Full discolosure, I should not have bought this dress. I was trying SO HARD to be frugal in 2017. And even though Lady Terentia suggested that we celebrate her 31st birthday with a Lolita tea party at the tea room near my grandfather's house (and a Harry Potter Escape The Room the following day), I have more than enough EGL dresses (well, but can you ever really have enough?) and other people would be bringing extra outfits to share. I don't know what put the idea that I needed, NEEDED, a navy blue Lolita dress in my head; probably the fact that I'm Ravenclaw, and we'd be repping our Hogwarts Houses for Escape the Room.

I do know what finally made me cave, though: a friend of mine who gets free samples of shoes from his job gave me an *adorable* pair of lace up navy blue heels. It would've taken a stronger man than I to resist such an obvious invitation from the gods. I found a really cute dress on Amazon that wasn't too expensive; it photographed really well, but to be honest I was a little disappointed in the fabric quality, it's made out of a rather thin polyester. And, finally, I found a navy blue vintage hat on eBay that I thought would set the whole ensemble off nicely.