Please help me find a dress for a ball

[pistachioandhoney]

I am going to a ball in a few weeks and I don't have a dress. I want to look good, but am reluctant to spend on a dress I doubt I am ever going to wear again.

I am 5ft 4", quite toned, a size 10 with big boobs. I like the idea of getting a simple black dress either long or cocktail. I plan to dress it up with some fab accessories, gorgeous hair and makeup. In the past I have worn a dress with one shoulder and received loads of compliments or I think I suit something with a V front.

I am in my 40's but don't want anything frumpy. Apparently I look a lot younger!

Can anyone help me find a gorgeous dress or recommend some shops?

What's your ideal budget?

If you can go in person to a big John Lewis or House of Fraser, you can try on lots and lots of things

there's another thread running right now about a ball dress for a military do - it's called something like "is this dress completely awful" - and some of the suggestions on there might also work for you

I'll have a look for some black dresses too though

One shoulder in black and only £80. What do you do about a bra though??

Very simple - can't decide if the sparkle will lift it, or make it harder to accessorise

This is elegant and can be dressed up and down

Google Girl Meets Dress. It's a hire agency in London and online. For a one-off dress for balls (when I went to them) it was usually the inexpensive way of wearing an expensive outfit.

If you're not going to wear it many times and so don't want to spend a fortune, my top tip is eBay! I went to university in Oxford, so there were a lot of white tie/black tie balls (and I definitely didn't have a black tie budget.) I found that searching on eBay turned up some amazing results - I would always just search coast dress plus my size and find some amazing bargains, like full length gowns for £30 or so. Coast RRP is more like £170, so definitely worth it! Most people will wear a dress like that once to a ball or a wedding and never have a chance to wear it again, so there's loads going for cheap. Obviously you don't have to restrict yourself to Coast, but I always did that since I knew that they were good quality and their sizes worked for me. It's nice to know that since they're pretty standard, their size 10 would always fit me.

Just looked - don't know if this colour works for you, but this has a v neck which would be lovely if you have a larger bust, and show off your arms? m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Coast-Corwin-Multi-Tie-Maxi-Dress-Rasberry-10-/282436907887?hash=item41c28d336f%3Ag%3ADYkAAOSwBOtY9UYw&_trkparms=pageci%253A5fd87a8c-2cd8-11e7-b70a-74dbd18077a8%257Cparentrq%253Ab9b5c49915b0abda6d3400a9ffff8189%257Ciid%253A4

This is lovely too:
m.ebay.co.uk/itm/COAST-full-length-dress-size-10-vgc-/311856128192?hash=item489c12e0c0%3Ag%3ACxAAAOSwJ4hY90d9&_trkparms=pageci%253Ad41c6c0c-2cd8-11e7-af3a-74dbd1804dbc%257Cparentrq%253Ab9b8be9e15b0abc1e171f8a8ffff7d56%257Ciid%253A19

Bloody hell. I am off to look on eBay!!!!

Thank you very much Judge, OC Sock and Olenna. You have been really helpful.

Happy to help, pistachio! Please do share what you choose, if you find anything - I loveeee discussing this kind of thing!

Off to the shops at the weekend. Here's hoping!

I found an evening dress in TK Maxx yesterday £49.99. Worth a look.