if i want to!"

Oops.

One of my friends actually bought a short BM dress from David's Bridal to wear to my wedding, and it was sooooo cute and well made. They have such a variety of styles and colors and designs and have really amped it up to get trendy. Plus...cheap!

AlwaysABridesmaid... · April 2010

I get ALL of my dresses from Ebay. They come from China, are super inexpensive and great quality! They also have a lot of replica dresses.

SummerBoston10 · April 2010

I love Nanette Lepore for dresses. They may not have a ton of fancy dresses but they do have some for sure. I just bought the dress I'm going to wear to our welcome reception there.

As others have said, BCBG is always a good staple for party dresses. Try Max Mara as well and DKNY on Newbury has a decent selection. There are also a few cute stores in Beacon Hill that sell a lot of dresses....Wish comes to mind.