Cocktail Dresses, High Heels, and a Workout
�Would you like to go to my semi-formal with me?� The winter season has passed and it is now spring. Over the long, cold winter you gained so much weight and you know that you need to work out to fit into your dress well. The semi-formal is the coming Friday, leaving you with one week to get into shape. Knowing that you need to lose pounds around your waist and tone your arms, you decide that you will do sit-ups, pushups, hula-hoop, and stretch each night. However, working out is the least of your worries, you need to look your best that evening.
What should you wear? You cannot wear the usual jeans, t-shirt, and zip-up sweater. It is a semi-formal and you need to wear something nice. After getting into shape and losing the weight you need to, most dresses will fit well. You scavenge through your closet to find a cocktail dress that you bought in the summer. It is dark red, not too formal yet not too casual either. It is a strapless dress. You need something to cover your shoulders. First you contemplate on wearing a three quarters sleeve button down over your dress. However, it looks too tacky. You once again search through your closet and find a black shawl, perfect. Black and dark red will match well.
You now know what you are going to wear and now you need to decide on footwear for the evening. High heels seem appealing. However there are so many different styles to choose from. You do not want a simple slip-on because you will most likely be walking around. You also do not want the heels to be too large for the same reason. You want the shoe to be simple, with a small heel, and straps to hold the shoe in place. Under the mountain of shoe boxes you find the style that you were searching for, a pair of black high heel shoes. They are comfortable and your feet slip right in. You decide not to wear socks because the shoe is an open-toe, sandal-type shoe.
Your hair is the next problem. What hair style will go well with your dress? You also need to take into consideration that you do not want to have the same hairdo that you usually have. You always either keep your hair down or tie it all up into a pony-tail. You need something different, something that you can be comfortable in. You are experimenting with your hair. Using clips and hair-ties you put your hair into more normal styles and some less normal ones as well. You come across this hairdo that you rarely put your hair in. It is where half of your hair is tied up while the other half is let down. But your hair looks a mess right now. You tone it down with a little gel and it looks a lot better than you thought it would.
Finally you need to choose accessories. What would go well with your outfit for the night? Planning ahead always makes things easier. To match with your black shawl and shoes, you decide to wear your matching black bag and wallet. Your neck looks too plain and bare. You have the choice between several necklaces. However there is that one in particular that you wear almost all the time. It is a silver cross necklace with a sliver of gold near the center and it is your favorite. You need to wear it. Next you need to choose earrings that will match well with your cross necklace. You do not want simple studs; you want something that will hang and take up more space. You have a couple of pairs of chandelier earrings; pink, silver, light blue. The pink doesn�t seem like it will look good with your dark red dress. The light blue pair is too large. So you decide on your pair of silver ones. Don�t forget about your rings! You have two silver rings which you wear daily; one plain banded one which is a friendship ring with your best friend and the other one with stones that was a gift from your mom. Both rings will look great with your necklace and earrings, all silver.
Now that you have decided on your whole outfit and worked out to get in shape, the week has passed and it is the day of the semi-formal. It took you many hours to decide what you would wear this evening. Now that you look your best, in clothing that compliments you, you also want to be on your best behavior. You are being taken out for a night and you want to smile and be courteous. Of course planning all this time would not be worth it if you do not have fun. You deserve to go out and just enjoy yourself.
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� Annie Kim 2005