A not infrequent dialogue in our household goes something like this:
One of my sisters: “How much did it cost?”
Me: “Oh, not that much. (pause) Relatively speaking. (pause) I mean, some things cost much more.”

I’m not an indiscriminate spender, though, there are categories on which I almost never spend much. Going-out dresses are one such category: I’m pretty sure my La Mer face mist costs more than any of my party dresses.

A cheap dress is all you need, because there are only two things a party dress has to be: impactful and flattering. This is perfectly achievable on a budget. Personally, I mostly focus on the dress being really short – but this of course depends on what you want to show off.

When you go out at night, the light will be dim and most people will be slightly drunk, so there is no point to invest in subtlety and lovely fabrics. Not only will people fail to notice and appreciate this, there’s also a remarkably high likelyhood that something will be spilled on or torn from your dress. And you want to be dancing with abandon, not worrying what this will do to your designer silk dress.

The trick is to find high street brands that design well for your body type and with whose sluttyness level you’re comfortable with. My party wardrobe consists of items from H&M, Topshop, Lindex and Zara and I’m perfectly happy with that. More money for face mist.