You heard me.
I wore the same dress to THREE consecutive major dances (two homecomings and one spring social) and literally no one cared.
It was amazing.
I don’t even think anyone noticed, and I wasted so much freaking stress over this, twice. After the first dance, whenever another dance came up, I started worrying more about my appearance for the dance than I do at any other point in the year, for no good reason. Here’s what happened:
For the Fall 2018 Homecoming Dance, I wore a deep purple sheath dress with a v-neck and ¾ sleeves that hits me about half-way up my thighs. I wore some makeup (I don’t own much) and some brown boots and a long shawl and I pulled some of my hair from the front of my face back in what I call “milkmaid twists”. I looked good, I felt good, and I had a good time.
For the 2019 Spring Social, I was worried about wearing the same dress to two major social events. I didn’t want others to judge me or think that I had no sense of fashion, partly because that is often how I think of myself. I looked through all my stuff, I considered wearing my one other nice dress (but decided against it because it was black), and even looked online for another dress that would a) be comfortable, b) fit my 6’2” body and broad shoulders and c) not cost me an arm and a leg. Ultimately, I chose to wear the same purple dress because it went with the theme (Mardi Gras). I wore black flats and some pretty similar makeup (I had not expanded my collection) and let my friends curl my hair.
Once again, I looked good, felt good, and had a good time. It was great! But that didn’t stop me from doing it all over again.
Finally, we had the Fall 2019 Homecoming Dance and I went down the same stress-filled path.
I looked for another dress online, I went through my mom’s dresses, I looked through all my clothes, and finally defaulted to the one I wore last year. I wore nude wedges, wore my hair down with just a little clipped back from my face, and some extreme makeup (borrowed from my friends because the only additional makeup I had bought in six months was a slightly deeper shade of lipstick than I already had).
You know what happened? I looked good! I felt good! I had a good time! I got so many freaking compliments! Someone told me that in the dim light near my table, I looked like Morticia Addams and it was one of the highest compliments I have ever received (second only to being compared to Mother Angelica)! I was so worried about what others would think of me that I spent hours looking for something else and it never mattered at all. I never needed to think about it as much as I did. So don’t do what I did. Dress to impress, but not for others. Dress for you. Have fun.