Never knowingly underdressed

I blame Laura Ashley, and their mid-season sale. I wasn’t looking for a new dress. Heaven knows, I hardly need one, yet how could I resist having a look. From looking, it’s only a short step from trying on, and from trying on, well, you know the rest.

Having bought the dress, it needed accessories. Now most of my accessories are black, but this dress really needed either blue or (even better) pink shoes. It also needed jewellery and/or a shrug (hey, it’s winter, and I feel the cold). Sadly, Laura’s let me down here. They did a little cardigan in just the right shade, but the sleeves were too long, and there were no matching shoes.

So last Wednesday, having planned a shopping day with L, we went round most of the shops in York, with me carrying the dress and trying to match it up. There’s lots of red, black and grey around, and quite a bit of sparkle too, so it’s hard not to get distracted, but I remained focussed.

I eventually found two pairs of shoes. Trying on one pair, which I eventually bought, the assistant looked at me matching them the dress:

‘Ah, it’s obviously for an event’

What could I say?