An evening in crimson

It pays to shop around.

OK, so it doesn’t literally pay, but you can save so much money it’s basically almost the same thing.

A few weeks ago, my company (the Chicago Tribune) had its annual awards ceremony (the Jones-Beck Awards, or just “the Becks” for short).

As strange as it is, I hadn’t ever been to a real work banquet/ company awards ceremony before — college doesn’t count. My last company was super small and only really gathered us together to tell us to work harder; not to celebrate our accomplishments.

So, I really had no clue what to wear.

And I also had an excuse for a shopping trip.

dress | shoes | clutch | lipstick in “Rebel” | bracelet

I ended up getting this gorgeous crimson dress after a trip to Rent the Runway, but kind of in a round-about way.

I first accompanied my work bestie on a walk-in appointment to RTR a few months ago when she needed a dress for a cocktail event, so I pitched the idea to some of my other Becks-attending coworkers.

My coworker Haley (and my fashionable friend Denise, for good measure) and I booked off a Friday afternoon to go. We went to Nordstrom Rack, Nieman Marcus Last Call and TJ Maxx along the Mag Mile first (just in case!) before heading to RTR.

I did a walk-in appointment, so nobody assisted me and I was left to browse the shop on my own. I found four dresses that looked promising on the hangers. I ended up trying on this silver sequined Milly sheath, this metallic Yoana Baraschi dress, this burgundy sequined Slate & Willow number (totally not appropriate, whoops), and the ERIN Erin Fetherston dress I ended up getting.

one | two | three | four

I absolutely loved the ERIN dress, which was a $70 rental.

But, after reading this piece a few weeks back about Rent the Runway’s pricing discrepancy, I figured I might as well do a quick Internet search to see whether the dress was available elsewhere.

And… lucky me! I found it at Nordstrom Rack for $99! The only size left at the time was my size. I bought it and had it shipped to my apartment, and luckily, it arrived five hours before the awards ceremony and fit perfectly.
I’m really excited. For an extra $30, I get to keep the dress forever, and I’m already planning on re-wearing it to a wedding I’m going to this October.

I kept it very simple — with black heels, a black clutch, berry lipstick, pearl studs and a vintage gold locket — because the dress speaks for itself (the texture!) and it was a work event. I absolutely love the Halogen clutch I used, because it goes with everything, holds a fair amount and has a dainty silver chain you can pull out when you become too drunk tired to carry it around anymore.

I ditched my usual parka because the ceremony was at a hotel, and since we had booked a room upstairs, there was absolutely no need for a coat.

Haley ended up renting a gorgeous Nha Khanh dress that fit her style perfectly.
…And of course, I’d be remiss to not show you more (horrible quality iPhone) photos from the evening.
…and…

a huge congrats to my astoundingly talented boyfriend Armando for winning an award for his photography!

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