Military Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Dress for the Ball Help
Hi ladies!
Been forever since I've been on here! I have my units ball coming up in Septmeber and I was wondering what kind of dress I should be looking for. Does it have to be a full length evening gown? Or are shorter style dresses appropriate? I'm only 5'6 and long dresses usually make me look even shorter than I am haha
We're stationed at Ft.Riley KS so shopping oppertunities do not exist here! I could go to Kansas City but its hard to find the time with work so I'd like to do online shopping if anyone has any good sites they know of that'd be great.
Thank you so much for the help!
Warning
No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
Re: Dress for the Ball Help
Personally, I would wear a floor length gown. It is better to be over rather than under dressed. I bought my gowns at local department stores. You can check Nordstroms on line, they are running a sale--though I was not looking for formal gowns, so I'm not sure what the selection is. Since you have a bit of time, TJ Maxx might have something, too.
They did say we were allowed to wear a dress, but that is as much information as they've given us. We dont even know the time of say yet.
I have no desire to wear my uniform. Personally, I find it incredibly ugly and feel just as ugly in it. Also, they told us if we wear our uniforms, we have to go out and buy the blues, and I don't have several hundred dollars to drop right now.
If given the choice between the uniform or a gown, I would choose the gown too. However, the wear out date for the greens is 2014, so they can't make you go out and buy the blues.
eta: I just realized I never answered your original question. Since you are in the military, I would go more conservative than if you were going as a civilian guest, and floor length.
Im sorry but anything military issued is not meant to be flattering, especially to women. Find me one woman who feels beautiful in it and I'll be quite surprised. Blues or the pickle suit - neither are attractive. If given the choice, I'll go for a nice dress.
My 1SG put out that while it is not mandatory to go out and buy the blues - he'll make sure we want to have to have them. They do that a lot in my company. They told us if we didnt buy the company t-shirt they would make our NCOICs buy them for every shop, and then those who still didnt buy it would basically have to deal with a crap storm until they gave in.
Military uniforms (other than probably the men's Marine uniforms) are tailored in a way to look professional so, yes, that means no sexy, flattering lines. I will say that the SM's who chose to wear gowns at DH's last ball got a lot of flack from co-workers (male and female alike). From knowing that, I would caution against choosing a gown. Not trying to be snarky, just a word of caution to be prepared if you choose to wear a gown.
I personally don't understand when females in FI's squadron change out of their uniforms after the ceremonial part of the ball (they have to wear their uniform for the ceremonial part). They're Marines. The men don't change.
This somehow makes me think of that British Soldier who was Miss England and took her curling iron to Iraq.
lol! I'm not Miss England and I didn't bring my own, but on more than one occasion I used a blow dryer and curling iron in Iraq.
I agree, Stan. We spend so much time trying to convince the guys we work with that we are their equal and then we decide we want to be a princess for ball. If my guys had to wear their uniforms, I'd be damned if I was going in a dress. MH said he would give me the side eye if I didn't wear my uniform to ball when my unit did one.
I've never seen a female servicemember (that I knew of) wearing a gown to a ball. In fact, one of my neighbors wore her uniform, had her hair done, makeup was great. She looked absolutely stunning and, as a female NCO in a very male dominated field (firefighter,) held her own among her troops.
Also, if 5'6 is short then you should meet me, since I'm sure you'd consider me a little person at 5'1. And I wear long gowns with no issue.
I've seen both, just about equally. Go with what your chain of command says is appropriate and what you're comfortable in.
That said, if you're wearing a gown, go floor length. 5'6 is not short at all, I'm 5'2! Wear heels and you'll be fine.
~*Lots of love to my BFPB's: mel66, MercierGirl, DBoo0510, & NewbieLisette*~
Ditto. I was thinking the same thing.
I have bought several ball dresses from Nordstrom's website. They have all different styles and lengths, and if you spend $200 you get free shipping. Whenever I've ordered from there I pick a dress or two that I like and that I'm pretty sure will look okay on me, and then I order them in the 2 sizes closest to what I think I would be. I pick the one that fits best, and then send the others back. They only deduct I think $6.95 for the return shipping, which to me is well worth it to not have to go to a million different stores.
I'd wear my class a's. I somewhat like them, my jacket is tailored and fits rather well. The pants, well there's not much to saving those. And if my command had an issue with me wearing the uniform I was issued, I'd take it further up the chain.
Or
I'd buy the ASUs and claim it on my taxes for the year. I've been looking at investing in the ASUs for a while now anyway because they are much(much) better than the A's.
Either way, I'd wear my uniform.
And you think the men are comfortable? It is just as stuffy a uniform for them as it is for us. If the women can wear gowns than the men should have the option of wearing a tux. Equality is equality.
The hubs and I are wearing our mess dress in two weddings this summer. Mess dress is optional for enlisted (it's the most formal uniform), but we bought it because we have already had lots of occassions to wear it. It's basically paid for itself since we haven't had to buy/rent tuxedos and gowns for weddings.
I don't mind wearing my uniform. I've had it tailored and I'm a friggin BALLER with all my medals. I normally wear fancy underpants to counteract the wool and polyester sensation.
One of the greatest compliments I've ever received was, "You look nice in a tie tab."