the oasis dress (an anthropologie "autumn bulbs" maxi dress knock off)

Earlier this fall, on a sans kids Anthropologie meandering, Jordan saw and LOVED Anthro's Autumn Bulbs dress. And why not? It's flow-y and swing-y and gorgeous. Even better, it is the perfect special occasion dress for her new home in the Middleeast, fulfilling all of the major culturally different dress requirements- past-the-elbow sleeves, high enough collar, floor length.

The $228 price tag was a little steep, though (isn't that how all of these knock-offs begin?), so we set out to create our own.

First, we had to find a similar fabric. Darker fabric is the look du jour in the Arabian Peninsula, so we kept that in mind (we weren't looking for plain black, just something printed and sheer-ish and silk chiffon-y like the original, but darker overall).

Three yards of fabric, a few late nights of sewing, a living room fitting and some reworking a mere 36 hours before Jord's flight to Dubai took-off, and one major packing-then-unpacking fiasco later, we have it.  

The Dress of Dresses (lovingly referred to as The Oasis Dress around here).

The collar is a bit higher than the original (see the cultural-dress-rules above), and the darker fabric definitely gives it a more demure look. But the flow-y, swing-y gorgeousness remains.

It's the One. For sure.

Not only will it be perfect for attending weddings in the Middleeast, it functions pretty well for snow frolic-ing*, niece snuggling and family time-ing as well.

*Ummm, as a completely unrelated sidenote- did any of you get SNOW this week? We have had the most beautiful October in Denver (it was still 80 degrees here on Monday). I think the snow was a present from God for my winter-loving sister's heart before she headed off to live in the hot, hot desert.

ps- This post wouldn't be complete unless I told you that Sayla calls this "The Princess Dress." She's three. I'm taking it as a compliment.