White House Black Market: A love story

When my sister-in-law told her bridesmaids back in December that we could pick any black dress as our bridesmaid dresses, I knew exactly where I would go. I’ve loved the store White House Black Market since I caught a glimpse of it in a mall years ago. Every piece is classy and simple, and is usually some combination of black and white (hence the name, although sometimes they will accent with pink or red). I have their Web site bookmarked so I can get my luxury fashion fix. Sometimes I’ll sit at my computer and start sighing – Mark will ask me what’s wrong and I start mumbling something about all the pretty clothes (cue the eye rolling).

Some samples:

 

So I’ve been haunting White House Black Market for the past three months. This was my plan: I’d get a feel for my size by trying on WHBM dresses in-store, then search eBay for a similar, or same if I was lucky, WHBM piece. In early February, my grand plan came to fruition. I found the perfect dress on eBay, brand new and with tags (and $100 less than the store price). I paid online and eagerly awaited my purchase, celebrating my cleverness – I beat the system! The dress arrived a few days later and I made a startling discovery – despite my careful sizing expeditions, the dress was too small for me! Outrage.

I returned to WHBM in February to find that all the black dresses that had previously been available were now gone – a casualty of post-Christmas sales. [In fairness though, I had been warned. My December/January trips had resulted in the same sales chorus: “You better buy now because these dresses go fast!” I just chalked it up to sales rhetoric.]

“When is the wedding?” asked the saleswoman.

“Oh it isn’t until the end of March,” I replied. “I still have plenty of time.”

“Oh good! You’d be surprised how many people frantically come in here a week or two before the wedding,” she said.

“No way! I could never wait that long,” I said.

Turns out I was wrong, I could wait that long – I just bought my dress at WHBM two days ago. When is the wedding? A week from today. But the point is that I’m now prepared and don’t have a black dress sitting in the back of my mind whispering, “Buy me… you really need to get that done!”