Last-Minute Party Dress

When our friend, Felissa, asked if we wanted to be her plus one to the Valentino party, we said yes faster than Paris Hilton draws a crowd in Tokyo. Who wouldn't want the chance to rub elbows with the much-loved, recently retired designer and his adoring celebrity fans? Only catch? We only had 27 hours to prepare for the fete.

We pride ourselves on our ability to get dressed quickly for any occasion, though typically all we need is a lot of black eyeliner, our favorite pair of dressy jeans and our sky high Jimmy Choos. This was a different level all together--the invite said "dress to impress: Formal attire required." Oh, and did we mention that we're on a tight budget? There would be no running to Bergdorf's to drop a cool grand or more on the perfect dress.

Inspired by Serena's look at the fictional white party on the premier of Gossip Girl, we decided to rock out our basic black Laundry halter dress that was hanging in the back of our closet with some Grecian accessories.

We already had the Jennifer Behr headband, we just needed right jewelry. We headed to NYC's 6th Ave around 28th street to wholesale jewelry stores. We found the perfect layered ring and faux pearl bracelet for a grand total of $20. The gold BCBG shoes we already had in our closet have would have to do, after all, we were wearing a long dress anyway.

Next up was the hair: Marguerite at Bumble & Bumble squeezed us in for an emergency appointment. She understood the look we were going for instantly. She first blew our hair out straight, focusing on the roots for volume and used tons of Bumble & Bumble Thickening Spray. We could feel our hair expanding as she worked her magic. Next, using liberal amounts of Bumble & Bumble Does it All Hairspray, she curled our hair into loose ringlets. For the final step, she teased the crown of head so would have volume in the back of headband.

Here's the final result. We think we hit the mark we were going for fairly well. A friend did ask if we were going for the Blair Waldorf look. At least she had the right show!