Mission Impossible: buy a machatenista gown!

So, today I spent the day with my mother "shopping" for a gown to wear to my daughter's wedding. This was not my first foray into the world of gown shopping. First, a few things to understand: my choices are very limited: limited by my size and shape, limited by my budget, and limited by the constraints of tzniyus: The gown must not show any cleavage, it must come to the neck, it must have sleeves and the sleeve length must be at least 3/4 length, it cannot be backless, it cannot be see-through, it cannot have high leg baring slits. Additionally, I had hoped to purchase a gown in the color champagne or gold. So...limited we are.

I began my gown search, on the internet. With my limited time and resources I thought this might be a good way to find a nice gown. I began, first, on eBay. It so happens that I do most of my clothing shopping on eBay anyway and so am a seasoned, veteran "eBayer". I know how to shop that way. Unfortunately, what I want or need has not been available -- certainly not meeting all the criteria listed above.

Then, I started looking at the online "stores" selling gowns. I found a few options that seemed do-able - at least via the pictures. The first gown I saw that I really liked was this one:

The color is champagne and even though it was not perfectly tzniyus I figured a good seamstress could fix that for me. It was also quite reasonably priced at $250. So, I placed the order. It arrived and I tried it on. Basically, it fit me, although it would have needed some nipping and tucking in the chest area, and of course a lining at the top to make it tzniyus. It looked good from the front and from the rear, but from the sides it looked AWFUL. So, I returned it.

Then I decided to peruse the gowns that were available at the place where Chloe bought her wedding gown. These are really not the kind of gowns that I normally go for. However, there were three that I thought were possibilities. They have been backordered since I placed the order, but I learned this past Thursday that 2 of them became available and had shipped. I expect to get them on Tuesday. The three of those gowns are:

This gown, the brown one with the full sweeping skirt is my favorite of these three -- at least in the pictures. I will not know how any of them look on me until I receive them.

I also discovered http://www.rkbridal.com/ and actually visitied their "showroom/warehouse" in the city. It is really conveniently located one block away from the Port Authority. I had hoped to see a very specific gown when I went there but they did not have it in stock. I can order it but if I do, I am committed to it. I find that really odd, to be honest. This is a stock design, in a stock fabric, in a stock color, in a standard size. It is not custom made in the least. That I have to commit to it in order for them to order it for me, is BS, as far as I am concerned. However, here is a picture of that gown:

As you can see, this gown is perfect in that it meets much of my criteria: it is 100% tzniyus without having to have a seamstress make it that way. The downside to it is that it is only available in three colors: Cranberry (shown), Brown (rich dark chocolate brown), or Silver Blue (a pale icy periwinkle color). I sent a copy of this picture to my machatenus and asked for her input. I thought it might be too dressy. However she said it was not too dressy, it is beautiful and she suggested the cranberry as being the best color to buy.

The thing is I have to order it without having tried it on -- so that makes me a bit nervous. Also, it takes 12-14 weeks to get it -- and I am so much more into immediate gratification!

Thus, before I actually order it I must see the gowns from Zaftique (the three above pictured ones, plus I must investigate the gemachs in my area (Monsey, Teaneck, Fair Lawn). To that end, I went to gemachs in Monsey with my mother. Most of the gemachs we went to had very little in my size, my color, or my budget. Only one, actually had a good selection of gowns, albeit not in the color I wanted. This was the last gemach I went to. It turned out that the woman who runs that gemach is the sister of someone I know who lives in Teaneck! Anyway, I tried on about 8 different gowns there. Most of the gowns looked awful on me. One of the gowns was an Alex Evenings gown that has the feel of a Spencer Alexis outfit -- very romantic and vintage-y style. And, it was champagne. But it just looked ho hum on me. Another gown, one that I really liked was a burgundy/black gown, with a high empire waist. It was a burgundy underdress with a sheer black overdress. It was a loose empire style with a high v-neck. I really liked it, it was comfortable. and would have needed minimal alterations. It was $400 as is the dress from RKBridal. But my mother feels it is not an appropriate dress for a machatenista. It is too "young" looking. She hated it. So, for now, I have deferred to her -- but I might change my mind, we shall see. The last gown I tried on was really way out of my price range but we kept coming back to it as a really perfect gown for me so I decided to just put it on to see how it looks. It was a sort of muted lilac underdress, with a sheer navy overdress, with gunmetal beads from the neck to the toes, fully beaded with long sleeves. Despite being so heavily beaded, it was not a heavy dress. I slipped it on and it was PERFECT for me. It needed minimal alterations (nip and tuck in breast area, and slight shortening). BUT....it was priced at $1100!!! How nice it would be to be wealthy...

So, now, tonight, I am going to go to Fair Lawn to look at some more gowns at a gemach there. I will report later on that experience.