Journey to ‘That Dress’
If I can only have one black maxi dress, it needs to be easily multi-styled, not too flared, it needs to have some texture, be a little bit asymmetric and it needs to have an interesting cut (not be just a long straight tube obviously). Thinking about all these criteria made me chuckle at myself a little - “pfffff, this is just mission impossible!”
On the other side, I often believe shopping is like a fate, for if you are supposed to meet ‘something’, then voila !… you meant to belong to each other! In this post I will present to you that one special dress, the one I thought would be impossible to find. To get it, however, I had to go on quite a journey.
asymmetric shoulder with one side like a vest, the other side with a cup sleeve
I first spotted ‘That Dress’ at London Liberty at the end of June, but didn’t get around to purchasing it.Three weeks later I went back to Liberty, on a mission to get the dress. However, I had to return home empty-handed and went into a great depression. The sort of depression you get when you can’t stop thinking about something and you’re kicking yourself for letting the chance pass when you had it. It might sound like an exaggeration, but trust me, it’s not – I felt like my heart was stabbed when the sales assistant told me that dress had sold out. The same night I searched for it online like a maniac and realised it had instantly sold out in most shops around the world. Then I somehow got stopped by the first glance of Liberty on-line website and found 1 in Medium left. I couldn’t believe my luck. Without a single hesitation I clicked and paid. And remember this was all happened on a Monday evening.
asymmetric shoulder detail self rouching on one side because the dress is a curved banana shape when laid flat
Then my patience of waiting was completely sabotaged until Thursday lunch time. ‘Where is my parcel?’ I repeated this question a thousand times in my head as my previous experience with Net-a-Porter was always with a fast delivery within 2 working days. (same as ASOS and Urban Outfitters on-line) I called Liberty on-line Web team but only repeated the same failure of finding someone at the other end of phone. Eventually I had to make a connection with a completely different department with Liberty customer service and asked the staff to physically find someone from Web Team. My next furious conversation with Liberty on-line team was about to begin …
‘Hello, Liberty web team, how can I help you?’
‘Thank bloody god, there’s finally someone from your team to pick up the phone?’ I nearly cried.
‘Well, our team member need to physically go around the store to hand pick up the orders. I’m sorry Ma’m.’ Wow…so that’s how their on-line team works?
‘So…I wonder…emm, where is my order please?’
‘Oh Ma’m, we’re fully aware of your order, however, it’s out of stock at the moment.’ The other voice still remained quite cold and calm.
‘But you guys need to inform me on that, shouldn’t you?!’ I was gobsmacked. How could they leave their customers just hanging there, waiting and dreaming for a never-coming-parcel?
The male ‘other voice’ reacted quickly on the other side of phone, ‘We have been contacting the Buying Department to see if any more stocks are coming, Ma’m.’
‘Shouldn’t you guys inform me ASAP too?!’
you can also roll up the 'cup sleeve' side, twist it and create an even more asymmetrical look
By that point, I was more upset with the fact that I had to find out all of these malarky by myself. I always love the authenticity and vintages of Liberty London, but just couldn’t believe from which decade of their on-line system and service is. And this was still the Thursday afternoon, I had to start searching like a maniac all over internet again. However, it didn’t seem to take me long this time before locating another one at Harvey Nichols on-line. After procedures of payment and confirmation email were all done, I couldn’t help but wonder, could I finish this nightmare of craving for this dress by physically popping into Harvey Nichols myself for the pick-up collection they offer? So I picked up the phone again and a lovely voice the other side sounded rather soothing answered…
‘Sorry Miss, we simply could not find your order on line.’ OMG !!! My heart sunk again.
‘But here is my order number, please double check!’
You can fold & rouch back up & create lots of amazing pleats and change it into a LBD. Because the fabric is ribbed jersey with 4% spandex, with its super stretchiness it will stay up without falling down.
All of my trying seemed pointless, naturally I turned my hands to Browns on-line where they have 1 left though one size smaller. And just before my departure to Browns I somehow found 1 of this dress on a Canadian on-line shopping website and quickly put through an order without thinking. Taking all the bad luck I had experienced with this dress, who knew whether this order would ever turn up?
The rest part of story was far too dramatic to believe. I arrived at Browns and tried the size small. I couldn’t get the size medium out of my head though – “everything needs to be perfect for this dress!”
Just as I was in the fitting room, my phone rang. It was the lovely voice from Harvey Nichols again, and believe it or not, they had not only found my order, they had also set aside the dress for me in size medium. I rushed to the London Tube at the speed of light. I got my dress from Harvey Nichols and was over the moon. Finally! And please remember, this all happened on the same Thursday afternoon.
A few days later, on the following Monday, a parcel from Canada arrived on my desk. Do you still remember the fate theory of shopping I mentioned earlier? I think I might just be twice as lucky with this designer…called ‘Alexander Wang’.
You can keep playing the length, from mini to midi and of course to its original length full maxi... This dress is just so versatile !
