Army Birthday Ball

by Emmie
(Woodbridge, Virginia)

235 years and counting...

This coming Saturday, June 12, is the Army Birthday Ball, celebrating the 235th birthday of the United States Army.

Regardless of the current interpretation of the dress code, a ball remains a formal affair.

Many planned well ahead of time but there is nothing more stressful than having to find a complete formal outfit to wear to the Army Birthday Ball...with one week to go before the big event.

Mid afternoon this past Saturday, we braved the crowds shopping for prom dresses at Potomac Mills and zeroed in on those few stores carrying what qualifies as evening gowns - BCBG Final Cut in Neighborhood 1 and GroupUSA in Neighborhood 2.

Given more time, we would have checked Nordstrom Rack but finding the perfect formal dress in a particular size is usually a case of pure luck.

As it is, BCBG did not have the specific dress we had envisioned so we quickly moved on to GroupUSA.

The store was quite busy so we quickly made several selections from the racks. It would be a serious understatement to say the dressing rooms were overrun...

However, the most disheartening aspect of the entire shopping experience was to see the way in which the merchandise was being handled more correctly we should say mis-handled by several careless shoppers.

What a sad sight! Dresses in delicate fabrics were tossed over dressing room doors as many times as required to make them "fall in". Others were visibly piled around the dressing room floor as they were being tried on and modeled.

In the end, for us, it came down to finding a dress, in the right size and not damaged in some way - in other words without any sign of frayed fabric, rips, tears or pulled threads.

Let's hope this scene is not often repeated at GroupUSA.

Backless, strapless, halter top or one shoulder, tulle, charmeuse, chiffon or satin, prints, plaids or floral, as we made additional selections, we quickly noticed that the fabric on many of the dress bodices was frayed - sufficiently damaged to make them impossible to wear and certainly not anything one would consider buying.

It’s easy to replace a missing snap or hook, even hide an errant thread but you cannot fix frayed fabric.

Our mission was to find the perfect ball gown and coordinating shoes. Eventually, we accomplished our goal but what an eye opening shopping spree.

Anyone else had a similar experience?

Going to have to sign this

Going to the Ball but disenchanted in Woodbridge, VA