Nothing New Challenge: Party Dressing

And so it begins.

In case you missed it, I've taken up the challenge of not buying any brand-new clothes; as in, I can buy 2nd-hand and vintage, but no designer or High Street. Last Saturday was my first big event to dress for: a friend's birthday party.

This was not however an ordinary party, it was on a docked boat in Southampton, and the dress code was "tropical". Now I love dressing for parties. Whether they have a theme or not, I like hunting down that perfect outfit which I'll always recall as being "what I wore to 'X' event". But of course, my options were restricted this time. Ordinarily my first port of call would probably be ASOS, and indeed their customised adverts have become increasingly enticing now that I know I can't click on them. Instead, however, I headed for the charity shops.

In a branch of Age UK, I stumbled across what may well be one of my favourite second-hand finds ever. It's a floaty maxi dress with an elasticated waist and a cutout section in the back. Originally from Papaya, I don't think this would have been particularly expensive when it was first on sale, but I'm pretty pleased with the price I got it for (£8.99). It's really easy to wear, and is perfect for taking on holiday because it doesn't crease at all!

On board with my friend Livvy 

The dress has this subtle but also quite striking print, somewhat reminiscent of grasslands, which I thought made it fitting for the theme. On its own, however, it didn't look greatly tropical. I added some wedge sandals which I've had for years and originally bought from a British Heart Foundation shop! Then I went in search of some jewellery to brighten things up. After a little bit of rummaging in shops around town, I found a fun necklace with parrots and watermelons on it in the same branch of BHF. It was just £3.99.

After that, things quickly came together. I added a couple of rings and bracelets from my collection, and the flower in my hair was actually cut from a plastic orchid I got from Ikea a while ago! To top it all off, we were presented with Hawaiian-style flower garlands once we got there. Perfect.

So all in all, a grand total of just under £12 went into this outfit. Not bad at all, especially considering that the dress is so versatile I'm definitely going to wear it a lot. This is looking like a pretty auspicious start to the Nothing New Challenge.

With Ed, whose shirt also came from a charity shop!

Stay tuned for more posts about my progress with this challenge, and make sure to follow me on Twitter where I'll be doing brief, instant updates on the hashtag #NothingNewChallenge