What to wear to a v posh 1920s / Great Gatsby Christmas party

[LarkinSky]

Been invited to a Great Gatsby inspired Christmas party with DH. It's in a beautiful grand old house and will be very formal.

Ladies, please can you help dress me? It's been a tough year and is the first nice party I've been invited to in a long time. I love this period, I really hope you have a few ideas.

Budget is high street (around £100 for a dress ideally), although as I can wear the outfit over Christmas as well I will stretch to more if it's gorgeous and a little bit practical (i.e. not some un-washable number that all the beading falls off after one wear).

I have a couple of shoe options (new & comfy pair of patent black high heels) but would like a headband or headdress or other accessories. Have a few pearl necklaces. I have a 20s beaded bag already and I also have a big fake fur coat!

I'm 5'6, size 12 (slimmer with Spanx ), long hair. 35 years old.

lovely, lovely, lovey and practical . Hand wash. Over budget, natch.

Dorothy Perkins has quite a few dress contenders. all about the 50/60£ mark. Etsy is great for headbands/ hair accessories. if you have any spare budget how about a wig or getting a professional up do?

Ooh Mrs Lettuce that is gorgeous! What a great find. I could certainly stretch my budget for that, but do you think there's any chance it could go on sale in the next week or two? Or may sell out. I love that it's quite adaptable, looks like it could be a party dress for several seasons.

A body shape question - that Ted Baker dress looks like it's got a slightly dropped waist but my waist is on the high side, would that work on me? I don't have anything with a dropped waist. I live overseas so won't be able to try anything on before ordering it.

Off to look at the DP offerings now... I've never used Etsy, will check it out.

Thank you! Any more suggestions anyone?

Hi minipie, would love to go to a hairdresser but as I've got quite long hair and am fairly good at doing up does I will have a go myself - I'll only have one hour to get ready anyway as it's after work and I've got young kids too. Speed change!

Miss Selfridge has a limited range of Flapper Dresses - I saw them yesterday in an article in I.

No idea how much they cost - but they looked beautiful & very authentic (loads of beading & zigzag hems)

www.arcadiagroup.co.uk/press-relations/press-releases-1/miss-selfridge-limited-edition-flapper-dresses

£150 to £190 but not on sale till 5th December.

But there is a black beaded flapper style dress on the Miss Selfridge website for £95.

[http://www.missselfridge.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?beginIndex=0&viewAllFlag=&catalogId=33055&storeId=12554&productId=11828474&langId=-1&categoryId=&parent_category_rn=&searchTerm=flapper%20dress&resultCount=1]

[http://www.missselfridge.com/en/msuk/product/black-flapper-embellised-dress-2218754]

www.missselfridge.com/en/msuk/product/black-flapper-embellised-dress-2218754

Aaargh link fail - This is the £95 black one.

Thanks for that press release and the suggestions, I see Miss Selfridge do free international deliveries too. I've not shopped there for over a decade and a half though - thought it was only for teens or have they gone a bit more Topshop now?

I'm a bit put off the short black one as it's unlined and see through and I'd have to faff around finding a suitable slip.

What do you think about this one?

[[https://www.missselfridge.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/OrderItemDisplay?catalogId=33055&langId=-1&storeId=12554&krypto=I8KofCo/b4vFksyqMyZab/MCZ3R4ibn/D/d8GywZo2KqnmcpAwnomJYJaLs0/mqLs1ElIIjf3p7Z
c8mdX+1JwSS00vvZF99ecmXHjXQ/T3U4um/v/O767/Ctcg4NbnNdA5Q1AkJTm9BXx6s/0dstVtXX
QVjHFG5TxPCQhAdgIwa388lNQEwRKSuIDVB3im8tYgQiEU8iAiAfpgTzpmeyy2at1UZBE0w7itLB
Yhwd0jM=]]

The party is mid December so I could take a gamble and wait for the launch on 5th Dec... It'd be cutting it fine though.

Oops wrong link.

Ok here it is Beaded Maxi Fishtail dress: www.missselfridge.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=12554&catalogId=33055&productId=12706654&categoryId=208023&parent_category_rn=208022

Or alternatively Beaded Body Maxi Dress.

I think I prefer this one but not sure about the short flesh-coloured slip under a long sheer black dress, would it look a bit odd? Also the slip is quite low cut, don't want to be spilling out over the top...

www.missselfridge.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=12554&catalogId=33055&productId=11397134&categoryId=208037&parent_category_rn=208036

LOVE that second dress. The only thing that would put me off is the reviews.

I went to a Great Gatsby ball last year. Lots of the ladies wore flapper dresses or proper hired fancy dress. I personally wore a plain silk black with a dark teal panel shift dress from Warehouse which I knew I could wear plenty afterwards. I accessorised with black patent court shoes and black fishnet tights. The hairdresser put my hair up in to little pincurls (think that's what they're called) and I found a great peacock feather hair clip thing in Accessorize. Dead easy and didn't cost the earth. Many ladies also wore long gloves (think you can get them in loads of shops this time of year).

Not very practical and over budgetBUT gorgeous and I think for a very posh do, I'd consider a longer dress

There are also a few Biba dresses on the HoF website...

There's a dress on Modcloth called "bead it" which is in budget and should work....links are failing me.